On this date in

1815 Napoleon began his exile on Saint Helena.

1860 Eleven-year-old Grace Bedell of Westfield, N.Y., wrote a letter to presidential candidate Abraham Lincoln, suggesting he could improve his appearance by growing a beard.

1878 The Edison Light Company (later known as General Electric) began operations.

1888 Authorities received a letter purportedly written by Jack the Ripper.

1894 Alfred Dreyfus was arrested for spying.

1917 Mata Hari was executed.

1939 The New York Municipal Airport (later renamed LaGuardia Airport) was dedicated.

1946 Hermann Goring poisoned himself the night before his scheduled execution on charges of war crimes.

1951 Mexican scientist Luis E. Miramontes synthesized the first oral contraceptive; the situation comedy "I Love Lucy" premiered on CBS.

1964 Composer Cole Porter died of kidney failure at the age of 73.

1966 Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale formed the Black Panther Party.

1970 Anwar Sadat became president of Egypt.

Born on this date:
Virgil (70 BCE - 19 BCE)
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900)
John L. Sullivan (1858-1918)
Jane Darwell (1879-1967)
P.G. Wodehouse (1881-1975)
Mervyn LeRoy(1900-1987)
John Kenneth Galbraith (1908-2006)
Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. (1917-2007)
Mario Puzo (1920-1999)
Evan Hunter (1926-2005)
Jean Peters (1926-2000)
Marv Johnson (1938-1993)