On this day. 1792: President Washington created the U.S. Postal Service (USPS). One of the few government agencies explicitly authorized by the Constitution, it is, today, an independent government agency responsible for providing postal service in the United States. The USPS traces its roots to 1775, when Benjamin Franklin was appointed the first postmaster general. The USPS has not directly received taxpayer-dollars since the early 1980s with the minor exception of subsidies for costs associated with the disabled and overseas voters.

On this day. 1980: President Carter urged a U.S. boycott of the Summer Olympics in Moscow because of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. A month later he ordered the boycott. The Soviet Union retaliated four years later, boycotting the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.