1800

Congress held its first session in the partially completed U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C.

1869

The Suez Canal opened in Egypt.

1968

The last minutes of a tense NFL matchup on NBC between the New York Jets and the Oakland Raiders were preempted by the children’s film “Heidi.”

1989

An estimated 10,000-15,000 Czechoslovakian students demonstrated in Prague against Communist rule; hundreds of thousands joined the protests in the following days. Dubbed the “Velvet Revolution” for its nonviolent nature.

2003

Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Austrian-born actor who had become one of America’s biggest movie stars of the 1980s and ‘90s, was sworn in as the 38th governor of California.

Birthdays

Film director Martin Scorsese is 82. Actor-model Lauren Hutton is 81. Actor-director Danny DeVito is 80. Basketball Hall of Fame coach Jim Boeheim is 80. “Saturday Night Live” producer Lorne Michaels is 80. Film director Roland Joffe is 79. Former House Speaker John Boehner is 75. Actor Stephen Root is 73. TV host-entertainer RuPaul is 64. Actor Dylan Walsh is 61. TV host-model Daisy Fuentes is 58. R&B singer Ronnie DeVoe (New Edition) is 57. Actor Rachel McAdams is 46.