272 Constantine the Great (born), Roman emperor (died 337)
425 The University of Constantinople is founded by Emperor Theodosius II at the urging of his wife Aelia Eudocia.
1560 The Treaty of Berwick, which would expel the French from Scotland, is signed by England and the Lords of the Congregation of Scotland.
1594 Henry IV is crowned King of France.
1659 Henry Dunster (died), English-American clergyman and academic (born 1609)
1689 Pietro Gnocchi (born), Italian composer, director, historian, and geographer (died 1775)
1691 Edward Cave (born), English publisher, founded The Gentleman’s Magazine (died 1754)
1700 The island of New Britain is discovered.
1706 John Evelyn (died), English author (born 1620)
1735 John Arbuthnot (died), Scottish physician (born 1667)
1776 American Revolutionary War: the Battle of Moore’s Creek Bridge in North Carolina breaks up a Loyalist militia.
1779 Thomas Hazlehurst (born), English businessman, founded Hazlehurst & Sons (died 1842)
1782 American Revolutionary War: the House of Commons of Great Britain votes against further war in America.
1801 Pursuant to the District of Columbia Organic Act of 1801, Washington, D.C. is placed under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Congress.
1807 Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (born), American poet (died 1882)
1812 Poet Lord Byron gives his first address as a member of the House of Lords, in defense of Luddite violence against Industrialism in his home county of Nottinghamshire.
1844 Nicholas Biddle (died), American banker (born 1786)
1844 The Dominican Republic gains independence from Haiti.
1860 Abraham Lincoln makes a speech at Cooper Union in the city of New York that is largely responsible for his election to the Presidency.
1864 American Civil War: The first Northern prisoners arrive at the Confederate prison at Andersonville, Georgia.
1867 Irving Fisher (born), American economist (died 1947)
1869 Alice Hamilton (born), American academic (died 1970)
1870 The current flag of Japan is first adopted as the national flag for Japanese merchant ships.
1886 Hugo Black (born), American jurist and politician (died 1971)
1887 Alexander Borodin (died), Russian composer and chemist (born 1833)
1888 Roberto Assagioli (born), Italian psychiatrist (died 1974)
1891 David Sarnoff (born), Belarusian-American businessman and journalist, founded RCA (died 1971)
1892 Louis Vuitton (died), French businessman, founded Louis Vuitton (born 1821)
1897 Marian Anderson (born), American singer (died 1993)
1900 The British Labour Party is founded.
1902 Breaker Morant (died), English-Australian soldier (born 1864)
1902 Gene Sarazen (born), American golfer (died 1999)
1902 John Steinbeck (born), American author, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1968)
1903 Ion Irimescu (born), Romanian sculptor and sketcher (died 2005)
1910 Genrikh Kasparyan (born), Armenian chess player (died 1995)
1910 Kelly Johnson (born), American engineer, co-founded Skunk Works (died 1990)
1910 Peter De Vries (born), American author (died 1993)
1912 Lawrence Durrell (born), Indian-English author (died 1990)
1913 Irwin Shaw (born), American author and screenwriter (died 1984)
1913 Paul Ricoeur (born), French philosopher (died 2005)
1921 The International Working Union of Socialist Parties is founded in Vienna.
1922 A challenge to the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, allowing women the right to vote, is rebuffed by the Supreme Court of the United States in Leser v. Garnett.
1922 Hans Rookmaaker (born), Dutch historian, author, and scholar (died 1977)
1926 David H. Hubel (born), Canadian neurophysiologist, Nobel Prize laureate
1930 Joanne Woodward (born), American actress
1932 Elizabeth Taylor (born), English-American actress (died 2011)
1934 Ralph Nader (born), American lawyer, author, and activist
1936 Ivan Pavlov (died), Russian physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1849)
1939 Peter Revson (born), American race car driver (died 1974)
1939 United States labor law: The U.S. Supreme Court rules that sit-down strikes violate property owners’ rights and are therefore illegal.
1940 Howard Hesseman (born), American actor
1940 Martin Kamen and Sam Ruben discover carbon-14
1942 Robert H. Grubbs (born), American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
1942 World War II: During the Battle of the Java Sea, an allied strike force is defeated by a Japanese task force in the Java Sea in the Dutch East Indies
1951 The Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution, limiting Presidents to two terms, is ratified.
1954 Neal Schon (born), American singer-songwriter and guitarist (Journey, Santana, Bad English, and Hardline)
1959 Johnny Van Zant (born), American singer-songwriter (Lynyrd Skynyrd and Van Zant)
1962 Adam Baldwin (born), American actor
1963 The Dominican Republic receives its first democratically elected president, Juan Bosch, since the end of the dictatorship led by Rafael Trujillo.
1964 The government of Italy asks for help to keep the Leaning Tower of Pisa from toppling over.
1969 Marius Barbeau (died), Canadian ethnographer (born 1883)
1971 Doctors in the first Dutch abortion clinic (the Mildredhuis in Arnhem) start to perform aborti provocati.
1973 The American Indian Movement occupies Wounded Knee, South Dakota.
1976 The formerly Spanish territory of Western Sahara, under the auspices of the Polisario Front declares independence as the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic.
1980 Chelsea Clinton (born), First daughter and heir apparent to the Hilary Clinton empire
1981 Josh Groban (born), American singer-songwriter and actor
1985 Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. (died), American politician and diplomat, 3rd United States Ambassador to the United Nations (born 1902)
1985 Ray Ellington (died), English singer and drummer (born 1916)
1989 Konrad Lorenz (died), Austrian zoologist, Nobel laureate (born 1903)
1990 Nahum Norbert Glatzer (died), Jewish-American scholar (born 1903)
1991 Gulf War: U.S. President George H. W. Bush announces that “Kuwait is liberated”.
1992 S. I. Hayakawa (died), Canadian-American linguist and politician (born 1906)
1993 Lillian Gish (died), American actress (born 1893)
2004 The initial version of the John Jay Report, with details about the Catholic sexual abuse scandal in the United States, is released.
2006 Otis Chandler (died), American publisher (born 1927)
2008 Boyd Coddington (died), American motorcycle designer (born 1944)
2008 William F. Buckley, Jr. (died), American author and journalist, founded the National Review (born 1925)
2013 Richard Street (died), American singer-songwriter (The Temptations and The Monitors) (born 1942)
2013 Van Cliburn (died), American pianist (born 1934)
EO Smith
Latest posts by EO Smith (see all)
- Patriotism - 4 July, 2017
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- Alternative Facts and Science - 24 January, 2017