On This Day in History

At the Melbourne Olympics, 14-year-old swimmer Sandra Morgan became the youngest Australian to win an Olympic gold medal.

In what became known as the Blood in the Water match at the Melbourne Olympics, the Hungarian water polo team defeated the Soviet Union 4–0 against the background of the Hungarian Revolution.

The first U.S. attempt to launch a satellite failed with an explosion on the launch pad at Cape Canaveral.

American physician Adrian Kantrowitz and his team performed the world's first pediatric heart transplant at Maimonides Medical Center in New York City.

Four members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army took two people hostage in a house on Balcombe Street in London, surrendering six days later.

The Irish National Liberation Army exploded a time bomb in Ballykelly, Northern Ireland, killing eleven British Army soldiers and six civilians.

Self-government was granted to the Australian Capital Territory.

25-year-old Marc Lépine, claiming to be "fighting feminism", killed fourteen women before committing suicide at the École Polytechnique in Montreal, Canada.

An Italian Air Force military jet, abandoned by its pilot after an on-board fire, crashed into a high school near Bologna, killing 12 students and injuring 88 other people.

The Babri Masjid in Ayodhya, India, was demolished by Hindu Kar Sevaks, who believed that it was built on the birthplace of Rama.

The Recording Industry Association of America filed a lawsuit against the peer-to-peer file sharing network Napster, alleging that the service facilitated widespread copyright infringement.

Under President Donald Trump, the United States government officially recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.