The Third Anglo-Dutch War came to an end in 1674 with the signing of the Peace of Westminster. Serfdom was abolished in Russia in 1861. In one of the more shameful episodes of American history, Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, allowing the US military to relocate Americans of Japanese ancestry to internment camps. The order was not formally rescinded until 1976. The Soviet Union launched the Mir space station in 1986.
Born today: Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543), Constantin Brancusi (1876-1957), Cedric Hardwicke (1893-1964), Yuri Olesha (1899-1960), Merle Oberon (1911-1979), Carson McCullers (1917-1967), Lee Marvin (1924-1987), Smokey Robinson (1940), Dave Wakeling (1956), Falco (1957-1998), Ray Winstone (1957), Helen Fielding (1958), Seal (1963).
Today is the feast day of St. Barbatus of Benevento.
