Events, Births and Deaths Happening on this Date

1789

Storming of the Bastille in Paris. This event escalates the widespread discontent into the French Revolution.

1798

The Sedition Act of 1798 becomes law in the United States making it a federal crime to write, publish, or utter false or malicious statements about the United States government.

1853

Opening of the first major US world's fair, the Exhibition of the Industry of All Nations in New York City.

1874

The Chicago Fire of 1874 burns down 47 acres of the city, destroying 812 buildings, killing 20, and resulting in the fire insurance industry demanding municipal reforms from Chicago's city council.

1881

American outlaw Billy the Kid is shot and killed by Sheriff Pat Garrett in the Maxwell House at Fort Sumner, New Mexico.

1911

Harry Atwood, an exhibition pilot for the Wright brothers, is greeted by President Taft after he lands his aeroplane on the South Lawn of the White House, having flown from Boston.

1921

In one of the most controversial trials in American history, Italian immigrant anarchists Sacco and Vanzetti were found guilty of murdering two men in Massachusetts. They would later be executed despite worldwide protests.

1933

A typhus epidemic broke out in the city of Moscow and hospitals are full and overflowing with victims of the disease.

1933

All other political parties are banned in Germany except for the Nazi Party.

1933

Nazi eugenics program begins with the proclamation of the Law for the Prevention of Hereditarily Diseased Offspring requiring the compulsory sterilization of any citizen who suffers from alleged genetic disorders.

1941

Two Axis ships were destroyed and a third set on fire just off Tripoli by RAF Fighter Bombers.

1943

In Diamond, Missouri, the George Washington Carver National Monument becomes the first United States National Monument in honor of an African American.

1946

The book "Common Sense Book of Baby & Child Care" was published by Dr. Benjamin Spock. It would go on to become one of the best-selling books of the 20th century and revolutionize the way parents raised their children.

1951

Ferrari take their first Formula One grand prix victory at the British Grand Prix at Silverstone.

1955

Volkswagen introduced the Karmann Ghia coupe as a Volkswagen that could show the world that they could produce great looking cars as well as reliable cars.

1957

Rawya Ateya takes her seat in the National Assembly of Egypt, thereby becoming the first female parliamentarian in the Arab world.

1958

A military coup in Iraq overthrows the monarchy making Iraq a republic. The Crown Prince Abdul Illah and Nuri es Said, prime minister of the Iraq-Jordan Federation, had been assassinated by the rebels.

1958

In the 14 July Revolution in Iraq, the monarchy is overthrown by popular forces led by Abd al-Karim Qasim, who becomes the nation's new leader.

1960

Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 1-11 ditches off Polillo Island in the Philippines, killing one person and injuring 44.

1960

Jane Goodall arrives at the Gombe Stream Reserve in present-day Tanzania to begin her study of chimpanzees in the wild.

1965

The American space probe Mariner 4 flew by Mars, sending back photographs of the planet.

1965

Mariner 4 flyby of Mars takes the first close-up photos of another planet. The photographs take approximately six hours to be transmitted back to Earth.

1966

In one of the worst murder cases to date 8 student nurses are brutally murdered by Richard Speck at their group residence in Chicago, Illinois.

1978

Cleveland, Louisville and Philadelphia public servants began a strike leaving cities with no police on the streets, no fire protection and most other public service employees on strike.

1983

Mario Bros. is released in Japan, beginning the popular Super Mario Bros franchise.

1988

The latest figures released show that the big three US auto makers Ford Motor Company, GM Motors and Chrysler between between them account for 95% of the US domestic sales.

1988

The Nashville radio station WYHY offered $1 million to anyone who could prove that Elvis Presley was still alive. No successful claims were ever made.

2002

French president Jacques Chirac escapes an assassination attempt from Maxime Brunerie during a Bastille Day parade at Champs-Elysees.

2003

Hurricane Claudette with 90 MPH winds hits the Texas coast causing major damage, especially in Galveston, where it kills two people.

2006

Israel continued its attacks on the country of Lebanon after the militant group Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers. Over fifty people, most of whom were civilians, were killed in the attacks.

2008

After a $52 billion takeover deal, American beer maker, Anheuser- Busch, was taken over by the Belgian beer maker InBev making the combined company, Anheuser-Busch InBev, the largest beer maker in the world.

2013

In the highly controversial George Zimmerman case, the long-awaited verdict was revealed. Zimmerman who was part of a neighborhood watch had shot dead an unarmed seventeen year old black teenager named Trayvon Martin.

2015

NASA's New Horizons probe performs the first flyby of Pluto, and thus completes the initial survey of the Solar System.

2016

A man ploughs a truck into a Bastille Day celebration in Nice, France, killing 86 people and injuring another 434 before being shot by police.

2020

The first results of an experimental COVID vaccine were announced to be successful overall. They would be authorized for use less than 6 months later.

1910

William Denby Hanna was an American animator and cartoonist. Created the "Tom and Jerry" cartoons. Alongside Joseph Barbera, he also founded the animation studio and production company Hanna-Barbera.

1912

Woodrow Wilson Guthrie was an American singer-songwriter, one of the most significant figures in American folk music. His work focused on themes of American socialism and anti-fascism.

1913

Gerald Rudolph Ford was born in Omaha, Nebraska. US president from 1974 to 1979. Ford ascended to the presidency as a result of the resignation of Vice President Spiro Agnew and President Richard Nixon.

1918

Ernst Ingmar Bergman was a Swedish screenwriter and film and theatre director. Widely considered one of the greatest and most influential directors of all time.

1926

Harry Dean Stanton, American actor, musician, and singer (d. 2017)

1927

John William Chancellor was an American journalist who spent most of his career with NBC News. He is considered a pioneer in television news.

1932

Roosevelt "Rosey" Grier is an American actor, singer, Protestant minister, and former professional football player.

1938

Jerry Clyde Rubin was an American social activist, anti-war leader, and counterculture icon during the 1960s and early 1970s.

1945

James Beck Gordon was an American musician, songwriter, and convicted murderer. Gordon was a session drummer in the late 1960s and 1970s and was the drummer in the blues rock supergroup Derek and the Dominos.

1988

Conor Anthony McGregor, Irish professional mixed martial artist. He is a former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Featherweight and Lightweight Champion, becoming the first UFC fighter to hold UFC championships in two weight classes simultaneously.

1881

Henry McCarty, alias William H. Bonney, better known as Billy the Kid, was an American outlaw and gunfighter of the Old West who is alleged to have killed 21 men before he was shot and killed at the age of 21.

1904

Paul Kruger, South African politician, 5th President of the South African Republic (b. 1824)

1965

Adlai Ewing Stevenson II was an American politician and diplomat who was the United States Ambassador to the United Nations from 1961 until his death in 1965.

1998

Richard McDonald, American businessman, co-founded the original McDonald's restaurant with his brother Maurice McDonald in 1940. (b. 1909)

2020

Ivana Marie Trump was a Czech-American businesswoman, socialite, and model. She lived in Canada in the 1970s, before relocating to the United States and marrying Donald Trump in 1977.