1218 Kujō Yoritsune (born), Japanese shogun (died 1256)
1502 Vasco da Gama sets sail from Lisbon, Portugal, on his second voyage to India.
1554 A year after claiming the throne of England for nine days, Lady Jane Grey is beheaded for treason.
1554 Lady Jane Grey (died), English daughter of Frances Grey, Duchess of Suffolk (born 1537)
1571 Nicholas Throckmorton (died), English diplomat and politician (born 1515)
1606 John Winthrop the Younger (born), English-American politician, Governor of Connecticut (died 1676)
1637 Jan Swammerdam (born), Dutch biologist (died 1680)
1663 Cotton Mather (born), American minister (died 1728)
1665 Rudolf Jakob Camerarius (born), German botanist and physician (died 1721)
1728 Étienne-Louis Boullée (born), French architect (died 1799)
1733 Englishman James Oglethorpe founds Georgia, the 13th colony of the Thirteen Colonies, and its first city at Savannah (known as Georgia Day).
1771 Gustav III becomes the King of Sweden.
1775 Louisa Adams (born), American wife of John Quincy Adams, 6th First Lady of the United States (died 1852)
1785 Pierre Louis Dulong (born), French physicist (died 1838)
1787 Norbert Provencher (born), Canadian clergyman and missionary (died 1853)
1788 Carl Reichenbach (born), German chemist and philosopher (died 1869)
1789 Ethan Allen (died), American farmer, soldier, and politician (born 1738)
1791 Peter Cooper (born), American businessman and philanthropist, founded Cooper Union (died 1883)
1794 Alexander Petrov (born), Russian chess player (died 1867)
1799 Lazzaro Spallanzani (died), Italian biologist (born 1729)
1804 Heinrich Lenz (born), German physicist (died 1865)
1804 Immanuel Kant (died), German philosopher (born 1724)
1809 Abraham Lincoln (born), American lawyer and politician, 16th President of the United States (died 1865)
1809 Charles Darwin (born), English scientist and theorist (died 1882)
1825 The Creek cede the last of their lands in Georgia to the United States government by the Treaty of Indian Springs, and migrate west.
1832 Ecuador annexes the Galápagos Islands.
1851 Edward Hargraves announces that he has found gold in Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia, starting the Australian gold rushes.
1855 Michigan State University is established.
1857 Eugène Atget (born), French photographer (died 1927)
1861 Lou Andreas-Salomé (born), Russian-German psychoanalyst and author (died 1937)
1877 Louis Renault (born), French businessman, co-founded Renault (died 1944)
1880 John L. Lewis (born), American union leader (died 1969)
1881 Anna Pavlova (born), Russian ballerina (died 1931)
1884 Alice Roosevelt Longworth (born), American daughter of Theodore Roosevelt (died 1980)
1884 Marie Vassilieff (born), Russian painter (died 1957)
1884 Max Beckmann (born), German painter and sculptor (died 1950)
1885 Julius Streicher (born), German publisher, founded Der Stürmer (died 1946)
1893 Omar Bradley (born), American general (died 1981)
1894 Anarchist Émile Henry hurls a bomb into the Cafe Terminus in Paris, France, killing one and wounding 20.
1894 Hans von Bülow (died), German conductor, pianist, and composer (born 1830)
1903 Joseph F. Biroc (born), American cinematographer (died 1996)
1904 Ted Mack (born), American radio and television host (died 1976)
1908 Jean Effel (born), French painter and journalist (died 1982)
1909 The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is founded.
1912 The Xuantong Emperor, the last Emperor of China, abdicates.
1914 In Washington, D.C., the first stone of the Lincoln Memorial is put into place.
1914 Tex Beneke (born), American singer, saxophonist, and bandleader (Glenn Miller Orchestra) (died 2000)
1915 Lorne Greene (born) Canadian actor (died 1987)
1916 Joseph Alioto (born), American politician, 36th Mayor of San Francisco (died 1998)
1917 Dom DiMaggio (born), American baseball player (died 2009)
1919 Forrest Tucker (born), American actor (died 1986)
1920 William Roscoe Estep (born), American historian and educator (died 2000)
1923 Franco Zeffirelli (born), Italian director, producer, and politician
1926 Charles Van Doren (born), American quiz show contestant
1926 Joe Garagiola (born), American baseball player and television host
1930 Arlen Specter (born), American politician (died 2012)
1934 Anne Krueger (born), American economist
1935 Auguste Escoffier (died), French chef and author (born 1846)
1935 USS Macon, one of the two largest helium-filled airships ever created, crashes into the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California and sinks.
1938 Judy Blume (born), American author
1939 Ray Manzarek (born), American singer-songwriter, keyboard player, and producer (The Doors, Rick & the Ravens, Manzarek–Krieger, and Nite City) (died 2013)
1941 Naomi Uemura (born), Japanese explorer (died 1984)
1942 Grant Wood (died), American painter (born 1891)
1944 Moe Bandy (born), American singer and guitarist
1945 David D. Friedman (born), American economist
1946 African American United States Army veteran Isaac Woodard is severely beaten by a South Carolina police officer to the point where he loses his vision in both eyes. The incident later galvanizes the Civil Rights Movement and partially inspires Orson Welles’ film Touch of Evil.
1946 World War II: Operation Deadlight ends after scuttling 121 of 154 captured U-boats.
1947 A meteor creates an impact crater in Sikhote-Alin, in the Soviet Union.
1947 Christian Dior unveils a “New Look”, helping Paris regain its position as the capital of the fashion world.
1949 Hassan al-Banna (died), Egyptian educator founded the Muslim Brotherhood (born 1906)
1950 Steve Hackett (born), English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (Genesis, Quiet World, and GTR)
1952 Michael McDonald (born) American singer-songwriter and keyboard player (Steely Dan and The Doobie Brothers)
1953 Joanna Kerns (born), American actress and director
1956 Brian Robertson (born), Scottish guitarist and songwriter (Thin Lizzy, Motörhead, and Wild Horses)
1961 Soviet Union launches Venera 1 towards Venus.
1963 Construction begins on the Gateway Arch in St. Louis.
1968 Christopher McCandless (born), American adventurer (died 1992)
1968 Gregory Charles (born), Canadian singer, dancer, pianist, and actor
1968 Josh Brolin (born), American actor
1968 Phong Nhi and Phong Nhat massacre.
1971 James Cash Penney (died), American businessman, founded J. C. Penney (born 1875)
1974 Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1970, is exiled from the Soviet Union.
1976 Sal Mineo (died), American actor (born 1939)
1983 Eubie Blake (died), American pianist and composer (born 1887)
1994 Four men break into the National Gallery of Norway and steal Edvard Munch’s iconic painting The Scream.
1995 Philip Taylor Kramer (died), American bass player (Iron Butterfly) (born 1952)
1999 President Bill Clinton is acquitted by the United States Senate in his impeachment trial.
2000 Charles M. Schulz (died), American cartoonist, created Peanuts (born 1922)
2000 Screamin’ Jay Hawkins (died), American singer-songwriter, producer, and actor (born 1929)
2000 Tom Landry (died), American football player and coach (born 1924)
2002 The trial of Slobodan Milošević, the former President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, begins at the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague, Netherlands. He dies four years later before its conclusion.
2004 The city of San Francisco, California begins issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples in response to a directive from Mayor Gavin Newsom.
2007 Peggy Gilbert (died), American saxophonist and bandleader (born 1905)
2009 Colgan Air Flight 3407 crashes into a house in Clarence Center, New York while on approach to Buffalo Niagara International Airport, killing all on board and one on the ground.
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