EVENTS
- 1776 – In Philadelphia, most of the 55 members of the Continental Congress signed the parchment copy of the Declaration of Independence.
- 1790 – The first US Census is conducted.
- 1870 – The world’s first underground tube railway opens in London.
- 1876 – Wild Bill Hickok is killed while playing poker.
- 1923 – President Warren G. Harding died suddenly in a hotel in San Francisco while on a Western speaking tour. His administration had been tainted by the Teapot Dome political scandal and his sudden death prompted many unfounded rumors. He was succeeded the next day by Calvin Coolidge.
- 1939 – Albert Einstein wrote a letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt concerning the possibility of atomic weapons. “A single bomb of this type carried by boat and exploded in a port, might very well destroy the whole port together with some of the surrounding territory.” Six years later, on August 6, 1945, the first Atomic Bomb, developed by the U.S., was dropped on the Japanese port of Hiroshima.
- 1945 – The Potsdam Conference which is convened to negotiate the terms of the end of WWII comes to an end. Representatives from the US, U.K., and Soviet Union participated in the conference.
- 1958 – The Arab Federation is dissolved. The short-lived federation of Jordan and Iraq was dissolved after King Faisal of Iraq was deposed and assassinated during the 14 July Revolution.
- 1990 – Iraq invades Kuwait starting the Gulf War.
- 1998 – Second Congo War Begins. The deadliest war in Africa, the war and its aftermath has killed an estimated 5.4 million people. The war started with a mutiny in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and soon involved 9 African nations. It lasted for 5 years.
BIRTHDAYS
- 1820 – John Tyndall (British physicist)
- 1835 – Elisha Gray (Inventor)
- 1892 – Jack Warner (Canadian/American film producer)
- 1924 – Carroll O’ Connor (Actor)
- 1932 – Peter O’Toole (Irish actor)
- 1939 – Wes Craven (Director)
- 1964 – Mary Louise Parker (Actress)
- 1977 – Edward Furlong (Actor from Terminator 2)
- 1981 – Alexander Emelianenko (Russian mixed martial artist)
- 1982 – Grady Sizemore (Baseball player)
- 1985 – Britt Nicole (Singer)
DEATHS
- 1921 – Enrico Caruso (Italian tenor)
- 1922 – Alexander Graham Bell (Scottish/American engineer, invented the Telephone)
- 1923 – Warren G. Harding (American politician, 29th President of the United States)
- 1934 – Paul von Hindenburg (Prussian/German field marshal, politician, 2nd President of Germany)
- 1997 – Fela Kuti (Nigerian singer-songwriter, musician, activist)