July 4
July 4 is the 185th day of the year (186th in
leap years) in the
Gregorian Calendar, with 180 days remaining. \n\n
Events
\n*993 - Saint Ulrich of Augsburg canonized. \n*1054 - A supernova is observed by the Chinese and Amerindians near the star ζ Tauri. For several months it remains bright enough to be seen during the day. Its remnants form the Crab Nebula. \n*1187 - Saladin defeats Guy of Lusignan, King of Jerusalem, at the Battle of Hattin.\n*1776 - American Revolutionary War: The Continental Congress approves a Declaration of Independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain forming the United States of America. \n*1802 - At West Point, New York the United States Military Academy opens. \n*1803 - The Louisiana Purchase is announced to the American people. \n*1817 - At Rome, New York, construction on the Erie Canal begins.\n*1826 - Fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, on which two of America's Founding Fathers died. (Another Founding Father would die a few days later, on July 8,1826.) \n*1838 - The Iowa Territory is organized.\n*1837 - Grand Junction Railway, world's first long-distance railway, opens between Birmingham and Liverpool.\n*1840 - The Cunard Line's 700 ton wooden paddlewheel steamer RMS Britannia departs from Liverpool bound for Halifax, Nova Scotia on the first transatlantic passenger cruise.\n*1845 - Near Concord, Massachusetts, Henry David Thoreau embarks on a two-year experiment in simple living at Walden Pond (see Walden). \n*1855 - In Brooklyn, New York, the first edition of Walt Whitman's book of poems titled Leaves of Grass is published. \n*1859 - Franco-Piedmontese War: The Battle of Magenta. \n*1862 - Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) goes on a boating picnic with Alice Liddell, who asks to be entertained with a story.\n*1863 - American Civil War: Battle of Vicksburg - Ulysses S. Grant and the Union army capture the Confederate city Vicksburg, Mississippi after the town surrendered. The siege lasted 47 days.\n*1865 - Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is published. \n*1881 - In Alabama, the Tuskegee Institute opens. \n*1894 - The short-lived Republic of Hawaii is proclaimed by Sanford B. Dole. \n*1910 - African-American boxer Jack Johnson knocks out white boxer Jim Jeffries in a heavyweight boxing match sparking race riots across the United States. \n*1918 - Ottoman sultan Mehmed VI ascends to the throne. \n* 1918 - Bolsheviks kill Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and his family (Julian calendar date). \n*1927 - Initial flight of the Lockheed Vega.\n*1934 - Joe Louis wins his first professional boxing match. \n* 1934 - Leo Szilard patents the chain-reaction design for the atomic bomb.\n*1939 - Lou Gehrig, recently diagnosed with Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, tells a crowd at Yankee Stadium that he considered himself "The luckiest man on the face of the earth" as he announces his retirement from major league baseball. \n*1941 - Mass murder of Polish scientists and writers, committed by Nazi Germans in captured Polish city of Lvov. \n*1946 - After over 400 years, the Philippines achieves full independence.\n*1950 - First broadcast by Radio Free Europe\n*1959 - With the admission of Alaska as the 49th U.S. state earlier in the year, the 49-star flag of the United States debuts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. \n*1960 - Due to the post-Independence Day admission of Hawaii as the 50th U.S. state on 21 August 1959, the 50-star flag of the United States debuts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania almost ten and a half months later (see Flag Act). \n*1966 - President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Freedom of Information Act into United States law. The act goes into effect the next year. \n*1976 - Israeli commandos raid Entebbe airport in Uganda, rescuing most of the passengers and crew of an Air France jetliner seized by pro-Palestinian hijackers. \n*1987 - In France, former Gestapo chief Klaus Barbie (aka the "Butcher of Lyon") is convicted of crimes against humanity and is sentenced to life imprisonment. \n*1997 - NASA's Pathfinder space probe lands on the surface of Mars.\n* 1998 - Lin "Spit" Newborn and Daniel Shersty are murdered by neonazis in the desert just outside Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.\n*2002 - A Prestige Airlines cargo Boeing 707 crashes just short of the runway in Bangui, Central African Republic killing 25\n*2004 - The cornerstone of the Freedom Tower is lain on the site of the World Trade Center in New York City. (This was largely a symbolic event; actual construction would not start for several weeks)
Births
\n*1540 - Gackt Camui, song writer and singer (self-claimed)\n*1546 - Murat III, Ottoman Emperor (d. 1595)\n*1799 - Joseph François Oscar Bernadotte, future king Oscar I of Sweden-Norway (d. 1859)\n*1804 - Nathaniel Hawthorne, writer (d. 1864)\n*1807 - Giuseppe Garibaldi, Italian patriot\n*1826 - Stephen Foster, songwriter ("Oh! Susanna", "Camptown Races") (d. 1864)\n*1845 - Thomas Barnardo, Irish founder of homes for underprivileged children\n*1847 - James Anthony Bailey, co-founder with Phineas Taylor Barnum of the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus.\n*1872 - Calvin Coolidge, 30th president of the United States\n*1878 - George M. Cohan, singer, dancer, composer, actor, writer (d. 1942)\n*1883 - Rube Goldberg, cartoonist (d. 1970)\n*1902 - George Murphy, dancer, actor, Senator from California (d. 1992)\n* 1902 - Meyer Lansky, mobster (d. 1983)\n*1910 - Gloria Stuart, actress\n*1911 - Mitch Miller, bandleader, television personality\n*1917 - Manolete (Manuel Rodríguez Sánchez), bullfighter (d. 1947)\n*1918 - Ann Landers, advice columnist (d. 2002)\n* 1918 - Abigail Van Buren, advice columnist and twin sister to Ann Landers\n*1921 - Tibor Varga, violinist, conductor and pedagogue\n*1924 - Eva Marie Saint, actress: North by Northwest, On the Waterfront\n*1927 - Gina Lollobrigida, actress\n*1930 - George Steinbrenner, owner of the New York Yankees\n*1938 - Bill Withers, singer/songwriter\n*1943 - Geraldo Rivera, reporter, talk show host\n*1946 - Ron Kovic, author: Born on the Fourth of July\n*1951 - Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, U.S. political figure\n*1976 - Daijiro Kato, Japanese motorcycle racer
Deaths
\n*965 - Pope Benedict V\n*1187 - Raynald of Chatillon, executed by Saladin after the Battle of Hattin.\n*1821 - Richard Cosway, English artist\n*1826 - John Adams, 2nd president of the United States, and Thomas Jefferson, 3rd president of the United States. In a remarkable coincidence, both of these framers of the United States Declaration of Independence died on the 50th anniversary of its adoption.\n*1831 - James Monroe, 5th president of the United States\n*1838 - Colonel José Antonio Vidaurre and his accomplices, authors of The Riot of Quillota, Chile were shot.\n*1891 - Hannibal Hamlin, U.S. Vice President under Abraham Lincoln\n*1901 - Johannes Schmidt, German linguist \n*1902 - Swami Vivekananda\n*1926 - Frassati Piergiorgio, Member of FUCI\n*1931 - Buddie Petit, jazz musician (b. ca 1890)\n*1934 - Marie Sklodowska-Curie, co-discoverer of radium and polonium \n*1970 - Barnett Newman, artist\n*1971 - August Derleth, science fiction and fantasy writer and editor.\n*1975 - Georgette Heyer, author\n*1995 - Eva Gabor, actress\n*1997 - Charles Kuralt, television reporter\n*2003 - Barry White, soul singer\n*2004 - Jean-Marie Auberson, Swiss conductor (b. 1920)
Holidays and observances
\n*United States - Independence Day (1776)\n*Filipino-American Friendship Day
July 3 -
July 5 -
June 4 -
August 4 - more
historical anniversaries
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