On this date in history:

In 1813, U.S. naval units under the command of Capt. Oliver Perry defeated a British squadron in the Battle of Lake Erie.

In 1823, Simon Bolivar, who led the wars for independence from Spain in Venezuela, Colombia, Peru and Bolivia, was named president of Peru with dictatorial powers.

In 1846, Elias Howe received a patent for the sewing machine.

In 1963, blacks entered the white public schools of Birmingham, Tuskegee and Mobile in Alabama after U.S. President John F. Kennedy federalized the state's National Guard.

In 1977, Tunisian immigrant Hamida Djandoubi became the last person France executed by guillotine. He was convicted of torturing and strangling his girlfriend because she refused to become a prostitute.

In 1981, Pablo Picasso's epic painting, Guernica, which depicted the air bombing of the Spanish town by Nazi Germany and Fascist Italian planes, was delivered to Spain for the first time since it was painted in 1937. The painter, who was living in France, said it could not be returned to Spain until democracy was restored.

In 2002, Switzerland and Timor-Leste joined the United Nations, expanding the membership roll to 191. It eventually increased to 193.

In 2008, scientists in a Geneva lab activated the Large Hadron Collider, the world's largest and most powerful subatomic particle accelerator, built over a 14-year period and costing an estimated $8 billion. It had to be shut down after nine days for repairs.

In 2011, nearly 200 people died after an overloaded ferry capsized and sank off the coast of Tanzania. More than 600 were rescued.

In 2014, in a speech to the nation, President Barack Obama said the United States and a broad coalition will degrade and ultimately destroy Islamic State terrorists.

In 2018, California Gov. Jerry Brown signed a law to eliminate fossil fuel use for electricity by 2045.

Copyright 2019 by United Press International