THIS DAY IN HISTORY

[Levi517]

Thanks for posting these Ice. Snippets from history that either bring back memories or teach me something new.

[IceWizard]

Route 66 decertified, highway signs removed





1985
June 27



After 59 years, the iconic Route 66 enters the realm of history on June 27, 1985,
when the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials decertifies
the road and votes to remove all its highway signs.

Measuring some 2,200 miles in its heyday, Route 66 stretched from Chicago, Illinois
to Santa Monica, California, passing through eight states. According to a New York Times
article about its decertification, most of Route 66 followed a path through the wilderness
forged in 1857 by U.S. Navy Lieutenant Edward Beale at the head of a caravan of camels.
Over the years, wagon trains and cattlemen eventually made way for trucks and
passenger automobiles.

The idea of building a highway along this route surfaced in Oklahoma in the mid-1920s
as a way to link the state to cities like Chicago and Los Angeles. Highway Commissioner
Cyrus S. Avery touted it as a way of diverting traffic from Kansas City, Missouri and Denver.
In 1926, the highway earned its official designation as Route 66.

The diagonal course of Route 66 linked hundreds of mostly rural communities to the cities
along its route, allowing farmers to more easily transport grain and other types of produce
for distribution. The highway was also a lifeline for the long-distance trucking industry,
which by 1930 was competing with the railroad for dominance in the shipping market.


Route 66 was the scene of a mass westward migration during the 1930s, when more than
200,000 people traveled from the poverty-stricken Dust Bowl to California. John Steinbeck
immortalized the highway, which he called the “Mother Road,” in his classic 1939 novel
The Grapes of Wrath.

Beginning in the 1950s, the building of a massive system of interstate highways made older
roads increasingly obsolete, and by 1970, modern four-lane highways had bypassed nearly
all sections of Route 66. In October 1984, Interstate-40 bypassed the last original stretch
of Route 66 at Williams, Arizona, and the following year the road was decertified. According
to the National Historic Route 66 Federation, drivers can still use 85 percent of the road,
and Route 66 has become a destination for tourists from all over the world.

Often called the “Main Street of America,” Route 66 became a pop culture mainstay over
the years, inspiring its own song (written in 1947 by Bobby Troup, “Route 66″ was later
recorded by artists as varied as Nat “King” Cole, Chuck Berry and the Rolling Stones) as
well as a 1960s television series. The historic highway was featured prominently in the
hit animated film “Cars” (2006).




ALSO ON THIS DAY




BLACK HISTORY
2015
Activist Bree Newsome removes Confederate flag
from South Carolina State House

On the morning of June 27, 2015, activists posing as joggers
signal to one of their comrades that the police have momentarily
turned their attention away from the flagpole outside the
South Carolina State House. Having received the signal,
Brittany "Bree" Newsome scales the pole, ... read more





19TH CENTURY
1829
English scientist James Smithson
establishes the Smithsonian Institution

In Genoa, Italy, English scientist James Smithson dies after a
long illness, leaving behind a will with a peculiar footnote. In
the event that his only nephew died without any heirs, Smithson
decreed that the whole of his estate would go to
“the United States of America, to found ... read more


19TH CENTURY
1844
Religious founder Joseph Smith killed by mob

Joseph Smith, the founder and leader of the Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-day Saints (more commonly known as Mormonism),
is murdered along with his brother Hyrum when a mob breaks
into a jail where they are being held in Carthage, Illinois.
Born in Vermont in 1805, Smith ... read more





ART, LITERATURE, AND FILM HISTORY
1922
First Newbery Medal for children’s literature
awarded to Hendrik Willem van Loon

On this day in 1922, the American Library Association (ALA) awards the
first Newbery Medal, honoring the year’s best children’s book, to
The Story of Mankind by Hendrik Willem van Loon. The idea for an
award honoring outstanding contributions to children’s literature
came from ... read more





U.S. PRESIDENTS
1950
President Truman orders U.S. forces to Korea

On June 27, 1950, President Harry S. Truman announces that he is
ordering U.S. air and naval forces to South Korea to aid the democratic
nation in repulsing an invasion by communist North Korea. The
United States was undertaking the major military operation,
he explained, to ... read more


WORLD WAR II
1940
Germans employ Enigma
coding machine for the first time

On June 27, 1940, the Germans set up two-way radio communication
in their newly occupied French territory, employing their most
sophisticated coding machine, Enigma, to transmit information.
The Germans established radio stations in Brest and the port town
of Cherbourg. Signals ... read more



ART, LITERATURE, AND FILM HISTORY
1939
Famous scene from "Gone with the Wind" filmed

On June 27, 1939, one of the most famous scenes in movie history
is filmed: Rhett Butler and Scarlett O’Hara parting in Gone with the
Wind. Director Victor Fleming also shot the scene using the alternate
line, “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn,”
in case the film censors ... read more





AFRICA
1976
Ebola breaks out in Sudan

A factory storekeeper in the Nzara township of Sudan becomes ill on
June 27, 1976. Five days later, he dies, and the world’s first recorded
Ebola virus epidemic begins making its way through the area. By the
time the epidemic is over, 284 cases are reported,
with about half of ... read more

[IceWizard]

Bald Eagle removed from list of threatened species





2007
June 28


On June 28, 2007, the United States removes one of its most commonly-used national
symbols from its List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife. The de-listing of the bald eagle,
which had been close to vanishing from North America around the middle of the 20th
century, was one of the most notable wildlife rehabilitation efforts in American history.

Sacred to some Indigenous American cultures, the bald eagle is the national bird of the
United States and features prominently in its iconography. Despite its significance, the
bird's population declined rapidly over the first half of the 20th century. Use of the
common pesticide DDT, which negatively affects bald eagles' fertility and the strength
of their egg shells, was a major factor in this decline, but there were a variety of others,
including hunting, poaching, electrocution by power line, pollution, and the destruction
of large swathes of their natural habitat. The overall population in the lower 48 states,
estimated to have been around 400,000 in the 1700s, had declined to fewer
than 1,000 by the 1950s.

Congress banned the commercial trapping and killing of bald eagles in 1940, strengthening
restrictions in the '60s and '70s. The ban of DDT use in the U.S. in 1972, and its heavy
restriction in Canada, also helped revive the species, as did the protective powers afforded
the government by the 1973 Endangered Species Act. After being reclassified from
“endangered” to “threatened” in 1985, the bald eagle’s de-listing in 2007 represented a
major victory for wildlife preservationists.



ALSO ON THIS DAY



The Stonewall Riots
1970S
1969
The Stonewall Riots begin in NYC’s Greenwich Village

Sometime after midnight on June 28, 1969, in what is now
regarded by many as history’s first major protest on behalf of
equal rights for LGBTQ people, a police raid of the
Stonewall Inn—a popular gay club located on New York City's
Christopher Street—turns violent as patrons and ...
read more





REFORMATION
1519
Charles I of Spain elected Holy Roman emperor
Charles I of Spain, who by birth already held sway over much
of Europe and Spanish America, is elected the successor of his
late grandfather, Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I. Charles,
who was also the grandson of Ferdinand II and Isabella of Spain,
had bribed the princes of ... read more


WORLD WAR I
1919
John Maynard Keynes predicts economic chaos

At the Palace of Versailles outside Paris, Germany signs the
Treaty of Versailles with the Allies, officially ending World War I.
The English economist John Maynard Keynes, who had attended
the peace conference but then left in protest of the treaty,
was one of the most outspoken ... read more


WORLD WAR I
1914
Austria's Archduke Ferdinand assassinated

Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife Sophie are shot
to death by a Bosnian Serb nationalist during an official visit to
the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo on June 28, 1914. The killings
sparked a chain of events that led to the outbreak of World War I
by early August. On ... read more


INVENTIONS & SCIENCE
1953
Workers assemble first
Corvette in Flint, Michigan

On June 28, 1953, workers at a Chevrolet plant in Flint, Michigan,
assemble the first Corvette, a two-seater sports car that would
become an American icon. The first completed production car
rolled off the assembly line two days later, one of just 300
Corvettes made that year. ... read more





VIETNAM WAR
1965
U.S. forces launch first offensive

In the first major offensive ordered for U.S. forces, 3,000 troops
of the 173rd Airborne Brigade–in conjunction with 800 Australian
soldiers and a Vietnamese airborne unit–assault a jungle area
known as Viet Cong Zone D, 20 miles northeast of Saigon.
The operation was called off ... read more

VIETNAM WAR
1972
Nixon announces draftees will not go to Vietnam

President Nixon announces that no more draftees will be sent to
Vietnam unless they volunteer for such duty. He also announced
that a force of 10,000 troops would be withdrawn by September 1,
which would leave a total of 39,000 in
Vietnam. ... read more


SPORTS
1997
Mike Tyson bites ear

On June 28, 1997, Mike Tyson bites Evander Holyfield’s ear in
the third round of their heavyweight rematch. The attack led
to his disqualification from the match and suspension from boxing,
and was the strangest chapter yet in the champion’s
roller-coaster career. Mike Tyson ... read more





NATURAL DISASTERS & ENVIRONMENT
1992
Two big quakes rock California

Two of the strongest earthquakes ever to hit California strike the
desert area east of Los Angeles on June 28, 1992. Although the
state sits upon the immense San Andreas fault line, relatively few
major earthquakes have hit California in modern times.
Two of the strongest, but ... read more





CRIME
1975
A teenage girl’s boyfriend murders her parents

Police are called to the home of Jim and Naomi Olive in Terra Linda,
California, after Jim Olive’s business partner reports that the
couple has not been seen in a week. The house in disarray,
officers found no sign of either the Olives or their adopted teenage
daughter Marlene. ... read more





INVENTIONS & SCIENCE
2006
DaimlerChrysler announces
Smart’s arrival in United States

After a flurry of rumors, DaimlerChrysler chairman Dieter Zetsche
announces on June 28, 2006 that the company’s urban-focused
Smart brand–already popular in Europe–will come to the
United States in early 2008. Smart–an acronym for Swatch
Mercedes ART–began as a joint venture ... read more





AMERICAN REVOLUTION
1836
Former President James Madison dies

On June 28, 1836, James Madison, drafter of the Constitution,
recorder of the Constitutional Convention, author of the
“Federalist Papers” and fourth president of the United States,
dies on his tobacco plantation in Virginia. Madison first distinguished
himself as a student at ... read more


WORLD WAR II
1940
Britain recognizes General Charles de Gaulle
as the leader of the Free French

On June 28, 1940, General Charles de Gaulle, having set up
headquarters in England upon the establishment of a puppet
government in his native France, is recognized as the leader
of the Free French Forces, dedicated to the defeat of Germany
and the liberation of all France. For ... read more

[IceWizard]

The Rolling Stones fight the law,
and the law wins






1967
June 29



On June 29, 1967, Keith Richards sat before magistrates in Chichester, West Sussex,
England, facing charges that stemmed from the infamous raid of Richards’ Redlands
estate five months earlier. Though the raid netted very little in the way of actual drugs,
what it did net was a great deal of notoriety for the already notorious Rolling Stones.
It was during this raid that the police famously encountered a young Marianne Faithfull
clad only in a bearskin rug, a fact that the prosecutor in the case seemed to regard as
highly relevant to the case at hand. In questioning Richards, Queen’s Counsel
Malcolm Morris tried to imply that Faithfull’s nudity was probably the result of a loss
of inhibition due to cannabis use:

QC Morris:
"Would you agree in the ordinary course of events you would expect a
young woman to be embarrassed if she had nothing on but a rug in the presence of
eight men, two of whom were hangers-on and the third a Moroccan servant?"

Richards:
"Not at all."

Morris:
"You regard that, do you, as quite normal?"

Richards:
“We are not old men. We are not worried about petty morals.”

With that one line, Richards emphatically established himself as the spokesman for
a generation that did not share the values of the British establishment. The charges
brought against him by that establishment, however, were quite serious. While
Mick Jagger stood charged with illegal possession of four amphetamine tablets he’d
purchased in Italy, Richards faced the far more serious charge of allowing his house
to be used for the purpose of smoking what the law at the time referred to as
“Indian hemp.”


Judging from his defiant attitude on the stand, Richards may not have taken the
possibility of conviction very seriously. No marijuana had actually been found in
Richards’ possession, but on the evidence presented at trial of a “sweet incense
smell” detected by police, Richards was convicted and sentenced to one year in prison.
Jagger was also convicted and sentenced to three months, but he was immediately
released pending an appeal.

Richards, on the other hand, was sent directly to Wormwood Scrubs prison on this
day in 1969, where he was greeted like, well, a rock star by his fellow inmates.
Richards would spend only one night in prison, though, as he was granted bail the
following day, also pending appeal. His conviction would later be overturned based
on the prejudicial nature of the evidence of the naked young woman in a bearskin
rug. For his part, Richards was definitively pleased: “I like a little more room, I like
the john to be in a separate area,” he later said, “and I hate to be woken up.”




ALSO ON THIS DAY




ART, LITERATURE, AND FILM HISTORY
1969
Harlem Cultural Festival begins

On the afternoon of June 29, 1969, a crowd consisting mostly of Black
people from the nearby area packs Harlem’s Mt. Morris Park
(now Marcus Garvey Park). Over the course of this afternoon and the
next five Sunday afternoons, Black performers from many different
genres and eras ... read more





WORLD WAR II
1941
Germans advance in USSR

One week after launching a massive invasion of the USSR, German
divisions make staggering advances on Leningrad, Moscow and Kiev.
Despite his signing of the Nazi-Soviet Pact of 1939, Soviet leader
Joseph Stalin knew that war with Nazi Germany–the USSR’s natural
ideological ... read more


US GOVERNMENT
1972
Supreme Court strikes down death penalty

In Furman v. Georgia, the U.S. Supreme Court rules by a vote of
5-4 that capital punishment, as it is currently employed on the
state and federal level, is unconstitutional. The majority held that,
in violation of the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution,
the death penalty ... read more


LATIN AMERICA
1974
Isabel Perón takes office as Argentine president

With Argentine President Juan Perón on his deathbed,
Isabel Martinez de Perón, his wife and vice president, is sworn
in as the leader of the South American country.
President Isabel Perón, a former dancer and Perón's third wife,
was the Western Hemisphere’s first female head of ... read more





SPACE EXPLORATION
1995
U.S. space shuttle docks with Russian space station

On June 29, 1995, the American space shuttle Atlantis docks with
the Russian space station Mir to form the largest man-made satellite
ever to orbit the Earth. This historic moment of cooperation
between former rival space programs was also the 100th human
space mission in ... read more





SPORTS
1958
Pelé leads Brazil to first World Cup title

On June 29, 1958, Brazil defeats host nation Sweden 5-2 to win
its first World Cup. Brazil came into the tournament as a favorite,
and did not disappoint, thrilling the world with their spectacular
play, which was often referred to as the “beautiful game.”
The star of the ... read more





ART, LITERATURE, AND FILM HISTORY
1613
The Globe Theatre burns down

The Globe Theatre, where most of Shakespeare’s plays debuted,
burns down on June 29, 1613. The Globe was built by Shakespeare’s
acting company, the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, in 1599 from the
timbers of London’s very first permanent theater, Burbage’s Theater,
built in 1576. Before ... read more


ART, LITERATURE, AND FILM HISTORY
2003
Academy Award-winning actress
Katharine Hepburn dies at age 96

On June 29, 2003, Katharine Hepburn—a four-time Academy Award
winner for Best Actress and one of the greatest screen legends of
Hollywood’s golden era—dies of natural causes at the age of 96,
at her home in Old Saybrook, Connecticut. Hepburn was born into
a well-to-do New England ... read more





CRIME
2001
Boston doctor found guilty of killing wife

On June 29, 2001, Boston doctor Dirk Greineder, 60, is found guilty
of first-degree murder in the death of Mabel Greineder, 58, his wife
of more than 30 years. Dirk Greineder was a distinguished allergist.
His wife, known as May, worked for him as a nurse and was
pursuing an ... read more





ART, LITERATURE, AND FILM HISTORY
1967
Actress Jayne Mansfield dies in car crash

Blonde bombshell and celebrated actress Jayne Mansfield is killed
instantly on June 29, 1967, when the car in which she is riding
strikes the rear of a trailer truck on U.S. Route 90 east of
New Orleans, Louisiana. Mansfield had been on her way to
New Orleans from Biloxi, ... read more





AMERICAN REVOLUTION
1776
South Carolina’s Edward Rutledge
opposes independence

On June 28, 1776, Edward Rutledge, one of South Carolina’s
representatives to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia,
expresses his reluctance to declare independence from Britain
in a letter to the like-minded John Jay of New York. Contrary
to the majority of his Congressional ... read more


WORLD WAR II
1941
Germans capture Lvov—and slaughter ensues

On June 29, 1941, the Germans, having already launched their invasion
of Soviet territory, invade and occupy Lvov, in eastern Galicia, in Ukraine,
slaughtering thousands. The Russians followed a scorched-earth policy
upon being invaded by the Germans; that is, they
would destroy, ... read more

[IceWizard]

A first-time offender ends up on the
FBI’s Ten Most Wanted List






1981
June 30



Glen Godwin, a young business owner, is convicted of murder in Riverside County,
California, and sentenced to 26-years-to-life in prison. According to his roommate’s
testimony, Godwin stomped on, choked, and then stabbed Kim LeValley, an
acquaintance and local drug dealer, 28 times before using homemade explosives
to blow up his body in the desert near Palm Springs. Godwin, who had no previous
record, eventually found his way onto the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted List.

In 1985, while serving his sentence at Soledad Prison, Godwin married Shelley Rose.
He was then transferred to Folsom Prison, a maximum-security facility, where he
escaped through a 300-yard storm drain and floated across the American River
on a raft to freedom in June 1987. Apparently gaining assistance from someone
who cut the iron bars on the storm drain from the outside, Godwin was the third
person to escape from Folsom in 25 years. Lorenz Karlic, who had once shared a
cell with Godwin, was arrested in Hesperia, California, for aiding Godwin in his escape.

After two years without any leads on either Glen or Shelley, who was last seen
renting a car at the San Jose Airport, authorities were notified of a man in a Mexican
prison under the name of Stewart Carrera, whose fingerprints matched those of
Godwin’s. Reportedly, Mexican authorities had arrested Glen on drugs and weapons
charges six months after his escape.


While California officials were working to have Godwin extradited back to the
United States, he murdered a fellow inmate in Puerto Vallarta Prison—an attempt
to avoid returning to the high security prisons in California. Shortly thereafter,
he escaped from the Mexican jail.

In December 1996, Godwin appeared on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted List. Shelley Godwin,
who, unbeknownst to California law enforcement officials, had divorced her husband
and remarried in Texas, was apprehended in Dallas when a story on the Godwin case
appeared on television’s America’s Most Wanted, but Glen Godwin remains at large.

He was removed from the Most Wanted List in May 2016.




ALSO ON THIS DAY



WESTWARD EXPANSION
1876
Wounded soldiers evacuated
from the Little Big Horn by steamboat

After a slow two-day march, the wounded soldiers from the
Battle of the Little Big Horn reach the steamboat Far West.
The Far West had been leased by the U.S. Army for the duration
of the 1876 campaign against the Lakota Sioux and
Northern Cheyenne tribes of the Northern Plains. ... read more


COLD WAR
1974
Soviet dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov
defects from U.S.S.R.

Considered one of the world’s greatest ballet dancers of all time,
Soviet virtuoso Mikhail Baryshnikov choreographs his own Cold
War-era defection from the U.S.S.R. after four years of planning.
Known as “Misha” to his admirers, Baryshnikov, then 26, finished
a performance with ... read more





19TH CENTURY
1859
Daredevil crosses Niagara Falls on tightrope

Jean Francois Gravelet, a Frenchman known professionally as
Charles Blondin, becomes the first daredevil to walk across
Niagara Falls on a tightrope. The feat, which was performed 160 feet
above the Niagara gorge just down river from the Falls, was
witnessed by some 5,000 ... read more





ANCIENT AMERICAS
1520
Spanish retreat from Aztec capital

June 30, 1520: Faced with an Aztec revolt against their rule, forces
under the Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés fight their way out
of Tenochtitlan at heavy cost. Known to the Spanish as La Noche Triste,
or “the Night of Sadness,” many soldiers drowned in Lake Texcoco
when the ... read more


SPACE EXPLORATION
1971
Soviet cosmonauts perish in reentry disaster

The three Soviet cosmonauts who served as the first crew of the
world’s first space station die when their spacecraft depressurizes
during reentry. On June 6, the cosmonauts Georgi Dobrovolsky,
Vladislav Volkov and Viktor Patsayev were launched into space
aboard Soyuz 11 on a ... read more





WORLD WAR II
1934
Hitler purges members of his own
Nazi party in Night of the Long Knives

In Germany, Nazi leader Adolf Hitler orders a bloody purge of
his own political party, assassinating hundreds of Nazis whom
he believed had the potential to become political enemies in
the future. The leadership of the Nazi Storm Troopers (SA),
whose four million members had ... read more





ART, LITERATURE, AND FILM HISTORY
1936
“Gone With the Wind” published

Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With the Wind, one of the best-selling
novels of all time and the basis for a blockbuster 1939 movie, is
published on June 30, 1936. In 1926, Mitchell was forced to quit
her job as a reporter at the Atlanta Journal to recover from a
series of physical ... read more


ART, LITERATURE, AND FILM HISTORY
1989
“Do the Right Thing” released in theaters

On June 30, 1989, the writer-director Spike Lee’s celebrated third
feature film, Do the Right Thing—a provocative drama that takes
place on one block in Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood,
on the hottest day of the year—is released in U.S. theaters.
The block in question ... read more

[IceWizard]

Hong Kong returned to China






1997
July 01



At midnight on July 1, 1997, Hong Kong reverts back to Chinese rule in a ceremony
attended by British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Prince Charles of Wales, Chinese President
Jiang Zemin and U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. A few thousand Hong Kongers
protested the turnover, which was otherwise celebratory and peaceful.

In 1839, Britain invaded China to crush opposition to its interference in the country’s
economic, social, and political affairs. One of Britain’s first acts of the war was to occupy
Hong Kong, a sparsely inhabited island off the coast of southeast China. In 1841, China
ceded the island to the British with the signing of the Convention of Chuenpi, and in 1842
the Treaty of Nanking was signed, formally ending the First Opium War.

Britain’s new colony flourished as an East-West trading center and as the commercial gateway
and distribution center for southern China. In 1898, Britain was granted an additional 99
years of rule over Hong Kong under the Second Convention of Peking. In September 1984,
after years of negotiations, the British and the Chinese signed a formal agreement approving
the 1997 turnover of the island in exchange for a Chinese pledge to preserve Hong Kong’s
capitalist system. On July 1, 1997, Hong Kong was peaceably handed over to China in a
ceremony attended by numerous Chinese, British, and international dignitaries. The chief
executive under the new Hong Kong government, Tung Chee Hwa, formulated a policy based
on the concept of “one country, two systems,” thus preserving Hong Kong’s role as a principal
capitalist center in Asia. 

In 2019, massive pro-democracy protests broke out in Hong Kong over growing
oppression from mainland China.




ALSO ON THIS DAY



WORLD WAR I
1916
Battle of the Somme begins

At 7:30 a.m., the British launch a massive offensive against German
forces in the Somme River region of France. During the preceding
week, 250,000 Allied shells had pounded German positions near the
Somme, and 100,000 British soldiers poured out of their trenches
and into ... read more


19TH CENTURY
1898
The Battle of San Juan Hill

As part of their campaign to capture Spanish-held Santiago de Cuba on
the southern coast of Cuba, the U.S. Army Fifth Corps engages Spanish
forces at El Caney and San Juan Hill. In May 1898, one month after
the outbreak of the Spanish-American War, a Spanish fleet docked
in the ... read more


19TH CENTURY
1867
Canada Day

The autonomous Dominion of Canada, a confederation of Nova Scotia,
New Brunswick, and the future provinces of Ontario and Quebec, is
officially recognized by Great Britain with the passage of the British
North America Act. July 1 will later become known as Canada Day.
During the ... read more





ART, LITERATURE, AND FILM HISTORY
1979
The first Sony Walkman goes on sale

The transistor radio was a technological marvel that put music literally
into consumers’ hands in the mid-1950s. It was cheap, it was reliable
and it was portable, but it could never even approximate the sound
quality of a record being played on a home stereo.
It was, however, ... read more





ART, LITERATURE, AND FILM HISTORY
1984
PG-13 rating debuts

On July 1, 1984, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA),
which oversees the voluntary rating system for movies, introduces a
new rating, PG-13. The initial rating categories were
G (appropriate for all ages),
M (for mature audiences, but all ages admitted),
R (persons ... read more


CRIME
2003
Kobe Bryant accuser goes to police

A female employee at a Colorado resort goes to police to file sexual
misconduct charges against basketball star Kobe Bryant on July 1, 2003.
A few days later, an arrest warrant was issued for Bryant, and
the ensuing case generated a media frenzy. On the night of
June 30, 2003, ... read more





COLD WAR
1947
“Mr. X” article on Soviet Union
appears in Foreign Affairs

State Department official George Kennan, using the pseudonym
“Mr. X,” publishes an article entitled “The Sources of Soviet Conduct”
in the July edition of Foreign Affairs. The article focused on Kennan’s
call for a policy of containment toward the Soviet Union and
established the ... read more





CIVIL WAR
1863
The Battle of Gettysburg begins

One of the largest military conflicts in North American history begins
on July 1, 1863, when Union and Confederate forces collide at
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The epic battle lasted three days and
resulted in a retreat to Virginia by Robert E. Lee’s Army of
Northern Virginia. Two ... read more


INVENTIONS & SCIENCE
2005
Last Ford Thunderbird produced

The last Thunderbird, Ford Motor Company’s iconic sports car,
emerges from a Ford factory in Wixom, Michigan on July 1, 2005.
Ford began its development of the Thunderbird in the years
following World War II, during which American servicemen had
the opportunity to observe sleek ... read more





WORLD WAR II
1942
The Battle of El Alamein begins

On July 1, 1942, Field Marshal Erwin Rommel is brought to a
standstill in the battle for control of North Africa. The First Battle
of El Alamein begins.  In June, the British had succeeded in
driving Rommel into a defensive position in Libya. But Rommel
repelled repeated air and ... read more

[IceWizard]

President Johnson signs Civil Rights Act






1964
July 02



On July 2, 1964, U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signs into law the historic
Civil Rights Act in a nationally televised ceremony at the White House.

In the landmark 1954 case Brown v. Board of Education, the U.S. Supreme Court
ruled that racial segregation in schools was unconstitutional. The 10 years that
followed saw great strides for the African American civil rights movement, as
non-violent demonstrations won thousands of supporters to the cause.

Memorable landmarks in the struggle included the Montgomery Bus Boycott in
1955—sparked by the refusal of Alabama resident Rosa Parks to give up her seat
on a city bus to a white passenger—and the “I Have a Dream” speech by
Martin Luther King Jr. at a rally of hundreds of thousands in Washington, D.C., in 1963.

As the strength of the civil rights movement grew, John F. Kennedy made passage
of a new civil rights bill one of the platforms of his successful 1960 presidential
campaign. As Kennedy’s vice president, Johnson served as chairman of the
President’s Committee on Equal Employment Opportunities. After Kennedy was
assassinated in November 1963, Johnson vowed to carry out his proposals for
civil rights reform.

The Civil Rights Act fought tough opposition in the House and a lengthy, heated
debate in the Senate before being approved in July 1964. For the signing of the
historic legislation, Johnson invited hundreds of guests to a televised ceremony
in the White House’s East Room.

After using more than 75 pens to sign the bill, he gave them away as mementoes
of the historic occasion, in accordance with tradition. One of the first pens went
to King, leader of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), who
called it one of his most cherished possessions. Johnson gave two more to
Senators Hubert Humphrey and Everett McKinley Dirksen, the Democratic and
Republican managers of the bill in the Senate.

The most sweeping civil rights legislation passed by Congress since the
post-Civil War Reconstruction era, the Civil Rights Act prohibited racial
discrimination in employment and education and outlawed racial segregation
in public places such as schools, buses, parks and swimming pools.

In addition, the bill laid important groundwork for a number of other pieces
of legislation—including the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which set strict rules
for protecting the right of African Americans to vote—that have since been
used to enforce equal rights for women as well as all minorities
and LGBTQ people.



ALSO ON THIS DAY



ART, LITERATURE, AND FILM HISTORY
1977
“Gonna Fly Now (Theme From ‘Rocky’)”
is the #1 song on the U.S. pop charts

On July 2, 1977, Hollywood composer Bill Conti scores a #1 pop
hit with the single “Gonna Fly Now (Theme From Rocky).” Bill Conti
was a relative unknown in Hollywood when he began work on Rocky,
but so was Sylvester Stallone. Conti had gained some attention
internationally with ... read more





SLAVERY
1839
Mutiny on the Amistad

Early in the morning, enslaved Africans on the Cuban schooner
Amistad rise up against their captors, killing two crewmembers
and seizing control of the ship, which had been transporting them
to a life of slavery on a sugar plantation at Puerto Principe, Cuba.
In 1807, the U.S. ... read more


EXPLORATION
1937
Amelia Earhart disappears

On July 2, 1937, the Lockheed aircraft carrying American aviator
Amelia Earhart and navigator Frederick Noonan is reported missing
near Howland Island in the Pacific. The pair were attempting to fly
around the world when they lost their bearings during the most
challenging leg of ... read more





WORLD WAR I
1917
Greece declares war on Central Powers

On July 2, 1917, several weeks after King Constantine I abdicates
his throne in Athens under pressure from the Allies, Greece declares
war on the Central Powers, ending three years of neutrality by
entering World War I alongside Britain, France, Russia and Italy.
Constantine, ... read more


NATIVE AMERICAN HISTORY
1809
Chief Tecumseh urges Native Americans
to unite against white settlers

Alarmed by the growing encroachment of whites settlers occupying
Native American lands, the Shawnee Chief Tecumseh calls on all
Native peoples to unite and resist. Born around 1768 near
Springfield, Ohio, Tecumseh won early notice as a brave warrior.
He fought in battles between ... read more


ART, LITERATURE, AND FILM HISTORY
1992
Stephen Hawking breaks British bestseller records

Theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking breaks British publishing
records on July 2, 1992 when his book A Brief History of Time remains
on the nonfiction bestseller list for three and a half years, selling
more than 3 million copies in 22 languages.
A Brief History of Time ... read more





ART, LITERATURE, AND FILM HISTORY
1997
“Men in Black” premieres in theaters

On July 2, 1997, the science fiction-comedy movie Men in Black,
starring Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones, opens in theaters around
the United States. The film grossed more than $250 million in
America alone and helped establish the former sitcom star Will Smith
as one of ... read more





CRIME
1881
President James A. Garfield shot

Only four months into his administration, President James A. Garfield
is shot as he walks through a railroad waiting room in Washington, D.C.
His assailant, Charles J. Guiteau, was a disgruntled and perhaps
deranged office seeker who had unsuccessfully sought an
appointment to ... read more


COLD WAR
1947
Soviet Union rejects Marshall Plan assistance

Soviet Foreign Minister V. M. Molotov walks out of a meeting with
representatives of the British and French governments, signaling
the Soviet Union’s rejection of the Marshall Plan. Molotov’s action
indicated that Cold War frictions between the United States and
Russia were ... read more


CIVIL WAR
1863
Fighting continues at the Battle of Gettysburg

On July 2, 1863, during the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg,
Pennsylvania, Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s Army of
Northern Virginia attacks General George G. Meade’s Army of the
Potomac at both Culp’s Hill and Little Round Top, but fails to move
the Yankees from their ... read more


AMERICAN REVOLUTION
1776
Continental Congress votes for
independence from Britain

The Second Continental Congress, assembled in Philadelphia,
formally adopts Richard Henry Lee’s resolution for independence
from Great Britain. The vote is unanimous, with only New York
abstaining. The resolution had originally been presented to
Congress on June 7, but it soon ... read more


WORLD WAR II
1944
American bombers deluge Budapest,
in more ways than one

On July 2, 1944, as part of the British and American strategy
to lay mines in the Danube River by dropping them from the air,
American aircraft also drop bombs and leaflets on German-occupied
Budapest. Hungarian oil refineries and storage tanks,
important to the German war ... read more

[IceWizard]

Battle of Gettysburg ends






1863
July 03



July 3, 1863: On the third day of the Battle of Gettysburg, Confederate General
Robert E. Lee’s last attempt at breaking the Union line ends in disastrous failure,
bringing the most decisive battle of the American Civil War to an end.

In June 1863, following his masterful victory at the Battle of Chancellorsville,
General Lee launched his second invasion of the Union in less than a year. He led
his 75,000-man Army of Northern Virginia across the Potomac River, through Maryland,
and into Pennsylvania, seeking to win a major battle on Northern soil that would further
dispirit the Union war effort and induce Britain or France to intervene on the
Confederacy’s behalf. The 90,000-strong Army of the Potomac pursued the Confederates
into Maryland, but its commander, General Joseph Hooker, was still stinging from his
defeat at Chancellorsville and seemed reluctant to chase Lee further. Meanwhile, the
Confederates divided their forces and investigated various targets, such as Harrisburg,
the Pennsylvania capital.

On June 28, President Abraham Lincoln replaced Hooker with General George Meade, and
Lee learned of the presence of the Army of the Potomac in Maryland. Lee ordered his army
to concentrate in the vicinity of the crossroads town of Gettysburg and prepare to meet the
Federal army. At the same time, Meade sent ahead part of his force into Pennsylvania but
intended to make a stand at Pipe Creek in Maryland.

On July 1, a Confederate division under General Henry Heth marched into Gettysburg hoping
to seize supplies but finding instead three brigades of Union cavalry. Thus began the
Battle of Gettysburg, and Lee and Meade ordered their massive armies to converge on the
impromptu battle site. The Union cavalrymen defiantly held the field against overwhelming
numbers until the arrival of Federal reinforcements. Later, the Confederates were reinforced,
and by mid-afternoon some 19,000 Federals faced 24,000 Confederates. Lee arrived to the
battlefield soon afterward and ordered a general advance that forced the Union line back to
Cemetery Hill, just south of the town.

During the night, the rest of Meade’s force arrived, and by the morning Union General
Winfield Hancock had formed a strong Union line. On July 2, against the Union left, General
James Longstreet led the main Confederate attack, but it was not carried out until about 4 p.m.,
and the Federals had time to consolidate their positions. Thus began some of the heaviest
fighting of the battle, and Union forces retained control of their strategic positions at heavy cost.
After three hours, the battle ended, and the total number of dead at Gettysburg stood in the thousands.

On July 3, Lee, having failed on the right and the left, planned an assault on Meade’s center.
A 15,000-man strong column under General George Pickett was organized, and Lee ordered a
massive bombardment of the Union positions. The 10,000 Federals answered the Confederate
artillery onslaught, and for more than an hour the guns raged in the heaviest cannonade of the
Civil War. At 3 p.m., Pickett led his force into no-man’s-land and found that Lee’s bombardment
had failed. As Pickett’s force attempted to cross the mile distance to Cemetery Ridge, Union
artillery blew great holes in their lines. Meanwhile, Yankee infantry flanked the main body of
“Pickett’s charge” and began cutting down the Confederates. Only a few hundred Virginians
reached the Union line, and within minutes they all were dead, dying, or captured. In less than
an hour, more than 7,000 Confederate troops had been killed or wounded.


Both armies, exhausted, held their positions until the night of July 4, when Lee withdrew. The
Army of the Potomac was too weak to pursue the Confederates, and Lee led his army out of the
North, never to invade it again. The Battle of Gettysburg was the turning point in the Civil War,
costing the Union 23,000 killed, wounded, or missing in action. The Confederates suffered some
25,000 casualties. On November 19, 1863, President Lincoln delivered his famous Gettysburg Address
during the dedication of a new national cemetery at the site of the Battle of Gettysburg.
The Civil War effectively ended with the surrender of General Lee’s Army of
Northern Virginia in April 1865.




ALSO ON THIS DAY



1980S
1988
U.S. warship downs Iranian passenger jet

In the Persian Gulf, the U.S. Navy cruiser Vincennes shoots down an
Iranian passenger jet that it mistakes for a hostile Iranian fighter aircraft.
Two missiles were fired from the American warship—the aircraft was
hit, and all 290 people aboard were killed. The attack came near ... read more





U.S. PRESIDENTS
1958
President Eisenhower initiates federal
flood-control program

On July 3, 1958, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs the Rivers and
Harbors Flood Control Bill, which allocates funds to improve flood-control
and water-storage systems across the country. Eisenhower had sent
back two earlier bills to Congress, but was pleased with the revisions ... read more


WESTWARD EXPANSION
1890
Idaho becomes 43rd state

Idaho is admitted to the union on July 3, 1890.  Exploration of the
North American continent mostly proceeded inward from the Atlantic
and Pacific coasts and northward from Spanish Mexico. Therefore, the
rugged territory that would become Idaho long remained untouched
by Spanish, ... read more


19TH CENTURY
1887
Gunfighter Clay Allison killed

Clay Allison, eccentric gunfighter and rancher, is believed to have died on
July 3, 1887, in a freak wagon accident in Texas. Born around 1840 in
Waynesboro, Tennessee, Allison seemed to display odd tendencies from a
young age. When the Civil War broke out, he joined the ... read more





ART, LITERATURE, AND FILM HISTORY
1969
Brian Jones and Jim Morrison die,
two years apart to the day

Rolling Stones guitarist Brian Jones is found dead of an apparent
accidental drowning on July 3, 1969. Two years later to the day, in 1971,
Jim Morrison dies of heart failure in a Paris bathtub. For all the highly
publicized brushes with the law that Mick Jagger and Keith ... read more





MIDDLE EAST
1990
Pilgrim stampede kills 1,400

A stampede of religious pilgrims in a pedestrian tunnel in Mecca leaves
more than 1,400 people dead on July 3, 1990. This was at the time the
most deadly of a series of incidents over 20 years affecting Muslims
making the trip to Mecca. To the followers of Islam, traveling to ... read more





CRIME
1989
A mother is arrested and accused of
killing her four children

Martha Ann Johnson is arrested in Georgia for the 1982 murder of her
oldest child, Jennyann Wright, after an Atlanta newspaper initiated a
new investigation into her suspicious death. Johnson’s three other
children had also mysteriously died between 1977 and 1982.
Back in ... read more





AMERICAN REVOLUTION
1775
George Washington takes command
of Continental Army

On July 3, 1775, George Washington rides out in front of the American
troops gathered at Cambridge common in Massachusetts and draws
his sword, formally taking command of the Continental Army. Washington,
a prominent Virginia planter and veteran of the French and Indian War,
had ... read more


WORLD WAR I
1918
Mohammed V, sultan of Turkey, dies

On July 3, 1918, with Turkish forces in the final months of fighting
against the Allied powers during World War I, Mohammed V, sultan
of the Ottoman Empire, dies at the age of 73. Born in 1844 in
Constantinople, Mohammed ascended to the throne in 1909 after
the forced abdication ... read more

[IceWizard]

Continental Congress adopts the
Declaration of Independence






1776
July 04



In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on July 4, 1776, the Continental Congress adopts
the Declaration of Independence, which proclaims the independence of the
United States of America from Great Britain and its king.

The declaration came 442 days after the first volleys of the American Revolution
were fired at Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts and marked an ideological
expansion of the conflict that would eventually encourage France’s intervention
on behalf of the Patriots.

The first major American opposition to British policy came in 1765 after Parliament
passed the Stamp Act, a taxation measure to raise revenues for a standing British
army in America. Under the banner of “no taxation without representation,” colonists
convened the Stamp Act Congress in October 1765 to vocalize their opposition to the tax.

With its enactment in November, most colonists called for a boycott of British goods,
and some organized attacks on the customhouses and homes of tax collectors.
After months of protest in the colonies, Parliament voted to repeal the
Stamp Act in March 1766.

Why did the American Colonies declare independence?

Most colonists continued to quietly accept British rule until Parliament’s enactment of
the Tea Act in 1773, a bill designed to save the faltering East India Company by greatly
lowering its tea tax and granting it a monopoly on the American tea trade.

The low tax allowed the East India Company to undercut even tea smuggled into
America by Dutch traders, and many colonists viewed the act as another example
of taxation tyranny. In response, militant Patriots in Massachusetts organized the
“Boston Tea Party,” which saw British tea valued at some 18,000 pounds dumped
into Boston Harbor.

The British Parliament, outraged by the Boston Tea Party and other blatant acts of
destruction of British property, enacted the Coercive Acts, also known as the
Intolerable Acts, in 1774. The Coercive Acts closed Boston to merchant shipping,
established formal British military rule in Massachusetts, made British officials immune
to criminal prosecution in America, and required colonists to quarter British troops.

The colonists subsequently called the first Continental Congress to consider a united
American resistance to the British.

With the other colonies watching intently, Massachusetts led the resistance to the British,
forming a shadow revolutionary government and establishing militias to resist the
increasing British military presence across the colony.

In April 1775, Thomas Gage, the British governor of Massachusetts, ordered British troops
to march to Concord, Massachusetts, where a Patriot arsenal was known to be located.
On April 19, 1775, the British regulars encountered a group of American militiamen at
Lexington, and the first shots of the American Revolution were fired.

Initially, both the Americans and the British saw the conflict as a kind of civil war within
the British Empire: To King George III it was a colonial rebellion, and to the Americans
it was a struggle for their rights as British citizens.

However, Parliament remained unwilling to negotiate with the American rebels and
instead purchased German mercenaries to help the British army crush the rebellion.
In response to Britain’s continued opposition to reform, the Continental Congress began
to pass measures abolishing British authority in the colonies.

How did the American Colonies declare independence?
In January 1776, Thomas Paine published “Common Sense,” an influential political
pamphlet that convincingly argued for American independence and sold more than
500,000 copies in a few months. In the spring of 1776, support for independence
swept the colonies, the Continental Congress called for states to form their own
governments, and a five-man committee was assigned to draft a declaration.

The Declaration of Independence was largely the work of Virginian Thomas Jefferson.
In justifying American independence, Jefferson drew generously from the political
philosophy of John Locke, an advocate of natural rights, and from the work of other
English theorists.

The first section features the famous lines, “We hold these truths to be self-evident,
that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain
unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
The second part presents a long list of grievances that provided the rationale for rebellion.

When did American colonies declare independence?

On July 2, 1776, the Continental Congress voted to approve a Virginia motion calling
for separation from Britain. The dramatic words of this resolution were added to the
closing of the Declaration of Independence. Two days later, on July 4, the declaration
was formally adopted by 12 colonies after minor revision. New York approved it on
July 19. On August 2, the declaration was signed.

The Revolutionary War would last for five more years. Yet to come were the Patriot
triumphs at Saratoga, the bitter winter at Valley Forge, the intervention of the French,
and the final victory at Yorktown in 1781. In 1783, with the signing of the Treaty of Paris
with Britain, the United States formally became a free and independent nation.




ALSO ON THIS DAY



GAY RIGHTS
1965
LGBTQ activists hold the first Annual Reminder
demonstration in Philadelphia

On July 4, 1965, more than two dozen LGBTQ activists demonstrate
in front of Independence Hall in Philadelphia in one of the earliest
gay rights demonstrations in the United States. The “Reminder”
demonstration, held annually through 1969, drew scant mainstream
media coverage at ... read more





19TH CENTURY
1884
France gives the Statue of Liberty to the United States

In a ceremony held in Paris on July 4, 1884, the completed Statue
of Liberty is formally presented to the U.S. ambassador as a
commemoration of the friendship between France and the United States.
The idea for the statue was born in 1865, when the French historian
and ... read more





SPACE EXPLORATION
1997
Pathfinder lands on Mars

After traveling 120 million miles in seven months, NASA’s Mars Pathfinder
becomes the first U.S. spacecraft to land on Mars in more than two decades.
In an ingenious, cost-saving landing procedure, Pathfinder used parachutes
to slow its approach to the Martian surface and then ... read more


U.S. PRESIDENTS
1826
Thomas Jefferson and John Adams die

On July 4, 1826, former Presidents Thomas Jefferson and John Adams,
who were once fellow Patriots and then adversaries, die on the same day
within five hours of each other. Thomas Jefferson and John ... read more


ART, LITERATURE, AND FILM HISTORY
1855
First edition of Walt Whitman’s
"Leaves of Grass" is published

Walt Whitman’s first edition of the self-published Leaves of Grass is printed,
containing a dozen poems. Whitman was born in West Hills, Long Island,
and raised in Brooklyn. He left school at the age of 14 to become a
journeyman printer and later worked as a teacher, journalist, ... read more





NATURAL DISASTERS & ENVIRONMENT
1911
Heat wave strikes Northeast, killing hundreds

On July 4, 1911, record temperatures are set in the northeastern
United States as a deadly heat wave hits the area that would go on
to kill 380 people. In Nashua, New Hampshire, the mercury peaked
at 106 degrees Fahrenheit. Other high-temperature records
were set all over New ... read more





CRIME
1954
A sensationalized murder trial inspires
"The Fugitive"

Marilyn Sheppard is beaten to death inside her suburban home in
Cleveland, Ohio. Her husband, Dr. Sam Sheppard, claimed to have
fallen asleep in the family’s living room and awakened to find a man
with bushy hair fleeing the scene. The ... read more





CIVIL WAR
1863
Confederates surrender at Vicksburg

The Confederacy is torn in two when General John C. Pemberton
surrenders to Union General Ulysses S. Grant at Vicksburg, Mississippi.
The Vicksburg campaign was one of the Union’s most successful of
the war. Although Grant’s first attempt to take the city failed in the
winter of ... read more

[IceWizard]

Bikini introduced





1946
July 05




On July 5, 1946, French designer Louis Réard unveils a daring two-piece swimsuit
at the Piscine Molitor, a popular swimming pool in Paris. Parisian showgirl Micheline Bernardini
modeled the new fashion, which Réard dubbed “bikini,” inspired by a news-making
U.S. atomic test that took place off the Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean earlier that week.

European women first began wearing two-piece bathing suits that consisted of a
halter top and shorts in the 1930s, but only a sliver of the midriff was revealed
and the navel was vigilantly covered. In the United States, the modest two-piece
made its appearance during World War II, when wartime rationing of fabric saw
the removal of the skirt panel and other superfluous material. Meanwhile, in Europe,
fortified coastlines and Allied invasions curtailed beach life during the war, and
swimsuit development, like everything else non-military, came to a standstill.

In 1946, Western Europeans joyously greeted the first war-free summer in years, and
French designers came up with fashions to match the liberated mood of the people.
Two French designers, Jacques Heim and Louis Réard, developed competing prototypes
of the bikini. Heim called his the “atom” and advertised it as “the world’s smallest bathing
suit.” Réard's swimsuit, which was basically a bra top and two inverted triangles of cloth
connected by string, was in fact significantly smaller. Made out of a scant 30 inches of
fabric, Réard promoted his creation as “smaller than the world’s smallest bathing suit.”
Réard called his creation the bikini, named after the Bikini Atoll.


In planning the debut of his new swimsuit, Réard had trouble finding a professional model
who would deign to wear the scandalously skimpy two-piece. So he turned to
Micheline Bernardini, an exotic dancer at the Casino de Paris, who had no qualms about
appearing nearly nude in public. As an allusion to the headlines that he knew his swimsuit
would generate, he printed newspaper type across the suit that Bernardini modeled on
July 5 at the Piscine Molitor. The bikini was a hit, especially among men, and Bernardini
received some 50,000 fan letters.

Before long, bold young women in bikinis were causing a sensation along the
Mediterranean coast. Spain and Italy passed measures prohibiting bikinis on public
beaches but later capitulated to the changing times when the swimsuit grew into a
mainstay of European beaches in the 1950s. Réard's business soared, and in
advertisements he kept the bikini mystique alive by declaring that a two-piece suit
wasn’t a genuine bikini “unless it could be pulled through a wedding ring.”

In prudish America, the bikini was successfully resisted until the early 1960s, when a new
emphasis on youthful liberation brought the swimsuit en masse to U.S. beaches. It was
immortalized by the pop singer Brian Hyland, who sang
“Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka-Dot Bikini” in 1960, by the teenage “beach blanket”
movies of Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon, and by the California surfing culture
celebrated by rock groups like the Beach Boys. Since then, the popularity of the bikini
has only continued to grow.




ALSO ON THIS DAY


1970S
1978
"Gang of 19" activists occupy Denver intersection
to protest inaccessibility on the city’s bus system

On July 5, 1978, a Regional Transportation District (RTD)
bus stops at the intersection of Colfax Avenue and Broadway
in Denver, Colorado. As passengers board, a group of people
in wheelchairs position themselves in front of the bus,
preventing it from leaving the stop. When a ... read more





KOREA
1950
First U.S. fatality in the Korean War

Near Sojong, South Korea, Private Kenneth Shadrick, a 19-year-old
infantryman from Skin Fork, West Virginia, becomes the first
American reported killed in the Korean War. Shadrick, a member
of a bazooka squad, had just fired the weapon at a Soviet-made
tank when he looked up to ... read more





21ST CENTURY
2003
World Health Organization declares SARS contained worldwide

On July 5, 2003, the World Health Organization (WHO) announces that
all person-to-person transmission of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome
(SARS) has ceased. In the previous eight months, the disease had killed
about 775 people in 29 countries and exposed the dangers of ... read more


ART, LITERATURE, AND FILM HISTORY
1954
Elvis Presley records “That’s All Right (Mama)”

History credits Sam Phillips, the owner and operator of Sun Records in
Memphis, Tennessee, with the discovery of Elvis Presley, which is perfectly
fair, though it fails to account for the roles of four others in making that
discovery possible: The business partner who first ... read more





19TH CENTURY
1865
Salvation Army founded

In the East End of London, revivalist preacher William Booth and his wife
Catherine establish the Christian Mission, later known as the Salvation Army.
Determined to wage war against the evils of poverty and religious indifference
with military efficiency, Booth modeled his ... read more


INVENTIONS & SCIENCE
1996
Dolly the sheep becomes first
successfully cloned mammal

On July 5, 1996, Dolly the sheep—the first mammal to have been successfully
cloned from an adult cell—is born at the Roslin Institute in Scotland.
Originally code-named “6LL3,” the cloned lamb was named after singer
and actress Dolly Parton. The name was reportedly suggested by ... read more





SPORTS
1975
Arthur Ashe becomes the first Black man
to win Wimbledon

On July 5, 1975, Arthur Ashe defeats the heavily favored Jimmy Connors to
become the first Black man ever to win Wimbledon, the most coveted
championship in tennis. Arthur Ashe began playing tennis as a boy in his
hometown of Richmond, Virginia. After winning a tennis scholarship ... read more





U.S. PRESIDENTS
1865
Conspirators court-martialed for plotting to kill
Lincoln, Grant and Andrew Johnson

On July 5, 1865, President Andrew Johnson signs an executive order that
confirms the military conviction of a group of people who had conspired to
kill the late President Abraham Lincoln, then commander in chief of the
U.S. Army. With his signature, Johnson ordered four of the ... read more


ART, LITERATURE, AND FILM HISTORY
1880
George Bernard Shaw quits his job

On July 5, 1880, George Bernard Shaw, 23, quits his job at the
Edison Telephone Company in order to write. Shaw was born in
Dublin, Ireland, and left school at the age of 14 to work in a
land agent’s office. In 1876, he quit and moved to London,
where his mother, a music teacher, ... read more


CRIME
1921
Chicago White Sox accused of throwing World Series

After Judge Hugo Friend denies a motion to quash the indictments
against the major league baseball players accused of throwing the
1919 World Series, a trial begins with jury selection.
The Chicago White Sox players, including stars Shoeless Joe Jackson,
Buck Weaver and Eddie ... read more





AMERICAN REVOLUTION
1775
Congress adopts Olive Branch Petition

On July 5, 1775, the Continental Congress adopts the Olive Branch Petition,
written by John Dickinson, which appeals directly to King George III and
expresses hope for reconciliation between the colonies and Great Britain.
Dickinson, who hoped desperately to avoid a final break ... read more


WORLD WAR I
1914
Germany gives Austria-Hungary “blank check” assurance

On July 5, 1914, in Berlin, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany pledges his
country’s unconditional support for whatever action Austria-Hungary
chooses to take in its conflict with Serbia, a long-running rivalry thrown
into crisis by the assassination, the previous June 28, of Archduke ... read more