On this date in history…

(2013) Russian weapons designer Mikhail Kalashnikov—who invented the AK-47 (automatic Kalashnikov Model 1947), an assault rifle that became one of the most successful and ubiquitous firearms of the modern era—died in Izhevsk, Russia. (1995) Aleksander Kwasniewski, formerly an apparatchik of Poland’s ruling communist party, was sworn in as the country’s president in 1995, having narrowly defeated Lech Wałęsa, Poland’s first post-communist president. (1968) Eighty-two crewmen of the USS Pueblo were released after being held in captivity for 11 months by North Korea, which claimed the U.S. Navy intelligence ship had crossed into its waters. (1929) American jazz trumpeter and vocalist Chet Baker, noted for the plaintive, fragile tone of his playing and his singing, was born. (1913) With the signing of the Federal Reserve Act by U.S. President Woodrow Wilson, the Federal Reserve System came into being. (1815) British author Jane Austen published her fourth novel, Emma, which centers on a precocious young woman whose misplaced confidence in her matchmaking abilities occasions several romantic misadventures. (1805) Joseph Smith, an American prophet whose writings, along with the Bible, provide the theological foundation of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and other Mormon denominations, was born. (1783) Before the Continental Congress, George Washington resigned as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army.