313 The Edict of Milan, signed by Constantine the Great and co-emperor Valerius Licinius granting religious freedom throughout the Roman Empire, is posted in Nicomedia.
839 Charles the Fat (born), Roman emperor (died 888)
1525 Martin Luther marries Katharina von Bora, against the celibacy rule decreed by the Roman Catholic Church for priests and nuns.
1625 King Charles I of England marries Henrietta Maria of France, Princess of France
1740 Georgia provincial governor James Oglethorpe begins an unsuccessful attempt to take Spanish Florida during the Siege of St. Augustine.
1774 Rhode Island becomes the first of Britain’s North American colonies to ban the importation of slaves.
1777 American Revolutionary War: Marquis de Lafayette lands near Charleston, South Carolina, in order to help the Continental Congress to train its army.
1805 Lewis and Clark Expedition: scouting ahead of the expedition, Meriwether Lewis and four companions sight the Great Falls of the Missouri River.
1809 Heinrich Hoffmann (born), German psychiatrist and author (died 1894)
1854 Charles Algernon Parsons (born), English-Irish engineer (died 1931)
1865 W. B. Yeats (born), Irish poet, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1937)
1884 Gerald Gardner (born), English religious leader, founded Gardnerian Wicca (died 1964)
1892 Basil Rathbone (born), South African-American actor (died 1967)
1893 Dorothy L. Sayers (born), English author (died 1957)
1893 Grover Cleveland notices a rough spot in his mouth and on July 1 undergoes secret, successful surgery to remove a large, cancerous portion of his jaw; operation not revealed to US public until 1917, nine years after the president’s death.
1897 Paavo Nurmi (born), Finnish runner (died 1973)
1898 Yukon Territory is formed, with Dawson chosen as its capital.
1899 Carlos Chávez (born), Mexican composer, conductor, and journalist, founded the Mexican Symphonic Orchestra (died 1978)
1903 Red Grange (born), American football player and actor (died 1991)
1905 Doc Cheatham (born), American trumpet player, singer, and bandleader (McKinney’s Cotton Pickers) (died 1997)
1911 Luis Walter Alvarez (born), American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1988)
1915 Don Budge (born), American tennis player (died 2000)
1916 Wu Zhengyi (born), Chinese botanist (died 2013)
1918 Ben Johnson (born), American actor and stuntman (died 1996)
1926 Paul Lynde (born), American actor and singer (died 1982)
1927 Aviator Charles Lindbergh receives a ticker-tape parade down 5th Avenue in New York City.
1928 John Forbes Nash, Jr. (born), American mathematician, Nobel Prize laureate
1930 Henry Segrave (died), American-English race car driver (born 1896)
1944 World War II: Germany launches a V1 Flying Bomb attack on England. Only four of the eleven bombs actually hit their targets.
1949 Dennis Locorriere, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show)
1951 Howard Leese, American guitarist and producer (Bad Company and Heart)
1953 Tim Allen, American actor and producer
1955 Leah Ward Sears, American jurist
1955 Mir Mine, the first diamond mine in the USSR, is discovered.
1962 Ally Sheedy, American actress and author
1962 Hannah Storm, American journalist and author
1963 Paul De Lisle, American bass player (Smash Mouth)
1966 The United States Supreme Court rules in Miranda v. Arizona that the police must inform suspects of their rights before questioning them.
1967 U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson nominates Solicitor-General Thurgood Marshall to become the first black justice on the U.S. Supreme Court.
1970 “The Long and Winding Road” becomes the Beatles’ last US Number 1 song.
1971 Vietnam War: The New York Times begins publication of the Pentagon Papers.
1972 Clyde McPhatter (died), American singer (Billy Ward and his Dominoes and The Drifters) (born 1932)
1977 Convicted Martin Luther King Jr. assassin James Earl Ray is recaptured after escaping from prison three days before.
1978 Israeli Defense Forces withdraw from Lebanon.
1981 At the Trooping the Colour ceremony in London, a teenager, Marcus Sarjeant, fires six blank shots at Queen Elizabeth II.
1982 Fahd becomes King of Saudi Arabia upon the death of his brother, Khalid.
1983 Pioneer 10 becomes the first man-made object to leave the central Solar System when it passes beyond the orbit of Neptune (the furthest planet from the Sun at the time).
1986 Ashley Olsen, American actress, singer, producer, and fashion designer
1986 Benny Goodman (died), American clarinet player, songwriter, and bandleader (born 1909)
1986 Mary-Kate Olsen, American actress, singer, producer, and fashion designer
1987 Geraldine Page (died), American actress (born 1924)
1993 Deke Slayton (died), American pilot and astronaut (born 1924)
1994 A jury in Anchorage, Alaska, blames recklessness by Exxon and Captain Joseph Hazelwood for the Exxon Valdez disaster, allowing victims of the oil spill to seek $15 billion in damages.
1996 The Montana Freemen surrender after an 81-day standoff with FBI agents.
1997 A jury sentences Timothy McVeigh to death for his part in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.
2000 Italy pardons Mehmet Ali Agca, the Turkish gunman who tried to kill Pope John Paul II in 1981.
2002 The United States withdraws from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.
2002 Two 14-year-old South Korean girls are struck and killed by a United States Army armored vehicle, leading to months of public protests against the US.
2005 A jury in Santa Maria, California acquits pop singer Michael Jackson of molesting 13-year-old Gavin Arvizo at his Neverland Ranch.
2008 Tim Russert (died), American journalist and lawyer (born 1950)
2010 Jimmy Dean (died), American singer, actor, and businessman, founded Jimmy Dean Foods (born 1928)
2012 Graeme Bell (died), Australian pianist, composer, and bandleader (born 1914)
2013 Sam Most (died), American flute player and saxophonist (born 1930)
EO Smith
Latest posts by EO Smith (see all)
- Patriotism - 4 July, 2017
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- Alternative Facts and Science - 24 January, 2017