On This Day: U.S. establishes 1st diplomatic ties to Vatican in 116 years
· UPIJan. 10 (UPI) -- On this date in history:
In 1789, the first nationwide U.S. presidential election was conducted. Electors chosen by the voters unanimously picked George Washington as president and John Adams as vice president.
In 1861, Florida seceded from the United States.
In 1878, a constitutional amendment that would give women the right to vote was introduced into the U.S. Senate. It wasn't until 42 years later that the amendment was enacted.
In 1901, oil was discovered at the Spindletop claim near Beaumont, Texas, launching the Southwest oil boom.
In 1920, the League of Nations came into being as the Treaty of Versailles went into effect.
In 1946, the first meeting of the U.N. General Assembly convened in London.
In 1957, Six dynamite blasts heavily damaged four Black churches in Montgomery, Ala., and the homes of two ministers. No one was injured.
In 1984, the United States established full diplomatic relations with the Vatican for the first time in 116 years.
In 2003, North Korea announced it was withdrawing from the 1979 nuclear non-proliferation treaty.
In 2013, President Barack Obama signed legislation designating Pinnacles National Monument in California a national park. The legislation was introduced by Rep. Sam Farr, D-Calif.
In 2017, a federal jury sentenced self-avowed White supremacist Dylann Roof to death for shooting to death nine people at a historic Black church in Charleston, S.C.
In 2022, the U.S. Mint announced it began shipping a new quarter featuring poet Maya Angelou, the first U.S. coin to feature a Black woman.
In 2025, climate scientists announced the average global surface temperature for 2024 exceeded the 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels threshold set by the Paris Agreement for the first time and was the warmest year on record.