This day in history

The League of Nations comes into being when the Covenant of the League of Nations, ratified by 42 nations in 1919, takes effect. Beneath the relief at the end of World War I lay the fear that another Great War might occur.
 
Thus, the League of Nations was established to resolve international crises and prevent such a recurrence. Although U.S. President Woodrow Wilson had proposed the organization, the U.S. Senate refused to approve American participation, citing fears that the League would reduce U.S. authority. This fundamentally weakened the organisation. In November 1920, the League of Nations held its first meeting in Geneva. During the 1920s, it incorporated new members and mediated minor international disputes but was often disregarded by the major world powers. 
 
The organization's authority, however, was not seriously challenged until the early 1930s, when a series of events exposed it as ineffectual. Japan quit the organization after its invasion of Manchuria was condemned, and the League was likewise powerless to prevent the rearmament of Germany and the Italian invasion of Abyssinia. The declaration of World War II was not even mentioned by the then-virtually-defunct League.
 

King Hussein of Jordan makes his first public visit to Israel.
 

As part of an arrangement to decrease Cold War tensions and end a brutal war in Angola, Cuban troops begin their withdrawal from the African nation.
 

In London, the first General Assembly of the United Nations meets at Westminster Central Hall.
 

Arthur Griffith, the founder of Sinn Fein and one of the architects of the 1921 peace treaty with Britain, is elected president of the newly established Irish Free State.
 

The first section of London's Underground Railway, the 'Metropolitan' Line was opened, running from Paddington to Farringdon Street.