On May 7, 1789, the first inaugural ball was held in New York in honor of President George Washington and his wife, Martha.
In 1945 Germany signed an unconditional surrender at Allied headquarters in Rheims, France.
In 1963 the United States launched the ”Telstar 2″ communications satellite.
In 1975 President Gerald Ford formally declared an end to the ”Vietnam era”; in Ho Chi Minh City — formerly Saigon — the Viet Cong celebrated its takeover.
In 1977 Seattle Slew won the Kentucky Derby, the first of its Triple Crown victories.
In 1984 a $180 million out-of-court settlement was announced in the Agent Orange class-action suit brought by Vietnam veterans who charged they’d suffered injury from exposure to the defoliant.
In 1989 Mayor Richard M. Daley and Gov. James Thompson helped break ground for the new Comiskey Park.
In 1997 Chrysler Corp. and United Auto Workers agreed to a new contract, ending a damaging 28-day engine-plant strike.
In 2000 President Vladimir Putin took the oath of office in Russia’s first democratic transfer of power.
In 2002 Triple Crown winner Seattle Slew died at age 28, 25 years to the day after his victory in the Kentucky Derby.
