On this date in history:

In 1534, French navigator Jacques Cartier became the first European explorer to discover the St. Lawrence River in present-day Quebec.

In 1898, Britain leased Hong Kong from China for 99 years. The territory returned to Chinese rule in 1997.

In 1934, Donald Duck made his first screen appearance in “The Wise Little Hen.”

In 1973, Secretariat, having won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness, captured racing’s Triple Crown with a spectacular victory in the Belmont Stakes. The big chestnut colt, ridden by Ron Turcotte, was the first horse to do so since Citation in 1948.

In 1982, Gen. Efrain Rios Montt declared himself president of Guatemala. He overthrew the government in a coup d’etat in March 1982, and was himself overthrown in August 1983 by Defense Minister Oscar Humberto Mejia Victores.

In 1993, Japanese Crown Prince Naruhito married former diplomat Masako Owada in Tokyo in a Shinto ceremony.

In 1997, recognizing the findings of The National Bioethics Advisory Commission, which unanimously recommended a new federal law banning the creation of human babies through cloning, President Bill Clinton urged Congress to ban human cloning, saying it reflects ”our humanity and it is the right thing to do.”

In 1998, Gen. Abdulsalam Abubakar was sworn in as Nigeria’s military ruler, one day after the death of Gen. Sani Abacha of a heart attack.

File Photo by Ralph Ginzburg/UPI

In 2005, after weeks of protests, Bolivian President Carlos Mesa resigned.

In 2008, Internet providers Verizon, Sprint and Time Warner agreed to block access to websites that distribute child pornography.

In 2014, actor Laverne Cox became the first transgender person to appear on the cover of Time. “People need to be willing to let go of what they think they know about what it means to be a man and what it means to be a woman. Because that doesn’t necessarily mean anything inherently,” she told the magazine.

In 2018, Justify won the Belmont Stakes, becoming the 13th horse to win the Triple Crown and only the second to do so while still undefeated.

In 2019, Ali Stroker became the first actor who uses a wheelchair to win an acting Tony Award. She won Best Supporting Actress for her role in Oklahoma!

In 2020, the Senate voted unanimously to make Gen. Charles Q. Brown the Air Force’s 22nd chief of staff, the first Black official to lead a U.S. military branch.

In 2023, former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson resigned as a member of Parliament after receiving a pre-publication copy of a Privileges Committee report evaluating if he misled Parliament about gatherings he held at Downing Street during the COVID-19 pandemic.

File Photo by Hugo Philpott/UPI