North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces capture Saigon, compelling the South Vietnamese government to surrender. Following the 1973 Paris Peace Accords, the American government left a meager military presence in South Vietnam and on this day, continued its evacuation in Operation Frequent Wind.
George Washington is inaugurated as the first United States president in a ceremony at Federal Hall in downtown Manhattan.
Louisiana Purchase
American diplomats Robert Livingston and James Monroe sign the Louisiana Purchase Treaty with Barbé Marbois in France. After Spain relinquished the Louisiana Territory to France in 1801, President Thomas Jefferson looked to acquire Louisiana to prevent Napoleon Bonaparte from establishing an American empire along the Mississippi River.
