On this date

On this date:

In 1782, the Netherlands recognized American independence.

In 1893, the Oscar Wilde play ''A Woman of No Importance'' opened at the Haymarket Theatre in London.

In 1933, the United States went off the gold standard.

In 1943, during World War II, tens of thousands of Jews living in the Warsaw Ghetto began a valiant but futile battle against Nazi forces.

In 1945, the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical ''Carousel'' opened on Broadway.

In 1951, Gen. Douglas MacArthur, relieved of his Far East command by President Truman, bid farewell to Congress, quoting a line from a ballad: ''Old soldiers never die; they just fade away.''

In 1975, India announced it had launched its first satellite, from the Soviet Union atop a Soviet rocket.

In 1989, 47 sailors were killed when a gun turret exploded aboard the USS Iowa.

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