Russian cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov begins his record spaceflight. Polyakov stayed aboard the Mir space station for a record-breaking 437 days and 18 hours.

Charles de Gaulle becomes president of France. His right-wing political ideology, Gaullism, still influences French politics today.

The African National Congress (ANC) is founded. The ANC, whose most famous member is Nelson Mandela, played an important role in the fight against the South African apartheid regime and it is now the country's governing political party.

Computer pioneer Herman Hollerith patents his punched card calculator. His invention paved the way for modern automatic computation.

George Washington delivers the first State of the Union address. The U.S. president typically uses this annual speech to outline his political agenda.