1436 Engelbrekt Engelbrektsson (died), Swedish rebel leader (born 1390)
1471 Edward of Westminster (died), Prince of Wales (born 1453)
1519 Lorenzo de’ Medici (died), Duke of Urbino (born 1492)
1566 Luca Ghini (died), Italian physician and botanist (born 1490)
1604 Claudio Merulo (died), Italian organist and composer (born 1533)
1615 Adriaan van Roomen (died), Flemish mathematician (born 1561)
1655 Bartolomeo Cristofori (born), Italian instrument maker, invented the piano (died 1731)
1675 King Charles II of England orders the construction of the Royal Greenwich Observatory.
1677 Isaac Barrow (died), English mathematician and theologian (born 1630)
1776 Rhode Island becomes the first American colony to renounce allegiance to King George III.
1796 Horace Mann (born), American educator and politician (died 1859)
1814 Emperor Napoleon I of France arrives at Portoferraio on the island of Elba to begin his exile.
1824 Joseph Joubert (died), French author (born 1754)
1825 Augustus Le Plongeon (born), English-American photographer (died 1908)
1825 Thomas Henry Huxley (born), English biologist (died 1895)
1826 Frederic Edwin Church (born), American painter (died 1900)
1836 Formation of Ancient Order of Hibernians
1858 Aimé Bonpland (died), French explorer and botanist (born 1773)
1859 Joseph Diaz Gergonne (died), French mathematician (born 1771)
1871 The National Association, the first professional baseball league, opens its first season in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
1886 Haymarket Square Riot: A bomb is thrown at policemen trying to break up a labor rally in Chicago, Illinois, United States, killing eight and wounding 60. The police fire into the crowdied
1889 Francis Spellman (born), American cardinal (died 1967)
1904 Charles Stewart Rolls meets Frederick Henry Royce at the Midland Hotel in Manchester, England.
1904 The United States begins construction of the Panama Canal.
1910 The Royal Canadian Navy is created.
1912 Italy occupies the Greek island of Rhodes.
1919 May Fourth Movement: Student demonstrations take place in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China, protesting the Treaty of Versailles, which transferred Chinese territory to Japan.
1923 Ed Cassidy (born), American drummer (Spirit and Rising Sons) (died 2012)
1928 Hosni Mubarak (born), Egyptian air marshal and politician, 4th President of Egypt
1928 Maynard Ferguson (born), Canadian trumpet player and bandleader (Big Bop Nouveau) (died 2006)
1929 Audrey Hepburn (born), Belgian-English actress and singer (died 1993)
1930 Roberta Peters (born), American soprano
1932 In Atlanta, Georgia, mobster Al Capone begins serving an eleven-year prison sentence for tax evasion.
1937 Dick Dale (born), American guitarist
1937 Ron Carter (born), American bassist (Miles Davis Quintet)
1940 Robin Cook (born), American physician and author
1941 George Will (born), American journalist and author
1942 World War II: The Battle of the Coral Sea begins with an attack by aircraft from the United States aircraft carrier USS Yorktown on Japanese naval forces at Tulagi Island in the Solomon Islands.
1946 In San Francisco Bay, U.S. Marines from the nearby Treasure Island Naval Base stop a two-day riot at Alcatraz federal prison. Five people are killed in the riot.
1946 John Watson (born), Irish race car driver
1948 Hurley Haywood (born), American race car driver
1949 John Force (born), American race car driver
1950 Darryl Hunt (born), English bass player (The Pogues and Plummet Airlines)
1951 Mick Mars (born), American guitarist and songwriter (Mötley Crüe)
1953 Ernest Hemingway wins the Pulitzer Prize for The Old Man and the Sea.
1955 George Enescu (died), Romanian pianist, composer, and conductor (born 1881)
1959 Randy Travis (born), American singer-songwriter and actor
1959 The 1st Grammy Awards are held.
1961 American civil rights movement: The “Freedom Riders” begin a bus trip through the South.
1970 Victims of the Kent State shootings
Allison Krause (died), American student (born 1951)
Jeffrey Miller (died), American student (born 1950)
Sandra Scheuer (died), American student (born 1949)
William Knox Schroeder (died), American (born 1950)
1970 Vietnam War: Ohio National Guard, sent to Kent State University after disturbances in the city of Kent the weekend before, opens fire killing four unarmed students and wounding nine others. The students were protesting the United States’ invasion of Cambodia.
1972 The Don’t Make A Wave Committee, a fledgling environmental organization founded in Canada in 1971, officially changes its name to “Greenpeace Foundation”.
1979 Margaret Thatcher becomes the first female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
1980 Josip Broz Tito (died), Yugoslav marshal and politician, 1st President of Yugoslavia (born 1892)
1982 Twenty sailors are killed when the British Type 42 destroyer HMS Sheffield is hit by an Argentinian Exocet missile during the Falklands War.
1987 Paul Butterfield (died), American singer and harmonica player (born 1942)
1988 The PEPCON disaster rocks Henderson, Nevada, as tons of space shuttle fuel detonate during a fire.
1989 Iran-Contra Affair: Former White House aide Oliver North is convicted of three crimes and acquitted of nine other charges. The convictions, however, are later overturned on appeal.
1994 Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO leader Yasser Arafat sign a peace accord regarding Palestinian autonomy granting self-rule in the Gaza Strip and Jericho.
1998 A federal judge in Sacramento, California, gives “Unabomber” Theodore Kaczynski four life sentences plus 30 years after Kaczynski accepts a plea agreement sparing him from the death penalty.
2007 Greensburg, Kansas is almost completely destroyed by a 1.7 mi wide EF5 tornado—the first-ever tornado to be rated as such with the new Enhanced Fujita Scale.
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