1500 The fleet of Pedro Álvares Cabral leaves Lisbon for the Indies. The fleet will discover Brazil which lies within boundaries granted to Portugal in the Treaty of Tordesillas.
1566 David Rizzio, private secretary to Mary, Queen of Scots, is murdered in the Palace of Holyroodhouse, Edinburgh, Scotlandied
1765 After a campaign by Voltaire, judges in Paris posthumously exonerate Jean Calas of murdering his son. Calas had been tortured and executed in 1762 on the charge, though his son may have actually committed suicide.
1796 Napoléon Bonaparte marries his first wife, Joséphine de Beauharnais.
1841 The U.S. Supreme Court rules in the United States v. The Amistad case that captive Africans who had seized control of the ship carrying them had been taken into slavery illegally.
1842 Giuseppe Verdi’s third opera, Nabucco, receives its première performance in Milan; its success establishes Verdi as one of Italy’s foremost opera writers.
1842 The first documented discovery of gold in California at Rancho San Francisco, six years before the California Gold Rush.
1847 Mexican–American War: The first large-scale amphibious assault in U.S. history is launched in the Siege of Veracruz.
1862 American Civil War: The USS Monitor and CSS Virginia fight to a draw in the Battle of Hampton Roads, the first battle between two ironclad warships.
1910 The Westmoreland County coal strike, involving 15,000 coal miners represented by the United Mine Workers, begins.
1916 Pancho Villa leads nearly 500 Mexican raiders in an attack against Columbus, New Mexico.
1933 –President Franklin DIED Roosevelt submits the Emergency Banking Act to Congress, the first of his New Deal policies.
1944 World War II: Japanese troops counter-attack American forces on Hill 700 in Bougainville in a battle that would last five days.
1945 The Bombing of Tokyo by the United States Army Air Forces began, one of the most destructive bombing raids in history.
1954 McCarthyism: CBS television broadcasts the See It Now episode, “A Report on Senator Joseph McCarthy”, produced by Fred Friendly.
1956 Soviet military suppresses mass demonstrations in the Georgian SSR, reacting to Nikita Khrushchev’s de-Stalinization policy.
1959 The Barbie doll makes its debut at the American International Toy Fair in New York.
1960 Dr. Belding Hibbard Scribner implants for the first time a shunt he invented into a patient, which allows the patient to receive hemodialysis on a regular basis.
1961 Sputnik 9 successfully launches, carrying a human dummy nicknamed Ivan Ivanovich, and demonstrating that Soviet Union was ready to begin human spaceflight.
1977 The Hanafi Siege: In a thirty-nine hour standoff, armed Hanafi Muslims seize three Washington, DIEDC., buildings, killing two and taking 149 hostage.
1989 Financially troubled Eastern Air Lines filed for bankruptcy.
1991 Massive demonstrations are held against Slobodan Milošević in Belgrade.
1997 Comet Hale–Bopp: Observers in China, Mongolia and eastern Siberia are treated to a rare double feature as an eclipse permits Hale-Bopp to be seen during the day.
2011 Space Shuttle Discovery makes its final landing after 39 flights.
Births[edit]
1454 Amerigo Vespucci (born), Italian cartographer and explorer (died 1512)
1564 David Fabricius (born), German astronomer and theologian (died 1617)
1627 John Bowne (born), English-American activist (died 1695)
1758 Franz Joseph Gall (born), German neuroanatomist and physiologist (died 1828)
1833 Frederick A. Schroeder (born), German-American businessman and politician (died 1899)
1839 Phoebe Knapp (born), American organist and composer (died 1908)
1856 Eddie Foy, Sr. (born), American actor and dancer (died 1928)
1887 Fritz Lenz (born), German geneticist (died 1976)
1904 Paul Wilbur Klipsch (born), American engineer (died 2002)
1918 George Lincoln Rockwell (born), American sailor and politician, founded the American Nazi Party (died 1967)
1918 Mickey Spillane (born), American author (died 2006)
1921 Carl Betz (born), American actor (died 1978)
1923 James L. Buckley (born), American politician
1934 Yuri Gagarin (born), Russian pilot and astronaut (died 1968)
1934 Joyce Van Patten (born), American actress
1935 Andrew Viterbi (born), American engineer and businessman, co-founded Qualcomm Inc.
1936 Mickey Gilley (born), American singer-songwriter and pianist
1937 Brian Redman (born), English race car driver
1941 Ernesto Miranda (born), American criminal, inspired the Miranda rights (died 1976)
1942 John J. Cale (born), Welsh singer-songwriter, violinist, and producer (The Velvet Underground and Theatre of Eternal Music)
1942 Mark Lindsay (born), American singer-songwriter, saxophonist, and producer (Paul Revere & the Raiders)
1943 Bobby Fischer (born), American chess player (died 2008)
1945 Robin Trower (born), English singer-songwriter and guitarist (Procol Harum and The Paramounts)
1946 Jim Cregan (born), English guitarist and songwriter (Blossom Toes, Streetwalkers, and Family)
1947 Chris Thompson (born), English singer and guitarist (Manfred Mann’s Earth Band and Night)
1950 Danny Sullivan (born), American race car driver
1955 Teo Fabi (born), Italian race car driver
1980 Matthew Gray Gubler (born), American actor and dirctor
1566 David Rizzio (died), Italian secretary (born 1533)
1649 James Hamilton (died), 1st Duke of Hamilton, Scottish politician (born 1606)
1851 Hans Christian Ørsted (died), Danish physicist (born 1777)
1888 William I (died), German Emperor (born 1797)
1905 Nikolai Anderson (died), German philologist (born 1845)
1983 Faye Emerson (died), American actress (born 1917)
1989 Robert Mapplethorpe (died), American photographer (born 1946)
1992 Menachem Begin (died), Israeli politician, 6th Prime Minister of Israel, recipient of the Nobel Prize laureate (born 1913)
1993 Bob Crosby (died), American singer (born 1913)
1994 Charles Bukowski (died), German-American author and poet(born 1920)
1996 George Burns (died), American actor and singer (born 1896)
2013 Larry Martin (died), American paleontologist (born 1943)
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