On this date in history:

In 1854, the Republican Party was formally established at a meeting in New York City.

In 1885, French bacteriologist Louis Pasteur inoculated a human being for rabies for the first time -- a boy, who had been bitten by a dog. The youngster didn't develop rabies.

In 1919, a British dirigible landed at New York's Roosevelt Field to complete the first airship crossing of the Atlantic. Six hours into the flight, the R-34's commander discovered a stowaway.

In 1923, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was formed.

In 1942, diarist Anne Frank and her family took refuge in a secret section of an Amsterdam warehouse where they hid from the Nazis for two years. Finally discovered, they were sent to concentration camps. Anne died in a camp.

In 1944, a fire in the big top of the Ringling Brothers, Barnum and Bailey Circus in Hartford, Conn., killed 167 people, two-thirds of them children, and injured 682 others.

In 1957, Althea Gibson became the first African-American competitor to win a Wimbledon championship.

In 1971, Louis Satchmo Armstrong, one of the 20th century's most influential American musicians, died at age 69.

In 1976, women were first admitted to the U.S. Naval Academy. The other military academies soon followed suit.

In 1984, U.S. President Ronald Reagan, in a TV interview, said it was a probability that many young people now paying into Social Security will never be able to receive as much as they're paying.

In 1994, Forrest Gump opened in U.S. theaters, earning actor Tom Hanks his second Oscar for Best Actor.

In 2006, Felipe Calderon of Mexico's ruling National Action Party won a tight race for president over Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

In 2009, U.S. President Barack Obama met in Moscow with his Russian counterpart, Dmitry Medvedev, and announced an agreement to reduce nuclear arsenals.

In 2013, an Asiana Airlines Boeing 777 carrying more than 300 people hit a sea wall in front of a runway on approach at San Francisco International Airport -- a crash that resulted in three fatalities and scores of injuries.

In 2018, historic rain in Japan caused flooding and landslides, killing more than 200 people.

Copyright 2020 by United Press International