[ Close ] THIS MONTH IN HISTORY July 100 BC July 12 Born: Roman dictator Julius Caesar. 48 BC July 10 Battle of Dyrrhachium: — Julius Caesar barely avoids a catastrophic defeat to Pompey in Macedonia. 64 AD July 18 The Great Fire of Rome erupted on this night. (Did Nero really play a fiddle and watch?) 323 AD July 3 Battle of Adrianople: Constantine the Great defeats Licinius, who flees to Byzantium. 455 AD July 9 Roman military commander Avitus is proclaimed emperor of the western Roman Empire. 1030 July 29 The patron saint of Norway, King Olaf II, was killed in battle. 1054 July 4 A supernova is observed by the Chinese and Amerindians near the star ζ Tauri. For several months it remains bright enough to be seen during the day. (Today, its remnants may be observed as the Crab Nebula). 1099 July 8 15,000 starving Christian soldiers march around Jerusalem as its Muslim defenders mocked them. 1187 July 4 Saladin defeats Guy of Lusignan, King of Jerusalem, at the Battle of Hattin. 1298 July 21 Edward I of England defeated William Wallace's Scottish rebels at the Battle of Falkirk. 1304 July 20 Fall of Stirling Castle: Edward I of England takes the last rebel stronghold in the Wars of Scottish Independence. 1423 July 31 Hundred Years War: Battle of Cravant — British forces defeat the French army at Cravant on the banks of the river Yonne. 1456 July 7 Joan of Arc acquitted, 25 years after her execution. 1483 July 6 Richard III crowned king of England. 1498 July 31 On his third voyage to the Western Hemisphere, Christopher Columbus becomes the first European to discover the island of Trinidad. 1533 July 11 King Henry VIII of England is excommunicated. 1534 July 24 Jacques Cartier lands in Canada and claims the territory for France. 1535 July 6 In England, Sir Thomas More was executed for treason (falsely sworn. He opposed the Act of Supremacy and Henry VIII's marriage annulment.) 1540 July 9 England's Henry VIII had his six-month-old marriage to his fourth wife, Anne of Cleves, annulled.   July 28 King Henry VIII chief minister, Thomas Cromwell, was executed, the same day Henry married his fifth wife, Catherine Howard. 1543 July 12 England's Henry VIII married his sixth and last wife, Cahterine Parr. 1553 July 19 15-year-old Lady Jane Grey was desposed as Queen of England after claiming the crown for nine days. Mary, daughter of King Henry VIII, was proclaimed Queen. [On Feb. 12, 1554, Jane was beheaded.] 1567 July 29 Barely more than a year old, the son of Mary, Queen of Scots is crowned James VI five days after his mother, defeated by rebel Scottish lords at Stirling, fled to England. James VI became King James I upon the death of his cousin, Queen Elizabeth I. 1578 July 2 Martin Frobisher sights Baffin Island. 1588 July 29 Battle of Gravelines: The Spanish Armada is defeated by an English naval force commanded by Charles Howard and Sir Francis Drake off the coast of Gravelines, France. 1606 July 15 Born: Dutch painter Rembrandt, in Leiden, Netherlands. 1608 July 3 Quebec City founded by Samuel de Champlain. 1613 July 2 First English expedition from Massachusetts is launched against Acadia. 1619 July 30 In Jamestown, Virginia, the first representative assembly of Europeans in the Americas, the House of Burgesses, convenes for the first time. (A union of five of the Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy already existed.) 1630 July 6 Thirty-Years War: 4,000 Swedish troops under Gustavus Adolphus land in Germany. 1663 July 8 Charles II of England grants John Clarke a Royal Charter to Rhode Island. 1667 July 31 The Treaty of Breda ends the Second Anglo-Dutch War. 1679 July 2 Europeans, led by Daniel Greysolon de Du Luth, visit present-day Minnesota and see headwaters of the Mississippi River. 1687 July 5 Isaac Newton's Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica is published. 1690 July 1 Battle of the Boyne, as reckoned under Julian calendar or July 12 under Gregorian calendar. 1703 July 31 Daniel Defoe (author of Robinson Crusoe) is placed in a pillory for the crime of seditious libel after publishing a pamphlet of political satire. 1704 July 24 British capture Gibraltar during War of Spanish Succession. 1712 July 24 Dutch are defeated by French at Denain, France, and join Anglo-French truce. 1740 July 11 Jews are expelled from Little Russia. 1750 July 28 Died: Composer Johann Sebastian Bach, in Leipzig, Germany. 1755 July 9 French and Indian War: — Braddock Expedition: British troops and colonial militiamen are ambushed and suffer a devastating defeat to French and Indian forces. During the battle, British Gen. Edward Braddock is mortally wounded. Colonel George Washington survives. 1758 July 8 French and Indian War: French forces hold Fort Carillon against British at Ticonderoga, New York. 1775 July 3 Gen. George Washington took command of the Continental Army at Cambridge, Mass.   July 26 Benjamin Franklin became postmaster-general. 1776 July 2 American Revolutionary War: The Continental Congress passed a resolution saying that "these United Colonies ought to be, Free and Independent States."   July 4 American Revolutionary War: The Continental Congress approved a Declaration of Independence from Great Britain.   July 8 American Revolutionary War: In Phildelphia, Col. John Nixon gave the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence.   July 9 American Revolutionary War: In New York, Gen. George Washington read the Declaration of Independence to his troops.   July 11 Captain James Cook begins his third voyage around the world. 1777 July 2 Vermont becomes the first state to abolish slavery.   July 6 American Revolutionary War: British forces captured Fort Ticonderoga.   July 31 American Revolutionary War: The Marquis de Lafayette, a 19-year-old French nobleman, was made a major-general in the American Continental Army. 1778 July 10 American Revolution: In support of the U.S., Louis XVI of France declares war on Great Britain. 1782 July 1 American privateers attack Lunenberg, Nova Scotia. 1783 July 24 Born: Latin American revolutionary Simon Bolivar, in Caracas, Venezuela. 1785 July 6 Following Thomas Jefferson's recommendation, the U.S. adopts the dollar as the world's first decimal currency system. 1787 July 13 Congress enacted an ordinance governing the Northwest Territory. 1788 July 26 New York became the 11th state to ratify the U.S. Constitution. 1789 July 14 During the French Revolution, citizens of Paris stormed the Bastille prison and released its seven prisoners.   July 27 Congress established the Department of Foreign Affairs, the forerunner of the Department of State. 1790 July 16 The District of Columbia was established as the seat of the U.S. government.   July 24 U.S. Patent Office opens.   July 31 First U.S. patent issued to inventor Samuel Hopkins for a new method of making potash, used in fertilizer and glass. 1792 July 18 Died: American naval hero John Paul Jones, in Paris at age 45. 1794 July 27 French revolutionary leader Maximilien Robespierre was overthrown and placed under arrest; he was executed the following day. 1798 July 11 The U.S. Marine Corps is established.   July 14 Congress passed the Sedition Act, making it a federal crime to publish false, scandalous or malicious writing about the U.S. government. 1799 July 24 Napoleon Bonaparte defeats Turks at Aboukir in Egypt. 1801 July 5 American naval hero David G. Farragut was born at Campbell's Station near Knoxville, Tenn. 1802 July 4 The U.S. Military Academy opens at West Point, N.Y. 1803 July 4 The Louisiana Purchase is announced to Americans.   July 5 Napoleonic Wars: The convention of Artlenburg leads to the French occupation of Hanover. 1804 July 11 Former Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton is killed in a duel with former Vice President Aaron Burr. 1807 July 7 Napoleonic Wars: Peace of Tilsit between France, Kingdom of Prussia and Russia. 1810 July 20 Columbia declares independence from Spain. 1811 July 5 Venezuela becomes the first South American country to declare independence from Spain. 1812 July 25 War of 1812 — One of several attempts of U.S. forces to invade Canada during 1812 fails at Windsor, Ontario. 1813 July 5 War of 1812 — Three weeks of British raids on Fort Schlosser, Black Rock, and Plattsburgh, New York begin. 1814 July 5 War of 1812 — Battle Of Chippawa — American Major General Jacob Brown defeats British General Phineas Riall at Chippewa, Ontario. 1816 July 9 Argentina declared independence from Spain. 1817 July 4 At Rome, NY, construction on the Erie Canal begins. 1821 July 10 The U.S. takes possession from Spain of its newly-purchased territory of Florida. (Spain formally ceded ownership July 17, 1821.)   July 28 Peru declared its independence from Spain. 1824 July 24 Results of the world's first public opinion poll are published in Delaware, on voting intentions for the next U.S. presidential election. 1826 July 4 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence: Died: Founding Fathers, Thomas Jefferson, Va., and John Adams, Mass. Born: Stephen Foster, songwriter: Oh! Susanna, Camptown Races, (died: 1864).   July 8 Died: Luther Martin, Founding Father, Maryland. (He helped formulate the Constitution but refused to sign over concern for state's rights.) 1830 July 5 The French occupied the North African city of Algiers. 1831 July 4 Died: James Monroe, 5th U.S. president. 1838 July 4 The Iowa Territory is organized. 1839 July 2 Off the coast of Cuba, rebelling slaves led by Joseph Cinqué take over the Spanish slave ship Amistad. 1844 July 3 The last pair of Great Auks is killed. 1846 July 7 Commodore John Drake Sloat orders his troops to occupy Monterey and Yerba Buena, thus beginning the U.S. annexation of California. 1847 July 24 Brigham Young and the first Mormons arrive at Great Salt Lake, in present-day Utah. 1848 July 19 A pioneer women's rights convention convened in Seneca Falls, NY. 1850 July 9 The 12th U.S. president, Zachary Taylor, died after serving only 16 months of his term. (Millard Fillmore is inaugurated the following day.) 1853 July 8 An expedition led by Commodore Matthew Perry arrived in Yedo Bay, Japan, on a mission to seek diplomatic and trade relations with the "closed" country. 1854 July 6 In Jackson, Michigan, the first convention of the U.S. Republican Party is held. 1859 July 11 A Tale Of Two Cities by Charles Dickens is published. 1861 July 20 American Civil War — The Congress of the Confederate States began holding sessions in Richmond, Va.   July 21 At Manassas, Va., the First Battle of Bull Run began, marking the first major battle of the Civil War. (The battle ended with a Confederate victory.)   July 27 American Civil War — Union Gen. George B. McClellan was put in command of the Army of the Potomac. 1862 July 12 Congress finally authorized the Medal of Honor.   July 16 David G. Farragut became the first rear admiral in the United States Navy.   July 24 Died: The eighth president of the U.S., Martin Van Buren, in Kinderhook, N.Y. (Van Buren was the first U.S. president not to be born a British subject.) 1863 July 1 American Civil War — The Battle of Gettysburg begins. (The battle ends July 3 in a major victory for the Union.)   July 4 American Civil War: Union forces took possession of Vicksburg when Confederate forces surrendered after a 47-day siege.   July 13 Deadly rioting against the military draft erupted in New York City.   July 30 Born: Henry Ford, American industrialist (died: 1947). Indian Wars: Chief Pocatello of the Shoshone tribe signs the Treaty of Box Elder, promising to stop harassing the emigrant trails in southern Idaho and northern Utah. (Not related to the Mountain Meadows Massacre of 1857.) 1864 July 11 American Civil War: Confederate forces led by Gen. Jubal Early began an attack to invade Washington, D.C. but turned back the next day.   July 20 American Civil War: Battle of Peachtree Creek - Near Atlanta, Georgia, Confederate forces led by General John Bell Hood unsuccessfully attack Union troops under General William T. Sherman.   July 29 American Civil War: Confederate spy Belle Boyd is arrested by Union troops and detained at the Old Capitol Prison in Washington, D.C.   July 30 American Civil War: In the Battle of the Crater, Union forces attempt to break Confederate lines by exploding a large bomb under their trenches. 1865 July 5 In London, William Booth founds the Christian Mission (later renamed The Salvation Army).   July 7 In Washington D.C., 4 people were hanged for conspiring with John Wilkes Booth to assassinate President Lincoln. 1866 July 3 Austro-Prussian War decided at Battle of Königgratz, resulting in Prussia taking over as the prominent German nation from Austria.   July 24 Tennessee became the first state to be readmitted to the Union following the Civil War.   July 25 Ulysses S. Grant was named General of the Army, the first U.S. officer to hold the rank.   July 27 After two failures, Cyrus W. Field finally succeeded in laying the first underwater telegraph cable between North America and Europe. 1867 July 1 The British North America Act takes effect creating the Canadian Confederation; John A. Macdonald sworn as Canada's first prime minister. 1868 July 25 Congress passed an act creating the Wyoming Territory.   July 28 The 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, guaranteeing due process of law, was declared in effect. 1870 July 1 The U.S. Department of Justice formally comes into existence.   July 15 Georgia became the last Confederate state readmitted to the Union.   July 19 The Franco-Prussian war began. 1871 July 20 British Columbia joins the confederation of Canada. 1875 July 31 The 17th U.S. president, Andrew Johnson, died in Carter Station, Tenn., at age 66. 1877 July 20 Rioting in Baltimore, Maryland by Baltimore and Ohio Railroad workers is put down by the state militia, resulting in nine deaths. 1881 July 1 World's first international telephone call is made, between St. Stephen, Canada and Calais, Maine, USA.   July 2 Charles J. Guiteau shot U.S. President James Garfield at the Washington railroad station; Doctors were not able to remove the bullet; Garfield developed an infection and died on September 19.   July 14 Outlaw William H. Bonney Jr., alias "Billy the Kid," was shot dead by Sheriff Pat Garrett in Fort Sumner, N.M.   July 20 Indian Wars: Sioux chief Sitting Bull, a fugitive since the Battle of the Little Big Horn, leads the last of his people in surrender to U.S. troops at Fort Buford in Montana. 1885 July 6 Louis Pasteur successfully tests his vaccine for rabies on young Joseph Meister, who had been bitten by a rabid dog.   July 23 Died: Ulysses S. Grant, 18th U.S. president, in Mount McGregor, N.Y. at age 63. 1889 July 8 The first issue of the Wall Street Journal is published. Last championship bare-knuckle boxing match: John L. Sullivan defeats Jake Kilrain after 75 rounds. 1890 July 2 Congress passed the Sherman Antitrust Act.   July 3 Idaho is admitted as the 43rd U.S. state.   July 10 Wyoming is admitted as the 44rd U.S. state.   July 29 Died: Vincent van Gogh, Dutch painter (born: 1853). 1891 July 8 Warren G. Harding married Florence K. DeWolfe in Marion, Ohio. 1894 July 4 The short-lived Republic of Hawaii is proclaimed by Sanford B. Dole. 1898 July 1 Spanish-American War: Col. Theodore Roosevelt and his Rough Riders waged a victorious assualt on San Juan Hill in Cuba.   July 3 Spanish-American War: The U.S. Navy defeated a Spanish fleet in the harbor at Santiago, Cuba.   July 7 The U.S. annexes Hawaii.   July 17 During the Spanish-American War, Spanish troops in Santiago, Cuba, surrendered to U.S. forces. 1899 July 21 Born: Author Ernest Hemingway, in Oak Park, Ill. Born: Poet Hart Crane, in Garrettsville, Ohio. 1900 July 2 First zeppelin flight, on Lake Constance near Friedrichshafen, Germany. 1904 July 1 Games of the III Olympiad open in Saint Louis, Missouri.   July 23 Some credit this as the date when Charles E. Menches introduced his invention, the ice cream cone, during the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis. 1907 July 8 Florenz Ziegfeld staged his first "Follies," on the roof of the New York Theater.   July 29 Sir Robert Baden-Powell founds the Boy Scouts movement with the first scout camp at Brownsea Island. 1908 July 26 U.S. Attorney General Charles J. Bonaparte issued an order creating an investigative agency that was a forerunner of the FBI. 1910 July 4 African-American boxer Jack Johnson knocks out white boxer Jim Jeffries in a heavyweight boxing match sparking race riots across the United States. 1913 July 10 Death Valley, California hits 134 °F (~56.7 °C), the highest temperature ever recorded in the U.S. (as of July 10, 2004). 1914 July 11 Babe Ruth debuts in major league baseball.   July 23 Austria-Hungary issued an ultimatum to Serbia following the killing of Archduke Francis Ferdinand by a Serb assassin; the dispute led to World War I.   July 29 Transcontinental telephone service began with the first call between New York and San Francisco. 1916 July 1 WW I: First day of the First Battle of the Somme. On this first day, 20,000 soldiers of the British Army are killed, and 40,000 wounded. Lasts until November; about one million total casualties. 1917 July 6 Arabian troops led by T.E. Lawrence captured the port of Aqaba (in southwest Jordan) from the Turks.   July 17 During World War I, the Bristish royal family adopted the name "Windsor," in order to swap German sounding surnames (House of "Saxe-Coburg-Gotha") for English.   July 20 WW I: — Corfu Declaration that enabled post-war Kingdom of Yugoslavia was signed by the Yugoslav Committee and Kingdom of Serbia. 1918 July 4 Bolsheviks kill Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and his family (Julian calendar date). [On July 17, 1998, Nicholas II, last of the Romanov czars, was formally buried in Russia.]   July 9 101 were killed in a train collision in Nashville, Tenn.   July 16 Russia's Czar Nicholas II, his empress and their five children were executed by the Bolsheviks. 1919 July 6 The British dirgible R-34 lands in New York, completing the first crossing of the Atlantic by an airship.   July 10 President Wilson personally delivered the Treaty of Versailles to the Senate, and urged its ratification. 1921 July 11 Former President William H. Taft was sworn in as 10th Chief Justice of the U.S.S.C., becoming the only person to ever serve as both President and Chief Justice. Mongolia becomes independent (from China). 1923 July 6 The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was formed.   July 24 The Treaty of Lausanne, which settled the boundaries of modern Turkey, was concluded in Switzerland. 1925 July 10 Scopes Trial: In Dayton, Tennessee, the so-called "Monkey Trial" begins with John T. Scopes, a young high school science teacher, accused of teaching evolution in violation of a Tennessee state law. (The trial ended with a guilty verdict on July 21, but the conviction was later thrown out.) 1926 July 2 The U.S. Army Air Corp was created. 1929 July 24 President Hoover, a man that most people thought was rational, proclaimed the Kellogg-Briand Pact, which renounced war as an instrument of foreign policy. (In other words: Whatever you do, we will NOT fight back. It's this kind of nonsense that encourages the insane of the world, like Adolf Hitler and Osama bin Laden.) 1930 July 3 Congress created the U.S. Veterans Administration.   July 7 Construction began on the Boulder Dam (later Hoover Dam). 1932 July 18 The St. Lawrence Seaway development treaty is signed between the U.S. and Canada.   July 29 Great Depression: In Washington, D.C., U.S. troops dispersed the last of the "Bonus Army" of World War I veterans.   July 30 The Summer Olympics open in Los Angeles, Calif. 1933 July 6 The first All-Star baseball game was played, at Chicago's Comiskey Park; the American League defeated the National League, 4-2.   July 14 All German political parties, except the Nazi Party, were outlawed.   July 22 American aviator Wiley Post completed the first solo flight around the world in seven days, 18 and three-quarter hours. [In August, 1935, Post and humorist Will Rogers died in a plane crash in Alaska.] 1934 July 11 Franklin Roosevelt became the first U.S. president to travel through the Panama Canal.   July 22 Bank robber John Dillinger was shot to death by federal agents outside Chicago's Biograph Theater. 1936 July 18 The Spanish Civil War began. 1937 July 2 Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan disappeared over the Pacific Ocean while attempting to make the first round-the-world flight at the equator.   July 22 The U.S. Senate rejected President Roosevelt's plan to "pack" the Supreme Court by increasing the number of justices. 1938 July 10 Howard Hughes sets a new record by completing a 91 hour airplane flight around the world. 1939 July 6 Holocaust: The last remaining Jewish enterprises in Germany are closed. 1940 July 10 WW II — The 114-day Battle of Britain began as Nazi forces began attacking southern England by air. 1941 July 4 WW II — Nazi Germans commit mass murder of scientists and writers in Polish city of Lvov.   July 7 WW II — American forces landed in Iceland to forestall an invasion by the Nazis.   July 19 WW II — British Prime Minister Winston Churchill launched his "V" for victory campaign in Europe.   July 31 Holocaust — Under instructions from Adolf Hitler, Nazi official Hermann Göring, orders SS general Reinhard Heydrich to "submit to me as soon as possible a general plan .... for carrying out the desired final solution of the Jewish question." 1942 July 20 WW II — The first detachment of the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps — later known as WACs — began training at Fort Des Moines, Iowa.   July 22 WW II — Gasoline rationing involving the use of coupons began along the Atlantic seaboard.   July 30 WW II — President Roosevelt signed a bill creating a women's auxiliary agency in the Navy: "Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service" — WAVES for short. 1943 July 5 World War II — Battle of Kursk — The largest tank battle in history begins. An Allied invasion fleet set sail to Sicily.   July 10 World War II — U.S. and British forces invaded Sicily.   July 19 World War II — Allied air forces raided Rome.   July 22 World War II — American forces led by Gen. George S. Patton captured Palermo, Sicily.   July 25 World War II — Benito Mussolini was dismissed as premier of Italy by King Victor Emmanuel III, and placed under arrest. (However, Mussolini was later rescued by the Nazis, and reasserted his authority.)   July 28 World War II — President Roosevelt announced the end of coffee rationing. 1944 July 1 Delegates from 44 countries began meeting at Breton Woods, N.H., where they agreed to establish the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.   July 6 169 people died in a fire that broke out in the main tent of the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus in Hartford, Conn.   July 9 WW II — American forces secured Saipan as the last Japanese defenses fell.   July 17 WW II — 322 people were killed when two ammunition ships exploded in Port Chicago, California.   July 18 WW II — Hideki Tojo was removed as Japanese premier and war minister because of setbacks suffered by his country in the war.   July 20 WW II — Adolf Hitler survives the July 20 Plot, an assassination attempt led by Claus von Stauffenberg.   July 21 WW II — American forces landed on Guam. 1945 July 5 WW II — Liberation of the Philippines by American forces is declared.   July 6 President Truman signed an executive order establishing the Medal of Freedom.   July 16 The U.S. exploded its first atomic bomb, in the desert of Alamogordo, N.M.   July 17 President Truman, Soviet leader Josef Stalin and British Prime Minister Winston S. Churchill began meetings at Potsdam in the final Allied summit of World War II.   July 28 A U.S. Army bomber crashed into the 79th floor of New York's Empire State Building, killing 14 people.   July 30 WW II — A Japanese submarine sank the USS Indianapolis, killing 880 of the 1196 total on board in the worst single loss in the history of the U.S. Navy. 1946 July 1 The U.S. exploded a 20-kiloton atomic bomb near Bikini Atoll in the Pacific.   July 4 After over 400 years, the Philippines achieves full independence.   July 5 At an outdoor fashion show at the Molitor Pool in Paris, the bikini was introduced, and changed the world.   July 25 The U.S. exploded an atomic bomb at Bikini Atoll in the Pacific in the first underwater test of the device. 1947 July 5 Larry Doby signed with the Cleveland Indians, becoming the first black baseball player in the American League.   July 9 The engagement of Britain's Princess Elizabeth to Lt. Philip Mountbatten was announced.   July 26 President Truman signed the National Security Act, creating the Department of Defense, the National Security Council, the Central Intelligence Agency and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. 1948 July 1 New York International Airport at Idlewild (NY's Idlewild Airport) was officially opened. (Renamed: John F. Kennedy International Airport after JFK's assassination in 1963). The fare on NYC subways doubled to 10 cents.   July 20 Cold War: President Harry S. Truman issues the first peacetime military draft in the United States amid increasing tensions with the Soviet Union.   July 26 President Truman signed a pair of executive orders prohibiting discrimination in the U.S. armed forces and in federal employment.   July 29 Britain's King George VI opened the Olympic Games in London.   July 31 President Truman participated in the dedication of New York's International Airport at Idlewild Field (later renamed John F. Kennedy International Airport). 1949 July 21 The U.S. Senate ratified the North Atlantic Treaty leading to the formation of NATO. 1950 July 5 Korean War — Task Force Smith — First clash between American and North Korean forces. Zionism: The Knesset passes the Law of Return which grants all Jews the right to immigrate to Israel.   July 8 Korean War: Gen. Douglas MacArthur was named commander-in-chief of United Nations forces in Korea. 1951 July 5 William Shockley invents the junction transistor.   July 9 President Truman asked Congress to formally end the state of war with Germany.   July 16 The novel The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger was first published.   July 20 King Abdullah I of Jordan is assassinated while attending Friday prayers in Jerusalem. 1952 July 23 Egyptian military officers led by Gamal Abdel Nasser overthrew King Farouk I.   July 25 Puerto Rico became a self-governing commonwealth of the United States. 1953 July 27 Korean War — An armistice was signed at Panmunjom, ending three years of fighting. 1954 July 5 At Sun Records in Memphis, Tenn., Elvis Presley had his first commercial recording session and memorialized, "That's All Right (Mama)." (Two days later, station WHBQ in Memphis marked his radio debut by playing the song.)   July 21 The Geneva Accords divided Vietnam into northern and southern entities. 1955 July 11 The national motto In God We Trust was added to U.S. currency. the U.S. Air Force Academy was dedicated at Lowry Air Base in Colorado.   July 17 Disneyland debuted in Anaheim, California. 1956 July 25 51 people died when the Italian liner Andrea Doria sank after colliding with the Swedish ship Stockholm off the coast of New England.   July 30 A Joint Resolution of the U.S. Congress is signed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, authorizing "In God We Trust" as the U.S. national motto. 1957 July 6 Althea Gibson becomes the first black athlete to win the Wimbledon championships.   July 29 The International Atomic Energy Agency is established. 1958 July 7 President Eisenhower signed the Alaska statehood bill.   July 14 The army of Iraq overthrew the monarchy.   July 29 The U.S. Congress approved a bill to create NASA for startup on Oct. 1, 1958. 1959 July 24 During a visit to the Soviet Union, V.P. Richard Nixon engaged in a conversation with Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev at a U.S. exhibition.The exchange later became known as the "Kitchen Debate." 1960 July 20 Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) elected Sirimavo Bandaranaike Prime Minister, the world's first female head of government. 1961 July 2 Author Ernest Hemingway killed himself with a shotgun at his home in Ketchum, Idaho.   July 21 Captain Virgil "Gus" Grissom became the second American to rocket into a sub-orbital pattern around the Earth, flying aboard the "Liberty Bell Seven." 1962 July 3 Algeria gains independence after 132 years of French rule.   July 10 Telstar, the world's first communications satellite, is launched into orbit.   July 11 First transatlantic satellite TV transmission takes place. 1963 July 1 The U.S. Postal Service introduced the Zip code.   July 25 The U.S., the Soviet Union and Britain initialed a treaty in Moscow prohibiting the testing of nuclear weapons in the atmosphere, in space or underwater. 1964 July 2 President Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1964.   July 20 Vietnam War: Viet Cong forces attack the capital of Dinh Tuong Province, Cai Be, killing 11 South Vietnamese military personnel and 40 civilians (30 of which are children).   July 31 Ranger program: Ranger 7 sends back the first close-up photographs of the moon, images 1,000 times clearer than anything ever seen from earth-bound telescopes. 1965 July 14 Died: U.S. Ambassador Adlai Stevenson Jr., in London at age 65. The American space probe Mariner Four flew by Mars, sending back photos of the planet.   July 29 Vietnam War: The first 4,000 101st Airborne Division paratroopers arrive in Vietnam, landing at Cam Ranh Bay.   July 30 President Lyndon Johnson signs the Social Security Act of 1965 into law, establishing Medicare and Medicaid. 1967 July 6 The Biafran War erupted. (It lasted for 2½ years and claimed some 600,000 lives.)   July 13 Race-related rioting that claimed 27 lives broke out in Newark, New Jersey.   July 29 Vietnam War: Off the coast of North Vietnam in the Gulf of Tonkin, fire sweeps the USS Forrestal, in the worst US naval disaster since World War II (134 American servicemen are killed, 62 injured, 21 planes are destroyed and 42 more are damaged). 1968 July 1 Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty signed by about sixty countries in Geneva Switzerland. 1969 July 7 In Canada, French is made legally equal to English.   July 18 A car driven by Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., plunged off a bridge on Chappaquiddick Island near Martha's Vineyard; passenger Mary Jo Kopechne died. [Kennedy, local authorities and Massachusetts state officials promptly threw a cloak of secrecy over the incident and hearings were held withou public access. The public has never learned anything beyond the facts that: a)Kopechne died, b)Kennedy drove the car off of the bridge and c)Kennedy was drunk.]   July 20 Apollo Program: Apollo 11 lands on the Moon and Neil A. Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin become the first humans to walk on its surface. Astronaut Michael Collins remained in orbit in the command module. The three space pioneers splashed down safely in the Pacific on July 24th.   July 30 Vietnam War: President Richard Nixon makes an unscheduled visit to South Vietnam and meets with President Nguyen Van Thieu and with US military commanders. 1970 July 21 The Aswan High Dam was completed in Egypt after 11 years of construction. 1971 July 5 President Richard Nixon formally certifies that 38 states have ratified the 26th Amendment to the Constitution which reduces the voting age from 21 to 18.   July 15 In a surprise announcement, President Nixon told the nation he would visit the People's Republic of China.   July 30 Apollo program: Apollo 15 lands on the Moon. 1973 July 10 The Bahamas became independent after three centuries of British colonial rule.   July 16 During the Senate Watergate hearings, former White House aide Alexander P. Butterfield publicly revealed the existence of President Nixon's secret taping system. 1974 July 9 Died: Former U.S. Chief Justice Earl Warren, in Washington, D.C.   July 20 War of July 1974: Forces from Turkey invade Cyprus.   July 27 Watergate Scandal — The House Judiciary Committee voted 27-11 to recommend President Nixon's impeachment on a charge that he had personally engaged in a "course of conduct" designed to obstruct justice.   July 30 Watergate Scandal — Obeying the unanimous order of the U.S.S.C. (issued six days earlier), President Richard Nixon released tape recordings; The Nixon Tapes. 1975 July 5 American Arthur Ashe becomes the first black man to win the Wimbledon singles title. Cape Verde gains its independence from Portugal.   July 11 Chinese archeologists discover a large burial site with 6,000 clay statues of warriors from 221 BC.   July 17 An American Apollo spaceship docked with a Soviet Soyuz spacecraft in orbit in the first superpower link-up of its kind.   July 22 The House of Representatives joined the Senate in voting to restore the American citizenship of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.   July 29 Gerald Ford became the first U.S. president to visit the site of the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz in Poland as he paid tribute to the victims.   July 31 In Detroit, Michigan, Teamsters Union ex-president Jimmy Hoffa is reported missing. 1976 July 2 The U.S. Supreme Court rules that the death penalty is not inherently cruel or unusual.   July 4 Israeli commandos raid Entebbe airport in Uganda, rescuing most passengers and crew of an Air France jetliner seized by pro-Palestinian hijackers.   July 20 Viking program: The Viking 1 successfully lands on Mars. 1977 July 20 A flash flood hit Johnstown, Pa., killing 80 people and causing $350 million worth of property damage. 1978 July 7 The Solomon Islands become independent from the United Kingdom.   July 13 Chairman Henry Ford II fired Lee Iacocca as president of Ford Motor Company. (Iacocca then became head of Chrysler Corp., and is credited with saving Chrysler from bankruptcy and liquidation.)   July 25 Louise Joy Brown, the first test-tube baby, was born in Oldham, England; she'd been conceived through the technique of in-vitro fertilization. 1979 July 10 Died: Conductor Arthur Fiedler, who had led the Boston Pops orchestra for a half-century, in Brookline, Mass., at age 84.   July 11 The abandoned U.S. space station Skylab made a spectacular return to Earth, burning up in the atmosphere and showering debris over the Indian Ocean and Australia.   July 13 A 45-hour siege by Palestinian guerrillas began at the Egyptian Embassy in Ankara, Turkey. 1980 July 21 Draft registration was reinstated for 19- and 20-year-old men.   July 30 The Israeli Knesset passed a law reaffirming all of Jerusalem as the capital of the Jewish state. 1981 July 7 President Reagan announced he was nominating Arizona Judge Sandra Day O'Connor to become the first female justice on the U.S. Supreme Court.   July 29 Diana, Princess of Wales, The Lady Diana Frances Spencer, marries Charles, Prince of Wales at St. Paul's Cathedral in London. (The couple divorced in 1996.) 1982 July 9 A Pan Am Boeing 727 crashed in Kenner, La., killing all 146 people aboard and eight people on the ground.   July 20 The Provisional IRA detonates two bombs in central London, killing eight soldiers, wounding 47 people, and leading to the deaths of 7 horses. 1984 July 5 The U.S. Supreme Court clarified the 70-year-old "exclusionary rule," deciding that, in certain situations, evidence seized with defective court warrants could be used against defendants in criminal trials.   July 12 Democrat presidential candidate Walter Mondale announced that he had chosen Geraldine Ferraro of N.Y. to be his running-mate; Ferraro was the first woman to run for vice president on a major-party ticket.   July 25 Soviet cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya became the first woman to walk in space as she carried out more than three hours of experiments outside the orbiting space station Salyut 7. 1985 July 10 The Greenpeace vessel, the Rainbow Warrior is bombed and sunk in Auckland Harbor by French DGSE agents.   July 20 The main ship wreck site of the Spanish galleon Nuestra Senora de Atocha (which sank in 1622) is found 40 miles off the coast of Key West, Florida by treasure hunters who soon begin to raise $400 million in coins and silver. 1986 July 3 President Ronald Reagan presided over a gala ceremony in New York Harbor that saw the relighting of the renovated Statue of Liberty.   July 5 The Statue of Liberty is reopened to the public after an extensive refurbishing. 1987 July 3 British millionaire Richard Branson and Per Lindstrand became the first hot-air balloon travelers to cross the Atlantic, jumping into the sea as their craft went down off the Scottish coast.   July 4 In France, former Gestapo chief Klaus Barbie (aka the "Butcher of Lyon") is convicted of crimes against humanity and is sentenced to life imprisonment.   July 11 According to the U.N., the world population passes 5 billion people. (In 2004, the number reaches 6 billion.) 1988 July 3 U.S. Navy warship USS Vincennes accidentally shoots down an Iranian commercial jet over the Persian Gulf, killing all 290 people on board.   July 6 The Piper Alpha drilling platform in the North Sea is destroyed by explosions and fires killing 167 oil workers. 1989 July 2 Former Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko died in Moscow at age 79.   July 6 The U.S. Army destroyed its last Pershing I-A missles at an ammunition plant in Karnack, Texas.   July 10 Died: Mel Blanc, the "man of a thousand voices," including such cartoon characters as Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and Porky Pig, in Los Angeles at age 81. 1990 July 26 President H.W. Bush signed into law the Americans with Disabilities Act. 1991 July 1 The Warsaw Pact is officially dissolved.   July 5 A worldwide financial scandal erupted as regulators in eight countries shut down the Bank of Credit and Commerce International.   July 10 Boris Yeltsin begins his 5-year term as the first elected president of Russia.   July 31 President George H.W. Bush and U.S.S.R. President Mikhail S. Gorbachev signed the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty in Moscow. 1994 July 28 In a flagrant political stunt orchestrated by President Clinton, Congress agreed on a "crime-fighting" package that included hiring 100,000 new local police officers, banning assault-style weapons, vastly expanding the death penalty and putting third-time felons behind bars for life. [However, there was no increase in permanent positions of local police officers, no one ever defined what "assualt weapon" means and no federal court has ever handed out a life sentence because the defendant was a third-time felon.] 1997 July 1 The U.K. relinquishes sovereignty of Hong Kong to the People's Republic of China.   July 4 NASA's Pathfinder space probe lands on Mars.   July 8 NATO invites the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland to join the alliance in 1999.   July 10 London scientists report that DNA analysis of a Neanderthal skeleton supports the out of Africa theory of human evolution, placing an "African Eve" at 100,000 to 200,000 years ago.   July 21 The fully restored USS Constitution (aka "Old Ironsides") celebrated her 200th birthday by setting sail for the first time in 116 years. 1998 July 5 Japan launches a probe to Mars, thus joining the U.S. and Russia in space exploration. 2000 July 25 A New York-bound Air France Concorde crashed outside Paris shortly after takeoff, killing all 109 people on board and four people on the ground. [This turned out to be the beginning of the end for Concorde's commercial service.] 2001 July 2 Robert Tools received the world's first self-contained artificial heart in Louisville, Ky. (He lived 151 days with the device.) 2002 July 28 Nine coal miners, trapped in the flooded Quecreek Mine in Somerset, Pa., were freed in a dramatic televised rescue after 77 hours underground. 2004 July 1 Launched in 1997, the Cassini-Huygens arrives and is inserted into orbit to study Saturn's rings and moons.   July 5 Indonesia holds its first presidential election.   July 25 Lance Armstrong of Austin, Texas won his 6th-straight Tour de France bicycle race, finishing in Paris more than six minutes ahead of the second place racer. [ Close ]

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