More Events on this day:

1969: Apollo 12 was launched, carrying a crew of Charles Conrad, Jr., Richard F. Gordon, Jr., and Alan L. Bean, and five days later the mission made the second landing on the Moon.

1885: The Serbo-Bulgarian War began when Serbian King Milan Obrenovic IV declared war on Bulgaria.

1851: Harper & Brothers published Herman Melville's masterpiece Moby Dick.

1305: Clement V was crowned pope, becoming the first of the Avignon popes.

"It would be some time before I fully realized that the United States sees little need for diplomacy. Power is enough. Only the weak rely on diplomacy.…The Roman Empire had no need for diplomacy. Nor does the United States."

Boutros Boutros-Ghali

Born this day in 1922, Egyptian scholar Boutros Boutros-Ghali, who served as secretary-general of the United Nations from January 1, 1992, to December 31, 1996, was the first Arab and first African to lead the UN.