32 Otho (born), Roman emperor (died 69)
1192 Conrad of Montferrat (died) (born 1140)
1253 Nichiren, a Japanese Buddhist monk, propounds Nam Myoho Renge Kyo for the very first time and declares it to be the essence of Buddhism, in effect founding Nichiren Buddhism.
1442 Edward IV of England (born) (died 1483)
1503 The Battle of Cerignola is fought. It is noted as the first battle in history won by small arms fire using gunpowder.
1611 Establishment of the Pontifical and Royal University of Santo Tomas, The Catholic University of the Philippines, the largest Catholic university in the world.
1630 Charles Cotton (born), English poet (died 1687)
1695 Henry Vaughan (died), Welsh poet and author (born 1621)
1710 Thomas Betterton (died), English actor (born 1630s)
1715 Franz Sparry (born), Austrian composer (died 1767)
1716 Louis de Montfort (died), French priest and saint (born 1673)
1726 Thomas Pitt (died), English merchant (born 1653)
1758 James Monroe (born), American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 5th President of the United States (died 1831)
1765 Sylvestre François Lacroix (born), French mathematician (died 1834)
1772 Johann Friedrich Struensee (died), German physician (born 1737)
1788 Maryland becomes the seventh state to ratify the Constitution of the United States.
1789 Mutiny on the Bounty: Lieutenant William Bligh and 18 sailors are set adrift and the rebel crew, led by Fletcher Christian, returns to Tahiti briefly and then sets sail for Pitcairn Island.
1792 France invades the Austrian Netherlands (present day Belgium), beginning the French Revolutionary War.
1796 The Armistice of Cherasco is signed by Napoleon Bonaparte and Vittorio Amedeo III, the King of Sardinia, expanding French territory along the Mediterranean coast.
1816 Johann Heinrich Abicht (died), German philosopher (born 1762)
1819 Ezra Abbot (born), American scholar (died 1884)
1848 Ludvig Schytte (born), Danish composer, pianist, and teacher (died 1909)
1858 Johannes Peter Müller (died), German physiologist and anatomist (born 1801)
1865 Charles W. Woodworth (born), American entomologist (died 1940)
1865 Samuel Cunard (died), Canadian-English businessman (born 1787)
1869 Chinese and Irish laborers for the Central Pacific Railroad working on the First Transcontinental Railroad lay 10 miles of track in one day, a feat which has never been matched.
1878 Lionel Barrymore (born), American actor and director (died 1954)
1883 John Russell (died), English hunter and dog breeder (born 1795)
1906 Kurt Gödel (born), Czech-American mathematician (died 1978)
1906 Paul Sacher (born), Swiss conductor (died 1999)
1908 Oskar Schindler (born), Czech-German businessman (died 1974)
1910 Frenchman Louis Paulhan wins the 1910 London to Manchester air race, the first long-distance airplane race in England.
1911 Lee Falk (born), American playwright, director, and producer (died 1999)
1916 Ferruccio Lamborghin (born)i, Italian businessman, created Lamborghini (died 1993)
1920 Azerbaijan is added to the Soviet Union.
1921 Rowland Evans (born), American journalist (died 2001)
1924 Dick Ayers (born), American illustrator
1926 Harper Lee (born), American author
1928 Eugene Merle Shoemaker (born), American geologist (died 1997)
1928 Yves Klein (born), French painter (died 1962)
1930 James Baker (born), American lawyer and politician, 10th White House Chief of Staff
1930 The first night game in organized baseball history takes place in Independence, Kansas.
1932 A vaccine for yellow fever is announced for use on humans.
1937 Jean Redpath (born), Scottish singer
1937 Saddam Hussein (born), Iraqi politician, 5th President of Iraq (died 2006)
1941 Ann-Margret (born), Swedish-American actress, singer, and dancer
1941 Karl Barry Sharpless (born), American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
1944 Alice Waters (born), American chef and author
1944 Elizabeth LeCompte (born), American director
1944 World War II: Nine German E-boats attacked US and UK units during Exercise Tiger, the rehearsal for the Normandy landings, killing 946.
1945 Benito Mussolini (died), Italian journalist and politician, 27th Prime Minister of Italy (born 1883)
1945 Benito Mussolini and his mistress Clara Petacci are executed by a firing squad consisting of members of the Italian resistance movement.
1946 Louis Bachelier (died), French mathematician (born 1870)
1947 Thor Heyerdahl and five crew mates set out from Peru on the Kon-Tiki to prove that Peruvian natives could have settled Polynesia.
1948 Igor Stravinsky conducted the premier of his American ballet, Orpheus, t the New York City Center.
1948 Marcia Strassman (born), American actress
1949 Aurora Quezon, Filipino wife of Manuel Quezon, 2nd First Lady of the Philippines (born 1888), 61, is assassinated while en route to dedicate a hospital in memory of her late husband; her daughter and 10 others are also killed.
1949 Indian Larry (born), American motorcycle rider and builder (died 2004)
1949 Paul Guilfoyle (born), American actor
1950 Jay Leno (born), American comedian, talk show host, and producer
1952 –The United States occupation of Japan ends as the Treaty of San Francisco, ratified September 8, 1951, comes into force.
1952 Chuck Leavell (born), American singer-songwriter and keyboard player (The Allman Brothers Band and Sea Level)
1952 Dwight D. Eisenhower resigns as Supreme Allied Commander of NATO.
1952 Mary McDonnell (born), American actress
1952 The Sino-Japanese Peace Treaty (Treaty of Taipei) is signed in Taipei, Taiwan between Japan and the Republic of China to officially end the Second Sino-Japanese War.
1959 Erhard Loretan (born), Swiss mountaineer (died 2011)
1960 Elena Kagan (born), American lawyer, jurist, and academic
1960 Phil King (born), English bass player (Lush and The Jesus and Mary Chain)
1965 –American troops land in the Dominican Republic to “forestall establishment of a Communist dictatorship” and to evacuate U.S. Army troops.
1966 John Daly (born), American golfer
1969 Charles de Gaulle resigns as President of France.
1970 Ed Begley (died), American actor (born 1901)
1970 Vietnam War: U.S. President Richard M. Nixon formally authorizes American combat troops to fight communist sanctuaries in Cambodia.
1974 Penélope Cruz (born), Spanish-American actress
1977 The Red Army Faction trial ends, with Andreas Baader, Gudrun Ensslin and Jan-Carl Raspe found guilty of four counts of murder and more than 30 counts of attempted murder.
1978 President of Afghanistan, Mohammed Daoud Khan, is overthrown and assassinated in a coup led by pro-communist rebels.
1980 Bradley Wiggins (born), Belgian-English cyclist
1980 Tommy Caldwell (died), American bass player (The Marshall Tucker Band) (born 1949)
1981 Steve Currie (died), English bass player (T. Rex) (born 1947)
1986 The United States Navy aircraft carrier USS Enterprise becomes the first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier to transit the Suez Canal, navigating from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea to relieve the USS Coral Sea.
1987 American engineer Ben Linder is killed in an ambush by U.S.-funded Contras in northern Nicaragua.
1991 Ken Curtis (died), American actor and singer (Sons of the Pioneers) (born 1916)
1994 Former Central Intelligence Agency counter-intelligence officer and analyst Aldrich Ames pleads guilty to giving U.S. secrets to the Soviet Union and later Russia.
1996 Whitewater controversy: President Bill Clinton gives a 4½ hour videotaped testimony for the defense.
1999 Rolf Landauer (died), German-American physicist and engineer (born 1927)
1999 Rory Calhoun (died), American actor, screenwriter, and producer (born 1922)
2001 Millionaire Dennis Tito becomes the world’s first space tourist.
2005 Percy Heath (died), American bassist (Modern Jazz Quartet) (born 1923)
2007 Tommy Newsom (died), American saxophonist and bandleader (born 1929)
EO Smith
Latest posts by EO Smith (see all)
- Patriotism - 4 July, 2017
- The Super Sucker Bowl - 10 February, 2017
- Alternative Facts and Science - 24 January, 2017