On this date in

1754 William Bligh, the captain of H.M.S. Bounty, was born.

1776 The second Continental Congress changed the name of "United Colonies" to the "United States."

1791 Washington. D.C., is named after George Washington.

1850 California became the 31st state.

1887 American politician Alf Landon was born.

1890 Harland Sanders, the founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken, was born.

1894 Film producer Arthur Freed was born.

1898 Baseball player Frankie Frisch was born.

1900 English novelist James Hilton was born.

1919 Bookie and sports commenatator "Jimmy the Greek" Snyder was born.

1924 Local police shoot and kill 16 striking sugar workers in Hawaii in what becomes known as the Hanapepe Massacre; actress Jane Greer was born.

1926 The Radio Corporation of America created the National Broadcasting Co.

1941 Soul singer Otis Redding was born.

1948 The People's Democratic Republic of Korea, more commonly known as North Korea, was created.

1956 Elvis Presley first appeared on "The Ed Sullivan Show."

1957 President Eisenhower signed the first civil rights law to pass Congress since Reconstruction.

1965 Sandy Koufax pitched a perfect game; the Department of Housing and Urban Development is established.

1971 The four-day Attica Prison riot began.

1976 Mao Tse-Tung died.

2001 Ahmad Shah Massoud, who played a leading role in driving the Soviets out of Afghanistan, was killed in a suicide attack.

2004 A car bomb explodes outside the Australian embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia.