1821    The Republic of Gran Colombia (a federation covering much of present day Venezuela, Colombia, Panama, and Ecuador) is established, with Simón Bolívar as the founding President and Francisco de Paula Santander as vice president. thumb

1832    President Andrew Jackson writes to Vice President Martin Van Buren expressing his opposition to South Carolina's defiance of federal authority in the Nullification Crisis.

1833    U.S. President Andrew Jackson becomes the first President to ride on a train.

1886    U.S. President Grover Cleveland marries Frances Folsom in the White House, becoming the only president to wed in the executive mansion.

1901    President Theodore Roosevelt officially renames the "Executive Mansion" to the White House.

1934    Adolf Hitler becomes the supreme leader of Germany by joining the offices of President and Chancellor into ''Führer''.

1935    The National Labor Relations Act, which governs labor relations in the United States, is signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

1946    Ho Chi Minh is elected the President of North Vietnam.

1949    Point Four Program a program for economic aid to poor countries announced by United States President Harry S. Truman in his inaugural address for a full term as President.

1950    President Harry Truman orders the US Army to seize control of the nation's railroads to avert a strike.

1953    President Dwight Eisenhower refuses clemency appeal for Ethel and Julius Rosenberg.

1960    Students in South Korea hold a nationwide pro-democracy protest against their president Syngman Rhee, eventually forcing him to resign.

1962    An attempt to assassinate French president Charles de Gaulle fails.

1963    The Dominican Republic receives its first democratically elected president, Juan Bosch, since the end of the dictatorship led by Rafael Trujillo.

1964    The Warren Commission releases its report, concluding that Lee Harvey Oswald, acting alone, assassinated President John F. Kennedy.

1967    Dr. Zakir Hussain becomes the third President of India. He is the first Muslim President of the Indian Union. He holds this position until August 24, 1969.

1967    During an official state visit to Canada, French President Charles de Gaulle declares to a crowd of over 100,000 in Montreal: ''Vive le Québec libre!'' ("Long live free Quebec!"). The statement, interpreted as support for Quebec independence, delighted many Quebecers but angered the Canadian government and many English Canadians.

1969    Vietnam War: US President Richard M. Nixon makes an unscheduled visit to South Vietnam and meets with President Nguyễn Văn Thiệu and U.S. military commanders.

1971    Idi Amin replaces President Milton Obote as leader of Uganda.

1971    Right to vote: the Twenty-sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution, lowering the voting age from 21 to 18 years, is formally certified by President Richard Nixon.

1971    President Richard Nixon completes the break from the gold standard by ending convertibility of the United States dollar into gold by foreign investors.

1974    In Nicosia, Cyprus, Greek Junta-sponsored nationalists launch a coup d'état, deposing President Makarios and installing Nikos Sampson as Cypriot president.

1974    In Nicosia, Cyprus, Greek Junta-sponsored nationalists launch a coup d'état, deposing President Makarios and installing Nikos Sampson as Cypriot president.

1974    Yuk Young-soo, First Lady of South Korea, is killed during an apparent assassination attempt upon President of South Korea, Park Chung-hee.

1975    Vietnam War: President of South Vietnam Nguyen Van Thieu flees Saigon, as Xuan Loc, the last South Vietnamese outpost blocking a direct North Vietnamese assault on Saigon, falls.

1975    Fall of Saigon (or Liberation of Saigon from the Communist perspective): Communist forces gain control of Saigon. The Vietnam War formally ends with the unconditional surrender of South Vietnamese president Duong Van Minh.

1980    President Josip Broz Tito of Yugoslavia dies in Ljubljana at the age of 87.

1981    A ''coup d'état'' in the Central African Republic overthrows President David Dacko.

1986    Twenty-eight years of one-family rule end in Haiti, when President Jean-Claude Duvalier flees the Caribbean nation.

1986    People Power Revolution: President Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines flees the nation after 20 years of rule; Corazon Aquino becomes the first Filipino woman president.

1986    Gen. Augusto Pinochet, president of Chile, escapes attempted assassination.

1990    President George H. W. Bush posthumously awards Jesse Owens the Congressional Gold Medal.

1991    Collapse of the Soviet Union, August Coup: more than 100,000 people rally outside the Soviet Union's parliament building protesting the coup aiming to depose President Mikhail Gorbachev.

1992    A Coup d'état is led by Hugo Chávez Frías, against Venezuelan President Carlos Andrés Pérez.

1993    Jiang Zemin is appointed President of the People's Republic of China.

1994    The Rwandan Genocide begins when the aircraft carrying Rwandan president Juvénal Habyarimana and Burundian president Cyprien Ntaryamira is shot down.

1996    In Afghanistan, the Taliban capture the capital city Kabul after driving out President Burhanuddin Rabbani and executing former leader Mohammad Najibullah.

1998    Lewinsky scandal: a federal judge rules that United States Secret Service agents can be compelled to testify before a grand jury concerning the scandal, involving President Bill Clinton.

1998    Hugo Chávez Frías, Venezuelan military officer and politician, is elected President of Venezuela.

2002    The trial of former President of Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Slobodan Milošević begins at the United Nations war crimes tribunal in The Hague. He dies four years later before its conclusion.

2002    An attempted coup d'état in Venezuela against President Hugo Chávez takes place.

2004    Republic of Macedonia President Boris Trajkovski is killed in a plane crash near Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

2004    Jean-Bertrand Aristide resigns as President of Haiti following popular rebel uprising.

2004    Chechen president Akhmad Kadyrov is killed in a land mine bomb blast under a VIP stage during a World War II memorial victory parade in Grozny, Chechnya.

2004    The Constitutional Court of South Korea overturns the impeachment of President Roh Moo-hyun.

2006    Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is sworn in as Liberia's new president. She becomes Africa's first female elected head of state.

2006    Deposed President of Iraq Saddam Hussein, convicted of the executions of 148 Iraqi Shiites, is executed by hanging.