1789 — The United States Department of State was established, with Thomas Jefferson as its first secretary.
1916 — Tanks were used in battle for the first time by British forces during the Battle of the Somme.
1963 — A bomb exploded at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, killing four young girls and galvanizing the civil rights movement.
Born on This Day
1857 — William Howard Taft, twenty-seventh president of the United States.
1890 — Agatha Christie, English author and the best-selling novelist of all time.
Passed on This Day
2018 — Marin Mazzie, American actress and singer of the Broadway stage.