799 Paul the Deacon (died), Italian monk and historian (born 720)
1111 Henry V is crowned Holy Roman Emperor.
1204 Constantinople falls to the Crusaders of the Fourth Crusade, temporarily ending the Byzantine Empire.
1506 Peter Faber (born), French theologian, co-founded the Society of Jesus (died 1546)
1519 Catherine de’ Medici (born), Italian-French wife of Henry II of France (died 1589)
1592 Bartolomeo Ammannati (died), Italian architect and sculptor (born 1511)
1598 Henry IV of France issues the Edict of Nantes, allowing freedom of religion to the Huguenots. (Edict repealed in1685.)
1613 Samuel Argall captures Native American princess Pocahontas in Passapatanzy, Virginia to ransom her for some English prisoners held by her father.
1641 Richard Montagu (died), English clergyman (born 1577)
1713 Pierre Jélyotte (born), French tenor (died 1797)
1732 Frederick North (born), Lord North, English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (died 1792)
1735 Isaac Low (born), American merchant and politician, founded the New York Chamber of Commerce (died 1791)
1742 George Frideric Handel’s oratorio Messiah makes its world-premiere in Dublin, Irelandied
1743 Thomas Jefferson (born), American politician, 3rd President of the United States (died 1826)
1747 Louis Philippe II (born), Duke of Orléans (died 1793)
1769 Thomas Lawrence (born), English painter (died 1830)
1771 Richard Trevithick (born), English engineer (died 1833)
1780 Alexander Mitchell (born), Irish engineer, invented the Screw-pile lighthouse (died 1868)
1794 Jean Pierre Flourens (born), French physiologist (died 1867)
1796 The first elephant ever seen in the United States arrives from India.
1802 Leopold Fitzinger (born), Austrian zoologist (died 1884)
1808 Antonio Meucci (born), Italian-American inventor (died 1889)
1826 Franz Danzi (died), German cellist, composer, and conductor (born 1763)
1828 Joseph Lightfoot (born), English bishop and theologian (died 1889)
1829 The Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829 gives Roman Catholics in the United Kingdom the right to vote and to sit in Parliament.
1849 Hungary becomes a republic.
1852 Frank Winfield Woolworth (born), American businessman, founded the F.W. Woolworth Company (died 1919)
1855 Henry De la Beche (died), English geologist (born 1796)
1860 James Ensor (born), Belgian painter (died 1949)
1861 American Civil War: Fort Sumter surrenders to Confederate forces.
1866 Butch Cassidy (born), American criminal (died 1908)
1870 The New York City Metropolitan Museum of Art is foundedied
1880 Robert Fortune (died), Scottish botanist (born 1813)
1882 Bruno Bauer (died), German historian and philosopher (born 1809)
1886 John Humphrey Noyes (died), American religious leader, founded the Oneida Community (born 1811)
1889 Herbert Yardley (born), American cryptologist (died 1958)
1900 Pierre Molinier (born), French painter and photographer (died 1976)
1901 Jacques Lacan (born), French psychoanalyst (died 1981)
1902 James C. Penney opens his first store in Kemmerer, Wyoming.
1902 Philippe de Rothschild (born), French race car driver (died 1988)
1906 Bud Freeman (born), American saxophonist, composer, and bandleader (died 1991)
1906 Samuel Beckett (born), Irish-French author, playwright, and director, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1989)
1907 Harold Stassen (born), American academic and politician, 25th Governor of Minnesota (died 2001)
1909 Eudora Welty (born), American author (died 2001)
1916 Phyllis Fraser (born), American actress, journalist, and publisher, co-founded Beginner Books (died 2006)
1917 Robert Orville Anderson (born), American businessman, founded Atlantic Richfield Oil Co. (died 2007)
1919 Eugene V. Debs is imprisoned at the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary in Atlanta, Georgia, for speaking out against the draft during World War I.
1919 Madalyn Murray O’Hair (born), American activist, founded American Atheists (died 1995)
1922 Julius Nyerere (born), Tanzanian politician, 1st President of Tanzania (died 1999)
1923 Don Adam (born), American actor and director (died 2005)
1923 Stanley Tanger (born), American businessman and philanthropist, founded the Tanger Factory Outlet Centers (died 2010)
1931 Dan Gurney (born), American race car driver
1931 Jon Stone (born), American screenwriter and producer, co-created Sesame Street (died 1997)
1939 Paul Sorvino (born), American actor
1939 Seamus Heaney (born), Irish poet and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2013)
1940 Lester Chambers (born), American singer-songwriter (The Chambers Brothers)
1940 Max Mosley (born), English race car driver and engineer, co-founded March Engineering
1943 Billy Kidd (born), American skier
1943 The Jefferson Memorial is dedicated in Washington, DIEDC., on the 200th anniversary of Thomas Jefferson’s birth.
1944 Jack Casady (born), American bass player (Jefferson Airplane, Hot Tuna, and Jefferson Starship)
1944 Susan Davis (born), American politician
1945 Lowell George (born), American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (Little Feat and Mothers of Invention) (died 1979)
1945 World War II: Soviet and Bulgarian forces capture Vienna, Austria.
1946 Al Green (born), American singer-songwriter, producer, and pastor
1949 Christopher Hitchens (born), English-American journalist and author (died 2011)
1950 Ron Perlman (born), American actor
1951 Max Weinberg (born), American drummer (E Street Band)
1951 Peabo Bryson (born), American singer-songwriter
1953 CIA director Allen Dulles launches the mind-control program MKULTRA.
1956 Possum Bourne (born), New Zealand race car driver (died 2003)
1957 Amy Goodman (born), American journalist and author
1958 American Van Cliburn wins the inaugural International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow.
1960 The United States launches Transit 1-B, the world’s first satellite navigation system.
1962 Hillel Slovak (born), Israeli-American guitarist (Red Hot Chili Peppers and What Is This?) (died 1988)
1963 Garry Kasparov (born), Russian chess player
1964 At the Academy Awards, Sidney Poitier becomes the first African-American male to win the Best Actor award for the 1963 film Lilies of the Fieldied
1966 Marc Ford (born), American guitarist, songwriter, and producer (The Black Crowes and Burning Tree)
1970 An oxygen tank aboard Apollo 13 explodes, putting the crew in great danger and causing major damage to the spacecraft while en route to the Moon.
1974 Western Union (in cooperation with NASA and Hughes Aircraft) launches the United States’ first commercial geosynchronous communications satellite, Westar 1.
1976 The United States Treasury Department reintroduces the two-dollar bill as a Federal Reserve Note on Thomas Jefferson’s 233rd birthday as part of the United States Bicentennial celebration.
1984 Ralph Kirkpatrick (died), American harp player and musicologist (born 1911)
1987 Portugal and the People’s Republic of China sign an agreement in which Macau would be returned to China in 1999.
1992 The Great Chicago Floodied
1997 Tiger Woods becomes the youngest golfer to win the Masters Tournament.
2001 Robert Moon (died), American postal inspector, created the ZIP code (born 1917)
2012 Cecil Chaudhry (died), Pakistani pilot, academic, and activist (born 1941)
2013 Adolph Herseth (died), American trumpet player (born 1921)
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