July 16 (UPI) -- On this date in history:
In 1769, the first Roman Catholic mission in California was dedicated at the site of present-day San Diego.
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1 of 4 | John F. Kennedy Jr. and his wife Carolyn Bessette Kennedy arrive at a dinner for British Prime Minister Tony Blair at the White House, February 5 1998. The couple died July 16, 1999, in a single-engine plane crash. File Photo by Michael Smith/UPI | License Photo
In 1790, the U.S. Congress designated the District of Columbia as the permanent seat of the U.S. government.
In 1918, Russian Czar Nicholas II and his family were killed by Bolsheviks who had held them captive for two months.
In 1935, the world's first parking meter was installed in Oklahoma City.
In 1945, the first test of the atom bomb was conducted at a secret base near Alamogordo, N.M.
File photo by UPI/Los Alamos National Laboratory
In 1951, J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye was published.
In 1959, Billie Holiday, considered one of the greatest jazz singers despite a tragic life, died of cardiac failure at age 44.
In 1969, Apollo 11, the first moon-landing mission, was launched from the Kennedy Space Center, carrying astronauts Neil Armstrong, Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin and Michael Collins.
In 1980, Ronald Reagan was unanimously nominated as the Republican candidate for president at the GOP National Convention in Detroit. He chose George H. W. Bush as his running mate after former President Gerald Ford declined to join the ticket.
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In 1990, an earthquake struck Luzon Island in the Philippines, killing about 1,600 people.
In 1999, John F. Kennedy Jr., his wife, Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, and her sister, Lauren Bessette, were killed in the crash of a single-engine plane in the Atlantic Ocean off the Massachusetts island of Martha's Vineyard. The son of former U.S. President John F. Kennedy was 39.
In 2004, TV personality and businesswoman Martha Stewart was sentenced to five months in prison and five months of house arrest after being found guilty of conspiracy, obstruction of an agency proceeding and making false statements to federal investigators.
In 2012, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the United States and Israel are on the "same page" when it comes to Iran and its nuclear program.
In 2015, four Marines were killed and three others seriously injured when a gunman opened fire at two U.S. military facilities in Chattanooga, Tenn. The attacker, Mohammad Youssef Abdulazeez, was killed by police in a gunfight.
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Veteran Chris Lacey prays at a makeshift memorial July 18, 2015, at the U.S. Navy Operational Support Center & Marine Corps Reserve Center in Chattanooga, Tenn., where a gunman opened fire, killing four Marines. File Photo by Billy Weeks/UPI
