On this date:

In 1776, British troops captured Fort Washington in New York during the American Revolution.

In 1885, Canadian rebel leader Louis Riel was executed for high treason.

In 1917, Georges Clemenceau again became prime minister of France.

In 1933, the United States and the Soviet Union established diplomatic relations.

In 1939, mob boss Al Capone, ill with syphilis, was released from prison after serving 7 1/2 years for tax evasion and failure to file tax returns.

In 1945, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) was founded at the conclusion of a conference in London.

In 1959, the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical “The Sound of Music” opened on Broadway.

In 1960, Academy Award-winning actor Clark Gable died in Los Angeles at age 59.

In 1966, Dr. Samuel H. Sheppard was acquitted in Cleveland at his second trial of murdering his pregnant wife, Marilyn, in 1954.

In 1973, Skylab 4, carrying a crew of three astronauts, was launched from Cape Canaveral on an 84-day mission.

In 1982, an agreement was announced in the 57th day of a strike by National Football League players.

In 1997, China’s most prominent pro-democracy campaigner, Wei Jingsheng, arrived in the United States after being released following nearly 18 years of imprisonment in his country.

Ten years ago: Senate Republicans blocked a $50 billion bill by Democrats that would have paid for several months of combat but also would have ordered troop withdrawals from Iraq to begin within 30 days.

Five years ago: Former CIA Director David Petraeus told Congress that classified intelligence showed the Sept. 11, 2012, attack in Benghazi, Libya, that killed U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans was a terrorist attack, but that the Obama administration withheld the suspected role of al-Qaida affiliates to avoid tipping them off.