On this date in history:

In 1805, the Lewis and Clark Expedition sighted the Pacific Ocean for the first time. They would arrive two weeks later.

In 1874, the first cartoon depicting the elephant as the symbol of the Republican Party was printed in Harper's Weekly.

In 1916, Democratic President Woodrow Wilson was re-elected and Republican Jeannette Rankin of Montana became the first woman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.

In 1917, the Bolshevik revolution began in Russia. Because it took place under the old czarist calendar, it is known as the October Revolution.

In 1918, the global influenza epidemic arrives in Western Samoa, killing roughly 20 percent of the population in the final two months of the year.

In 1919, on the second anniversary of the Russian Revolution, the first Palmer Raid results in the roundup of more than 10,000 suspected communists and anarchists across twenty-three U.S. cities.

In 1929, New York City's Museum of Modern Art opens to the public.

In 1940, only four months after its completion, the Tacoma Narrows Bridge in Washington state, the third longest suspension bridge in the world at the time, collapsed. No one was injured.

In 1944, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt was re-elected to a fourth term during World War II. Roosevelt, the only U.S. president to serve more than two terms, died the following April and was succeeded by Harry S. Truman.

In 1972, Republican Richard Nixon was re-elected as president of the United States, defeating Democrat George McGovern. The following year, Congress would override Nixon's veto of the War Powers Resolution, which limits the president's ability to wage war without congressional approval.

In 1983, a bomb exploded in the U.S. Capitol, causing heavy damage just outside the Senate chamber. There were no injuries.

In 1989, Virginia voters elected Democrat Douglas Wilder to be the first African-American governor in the United States. The vote wasn't finalized until later in the month after Republican Marshall Coleman challenged the election.

In 1989, Night Stalker Richard Ramirez, who terrorized Los Angeles, was formally sentenced to die in the gas chamber for 13 killings. Ramirez died of lymphoma in prison June 7, 2013.

In 1989, New York City voters elected Democrat David Dinkins to be the city's first African-American mayor. He defeated Rudolph Giuliani in his first bid for the office.

In 1991, basketball star Earvin Magic Johnson disclosed he was HIV-positive and announced he was retiring from the NBA's Los Angeles Lakers.

In 2000, in one of the closest U.S. presidential elections, Republican George W. Bush and Democrat Al Gore wound up in almost a dead heat. Bush was eventually declared the winner following turmoil over Florida results that ultimately involved the U.S. Supreme Court.

In 2008, authorities said about 90 people, mostly students, were killed when a church-run school collapsed on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince in Haiti.

In 2009, the House of Representatives passed the Affordable Care for American Act -- colloquially known as Obamacare -- on a 220-21 vote. President Obama would sign it into law five months later.

In 2013, the U.S.Food and Drug Administration said companies that produce food would be required to gradually phase out trans fats, a major contributor to heart disease. FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg said getting artery-clogging trans fats -- used to increase shelf life and improve taste and texture -- out of the food supply could potentially prevent 20,000 heart attacks and thousands of deaths each year.

In 2015, the World Health Organization declares Sierra Leone free of the Ebola virus, an outbreak of which killed more than 4,000 people.

Copyright 2017 by United Press International