This Day in History

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July 4

Today is Independence Day in the United States of America.

At 4:24 p.m. today, the Earth will be at it's farthest point from the Sun, known as aphelion of the Earth.

There are 180 days remaining in 2016.

1054 – A supernova, SN 1054, is seen by Chinese Song dynasty, Arab, and possibly Amerindian observers near the star Zeta Tauri. For several months it remains bright enough to be seen during the day. Its remnants form the Crab Nebula.

1744 – The Treaty of Lancaster, in which the Iroquois cedes lands between the Allegheny Mountains and the Ohio River to the British colonies, was signed in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

1776 – American Revolution: The United States Declaration of Independence is adopted by the Second Continental Congress.

1802 – The United States Military Academy at West Point, New York opens.

1803 – The Louisiana Purchase is announced to the American people.

1817 – In Rome, New York, construction on the Erie Canal begins.

1826 – Thomas Jefferson, third president of the United States, dies the same day as John Adams, second president of the United States, on the fiftieth anniversary of the adoption of the United States Declaration of Independence.

1831 – Samuel Francis Smith writes "My Country, 'Tis of Thee" for the Boston, Massachusetts July 4 festivities.

1837 – Grand Junction Railway, the world's first long-distance railway, opens between Birmingham and Liverpool.

1855 – In Brooklyn, New York City, the first edition of Walt Whitman's book of poems, Leaves of Grass, is published.

1862 – Lewis Carroll tells Alice Liddell a story that would grow into Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequels.

1863 – American Civil War: Siege of Vicksburg: Vicksburg, Mississippi surrenders to Ulysses S. Grant after 47 days of siege. One hundred fifty miles up the Mississippi River, a Confederate Army is repulsed at the Battle of Helena, in Arkansas.

American Civil War: The Army of Northern Virginia withdraws from the battlefield after losing the Battle of Gettysburg, signalling an end to the Southern invasion of the North.

1881 – In Alabama, the Tuskegee Institute opens.

1886 – The people of France offer the Statue of Liberty to the people of the United States.

1892 – Western Samoa changes the International Date Line. Monday, July 4 occurs twice, resulting in a year with 367 days.

1910 – African-American boxer Jack Johnson knocks out white boxer Jim Jeffries in a heavyweight boxing match, sparking race riots across the United States.

1911 – A massive heat wave strikes the northeastern United States, killing 380 people in eleven days and breaking temperature records in several cities.

1918 – Bolsheviks kill Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and his family (Julian calendar date).

1927 – First flight of the Lockheed Vega.

1939 – Lou Gehrig, recently diagnosed with Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, informs a crowd at Yankee Stadium that he considers himself "The luckiest man on the face of the earth", then announces his retirement from major league baseball.

1943 – World War II: The Battle of Kursk, the largest full-scale battle in history and the world's largest tank battle, begins in Prokhorovka village.

1950 – Radio Free Europe first broadcasts.

1974 - Despite the fact that they have the No.4 song in the US with 'Rikki Don't Lose That Number' and a current Platinum album with 'Pretzel Logic', Steely Dan's Walter Becker and Donald Fagan play their final gig together in Santa Monica, California. They will not tour again for the next eighteen years.

1976 - The Clash made their live debut supporting the Sex Pistols at the Black Swan, Sheffield, England.

1984 -- Richard Petty wins his 200th and final NASCAR Winston cup race.

2000 - A man fell 80 feet to his death during a Metallica concert at Raven Stadium, Baltimore.

2002 - Tony Bennett had to abandon a show at London's Royal Albert Hall after a fire broke out in the building. The audience were evacuated after smoke began to fill the hall.

2004 – The cornerstone of the Freedom Tower is laid on the World Trade Center site in New York City.

2007 - Former laboratory worker Devon Townsend admitted to a court in Albuquerque, New Mexico of stalking Chester Bennington lead singer with Linkin Park. Townsend used US government computers to obtain his personal information, accessing Bennington's e-mail account and mobile phone voicemail. The court was told how she travelled to Arizona solely for the purpose of trying to see the singer and monitored his voicemails as a means of trying to locate where he might be eating.

2009 – The Statue of Liberty's crown reopens to the public after eight years of closure due to security concerns following the September 11 attacks.

Births

1804 – Nathaniel Hawthorne; 1816 – Hiram Walker (founded Canadian club whiskey); 1826 – Stephen Foster; 1847 – James Anthony Bailey (co-founded Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus); 1854 – Bill Tilghman (city marshal Dodge City, Kansas); 1872 – Calvin Coolidge; 1882 – Louis B. Mayer; 1883 – Rube Goldberg; 1902 – Meyer Lansky; 1911 – Mitch Miller; 1918 – Pauline Phillips (created Dear Abby); 1920 – Leona Helmsley (The Queen of Mean); 1924 – Eva Marie Saint; 1927 – Gina Lollobrigida, Neil Simon; 1929 – Al Davis; 1930 – George Steinbrenner; 1931 – Stephen Boyd; 1938 – Bill Withers; 1943 – Geraldo Rivera, Alan Wilson; 1946 – Ron Kovic (subject "Born On The Fourth Of July"), Michael Milken; 1952 – John Waite; 1962 – Pam Shriver; 1963 – Michael Sweet; 1964 – Mark Slaughter; 1971 – Koko (gorilla)

Deaths

1826 – John Adams (POTUS), Thomas Jefferson (POTUS); 1831 – James Monroe (POTUS); 1891 – Hannibal Hamlin (VPOTUS); 1934 – Marie Curie; 1991 – Art Sansom (created The Born Loser comic strip); 1995 – Eva Gabor, Bob Ross; 1997 – Charles Kuralt; 2003 – Barry White; 2008 – Jesse Helms (and there was much rejoicing)

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July 5

1687 – Isaac Newton publishes Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica.

1775 – The Second Continental Congress adopts the Olive Branch Petition.

1915 – The Liberty Bell leaves Philadelphia by special train on its way to the Panama–Pacific International Exposition. This is the last trip outside Philadelphia that the custodians of the bell intend to permit.

1935 – The National Labor Relations Act, which governs labor relations in the United States, is signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

1937 – Spam, the luncheon meat, is introduced into the market by the Hormel Foods Corporation.

1943 – World War II: An Allied invasion fleet sails for Sicily (Operation Husky).

German forces begin a massive offensive against the Soviet Union at the Battle of Kursk, also known as Operation Citadel.

1945 – World War II: The liberation of the Philippines is declared.

1946 – The bikini goes on sale after debuting during an outdoor fashion show at the Molitor Pool in Paris, France. (And there was much rejoicing.)

1948 – National Health Service Acts create the national public health system in the United Kingdom.

1950 – Zionism: The Knesset passes the Law of Return which grants all Jews the right to immigrate to Israel.

1954 – The BBC broadcasts its first television news bulletin.

1954 – Elvis Presley records his first single, "That's All Right," at Sun Records in Memphis, Tennessee.

1965 - Marty Balin and Paul Kantner formed a Folk-Rock group that would evolve into the Jefferson Airplane, the premier San Francisco psychedelic band of the late '60s. The Airplane made its debut the following month at a Haight-Ashbury club, and was signed to RCA later in the year.

1971 – Right to vote: The Twenty-sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution, lowering the voting age from 21 to 18 years, is formally certified by President Richard Nixon.

1973 – A boiling liquid expanding vapor explosion (BLEVE) in Kingman, Arizona, following a fire that broke out as propane was being transferred from a railroad car to a storage tank, kills eleven firefighters.

1975 – Arthur Ashe becomes the first black man to win the Wimbledon singles title.

1978 - The manufacturing of Some Girls the new album by The Rolling Stones was halted at EMI's pressing plant after complaints from celebrities, including Lucille Ball, who were featured in mock advertisements on the album sleeve.

1980 – Swedish tennis player Björn Borg wins his fifth Wimbledon final and becomes the first male tennis player to win the championships five times in a row (1976–1980).

1989 – Iran–Contra affair: Oliver North is sentenced by U.S. District Judge Gerhard A. Gesell to a three-year suspended prison term, two years probation, $150,000 in fines and 1,200 hours community service. His convictions are later overturned.

1995 - More than 100 Grateful Dead fans were hurt when a wooden deck collapsed at a campground lodge in Wentzville, Missouri. Hundreds of people were on or under the deck sheltering from heavy rain. More than 4,000 Deadheads were staying at the campground while attending Grateful Dead concerts in the St. Louis suburb.

1996 – Dolly the sheep becomes the first mammal cloned from an adult cell.

2000 - Cub Koda (Michael "Cub" Koda), founder member of Brownsville Station died of complications from kidney failure. Wrote the 2 million selling 1974 hit 'Smokin' In The Boys Room', (which Motley Crue covered). He took his nickname from Cubby on television's Mickey Mouse Club.

2009 – The largest hoard of Anglo-Saxon gold ever discovered, consisting of more than 1,500 items, is found near the village of Hammerwich, in Staffordshire, England.

2012 – The Shard in London is inaugurated as the tallest building in Europe, with a height of 310 metres (1,020 ft).

2016 – NASA's Juno spacecraft enters orbit of Jupiter.

Births

1586 – Thomas Hooker; 1801 – David Farragut; 1810 – P. T. Barnum; 1902 – Henry Cabot Lodge Jr.; 1904 – Milburn Stone ('Doc Adams' on "Gunsmoke"); 1911 – Georges Pompidou; 1928 – Warren Oates; 1929 – Katherine Helmond; 1943 – Robbie Robertson; 1948 – William Hootkins, Cassie Gaines (back-up singer Lynyrd Skynyrd); 1950 – Huey Lewis, Michael Monarch; 1951 – Goose Gossage; 1954 – Jimmy Crespo (Aerosmith); 1958 – Bill Watterson (Calvin & Hobbes); 1959 – Marc Cohn; 1960 – Pruitt Taylor Vince (turned nystagmus into a career); 1963 – Edie Falco

Deaths

1819 – William Cornwallis; 1920 – Max Klinger; 2001 – Ernie K-Doe; 2002 – Ted Williams; 2006 – Kenneth Lay