On April 8, 1820, the Venus de Milo statue, likely dating to the 2nd century B.C.E., was discovered by a farmer on the Greek island of Milos.

In 1864, the U.S. Senate passed the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution abolishing slavery. (The House passed it in January 1865; the amendment was ratified and adopted in December 1865.)

In 1962, Cuba announced that 1,200 Cuban exiles tried for their roles in the failed Bay of Pigs invasion had been convicted of treason and sentenced to 30 years in prison.

In 1974, Hank Aaron of the Atlanta Braves hit his 715th career home run in a game against the Los Angeles Dodgers, breaking Babe Ruth’s home run record, which had stood since 1935.

In 2010, President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed the New START nuclear arms reduction treaty in Prague.