On this day in 1867, U.S. Secretary of State William H. Seward negotiated the purchase of Alaska for US$7.2 million from Russia.
On this day in 1899, a committee of the German Society of Chemistry invited other national scientific organizations to appoint delegates to form the International Committee on Atomic Weights.
On this day in 1940, during the Second Sino-Japanese War, Wang Jingwei was officially installed by Japan as head of a puppet state in China.
On this day in 1981, trying to impress Hollywood actress Jodie Foster, obsessed fan John Hinckley, Jr. shot and wounded U.S. President Ronald Reagan and three others outside the Hilton Hotel in Washington, D.C.