On this date in

54 Nero became emperor of Rome.

1792 Construction began on the White House.

1843 B'nai B'rith was founded.

1845 Texas ratified a state constitution.

1885 The Georgia Institute of Technology was founded.

1943 Italy declared war on its former Axis partner Germany.

1960 Bill Mazeroski of the Pittsburgh Pirates became the first baseball player to end a World Series with a homerun.

1962 "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf" opened on Broadway.

1967 The Oakland Oaks defeated the Anaheim Amigos in the first game played by teams of the American Basketball Association.

1971 The Baltimore Orioles played the Pittsburgh Pirates in the first night game in World Series history.

1983 AT&T launched the nation's first cellular phone network in Chicago.

Born on this date:
Lillie Langtry (1853-1929)
Art Tatum (1909-1956)
Cornel Wilde (1915-1989)
Burr Tillstrom (1917-1985)
Laraine Day (1920-2007)
Yves Montand (1921-1991)
Lenny Bruce (1925-1966)
Eddie Matthews (1931-2001)

Died on this date:
Claudius (10 BCE - 54)
Milton S. Hershey (1857-1945)
Clifton Webb (1889-1966)
Ed Sullivan (1901-1974)
Jean Peters (1926-2000)