1245 Thomas, the first known Bishop of Finland, is granted resignation after confessing to torture and forgery.
1437 James I of Scotland (died) (born 1394)
1554 Hieronymus Bock (died), German botanist (born 1498)
1621 Rebecca Nurse (born), English-American victim of the Salem witch trials (died 1692)
1668 John Thurloe (died), English secretary and spy (born 1616)
1677 Baruch Spinoza (died), Dutch philosopher (born 1632)
1715 Charles Calvert (died), 3rd Baron Baltimore, English politician (born 1637)
1721 John McKinly (born), American physician (died 1796)
1723 Louis-Pierre Anquetil (born), French historian (died 1808)
1791 Carl Czerny (born), Austrian pianist and composer (died 1857)
1794 Antonio López de Santa Anna (born), Mexican general and politician, 8th President of Mexico (died 1876)
1804 The first self-propelling steam locomotive makes its outing at the Pen-y-Darren Ironworks in Wales.
1821 Charles Scribner I (born), American publisher, founded Charles Scribner’s Sons (died 1871)
1828 Initial issue of the Cherokee Phoenix is the first periodical to use the Cherokee syllabary invented bySequoyah.
1842 John Greenough is granted the first U.S. patent for the sewing machine.
1846 Emperor Ninkō of Japan (died) (born 1800)
1848 Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels publish The Communist Manifesto.
1862 American Civil War: Battle of Valverde is fought near Fort Craig in New Mexico Territory.
1874 The Oakland Daily Tribune publishes its first edition.
1878 The first telephone book is issued in New Haven, Connecticut.
1885 The newly completed Washington Monument is dedicated.
1893 Andrés Segovia (born), Spanish guitarist (died 1987)
1900 Marthinus Nikolaas Ras (died), South African farmer, soldier, and gun maker (born 1853)
1901 George FitzGerald (died), Irish mathematician (born 1851)
1903 Anaïs Nin (born), French-American author (died 1977)
1904 Alexei Kosygin (born), Russian politician (died 1980)
1907 W. H. Auden (born), English-American poet (died 1973)
1918 The last Carolina Parakeet dies in captivity at the Cincinnati Zoo.
1921 Rezā Shāh takes control of Tehran during a successful coup
1924 Emil Frei (born), American physician and oncologist (died 2013)
1925 Sam Peckinpah (born), American director and screenwriter (died 1984)
1925 The New Yorker publishes its first issue.
1926 Heike Kamerlingh Onnes (died), Dutch physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1853)
1927 Erma Bombeck (born), American columnist (died 1996)
1927 Hubert de Givenchy (born), French fashion designer, founded Givenchy
1927 Pierre Mercure (born), Canadian bassoon player and composer (died 1966)
1933 Nina Simone (born), American singer-songwriter and pianist (died 2003)
1934 Rue McClanahan (born), American actress (died 2010)
1938 George Ellery Hale (died), American astronomer (born 1868)
1940 John Lewis (born), American politician and activist
1940 Peter Gethin (born), English race car driver (died 2011)
1940 Wong Jim (born), Hong Kong actor, screenwriter, and composer (died 2004)
1942 Tony Martin (born), Trinidadian-American historian and educator (died 2013)
1943 David Geffen (born), American film and record producer, co-founded DreamWorks and Geffen Records
1945 World War II: Japanese Kamikaze planes sink the escort carrier USS Bismarck Sea and damage the USS Saratoga.
1946 Knut Hove (born), Norwegian veterinarian
1946 Tyne Daly (born), American actress
1947 In New York City, Edwin Land demonstrates the first “instant camera”, the Polaroid Land Camera, to a meeting of the Optical Society of America.
1947 Olympia Snowe (born), American politician
1947 Victor Sokolov (born), Russian journalist (died 2006)
1949 Jerry Harrison (born), American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (Talking Heads and The Modern Lovers)
1951 Vince Welnick (born), American keyboard player (The Grateful Dead, The Tubes, and Missing Man Formation) (died 2006)
1952 The British government, under Winston Churchill, abolishes identity cards in the UK to “set the people free”.
1955 Kelsey Grammer (born), American actor, singer, director, and producer
1958 Mary Chapin Carpenter (born), American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1958 The peace symbol, commissioned by Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament in protest against the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment, is designed and completed by Gerald Holtom.
1960 Steve Wynn (born), American singer-songwriter (Dream Syndicate and The Baseball Project)
1961 Christopher Atkins (born), American actor
1963 William Baldwin (born), American actor, producer, and screenwriter
1965 Malcolm X (died), American minister and activist (born 1925)
1965 Malcolm X is assassinated at the Audubon Ballroom in New York City by members of the Nation of Islam.
1968 Howard Florey (died), Australian pathologist and pharmacologist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1898)
1972 President Richard Nixon visits the People’s Republic of China to normalize Sino-American relations.
1972 The Soviet unmanned spaceship Luna 20 lands on the Moon.
1973 Over the Sinai Desert, Israeli fighter aircraft shoot down Libyan Arab Airlines Flight 114 jet killing 108.
1974 The last Israeli soldiers leave the west bank of the Suez Canal pursuant to a truce with Egypt.
1975 Watergate scandal: Former United States Attorney General John N. Mitchell and former White House aides H. R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman are sentenced to prison.
1977 Kevin Rose (born), American businessman and television host, founded Digg
1979 Jennifer Love Hewitt (born), American actress, singer, and producer
1982 Murray the K (died), American radio host (born 1922)
1995 Steve Fossett lands in Leader, Saskatchewan, Canada becoming the first person to make a solo flight across the Pacific Ocean in a balloon.
1996 Morton Gould (died), American pianist, composer, and composer (born 1913)
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