Today
in History ~ July 20
Independence Day, celebrated in Columbia
Events
1627 - English fleet under George Villiers reaches La
Rochelle
1749 - Earl of Chesterfield says "Idleness is only refuge of weak
minds"
1773 - Scottish settlers arrive at Pictou Nova Scotia (Canada)
1808 - Napoleon decrees all French Jews adopt family names
1810 - Colombia declares independence from Spain
1836 - Charles Darwin climbs Green Hill on Ascension
1859 - American baseball fans were charged an
admission fee for the first time. 1,500 spectators each paid 50 cents to see
Brooklyn play New York.
1861 - Confederate States congress begins sessions in Richmond Va
1862 - Guerrilla campaign in GA (Porter's & Poindexter's)
1864 - Battle of Peachtree Creek-Atlanta Campaign
1868 - 1st use of tax stamps on cigarettes
1871 - Province of British Columbia entered into the confederation of Canada
1872 - Mahlon Loomis patents wireless radio
1878 - 1st telephone introduced in Hawaii.
1881 - Sioux Indian Chief Sitting Bull, a fugitive
since the Battle of the Little Big Horn, surrendered to federal troops which
promised him amnesty for him and his followers. [H]
1894 - 2000 fed troops recalled from Chicago having ended Pullman strike
1911 - Generals Henry Wilson/Auguste Dubail sign plan for British Expeditionary
army in case of war with Germany
1914 - Armed resistance against British rule begins in Ulster
1917 - Pact of Corfu signed: Serbs Croats & Slovenes form Yugoslavia
1927 - Lindbergh begins NY flight (Spirit of St Louis)
1933 - Vatican state secretary Pacelli (Pius XII) signs accord with Hitler
1935 - 1st broadcast of "Gang Busters" on NBC-radio
1942 - Time puts Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovitch on its cover
1942 - The first detachment of the Women's Army
Auxiliary Corps _ later known as WACs _ began basic training at Fort Des Moines,
Iowa.
1944 - President Roosevelt was nominated for an unprecedented fourth term of
office at the Democratic convention in Chicago
1944 - Death March of 1200 Jews from Lipcani Moldavia begins
1944 - Flying Fortresses of US 8th Air Force attack Leipzig/Dessau
1944 - Heavy storm hampers British offensive at Caen
1944 - Japanese aircraft carrier Hijo sinks by US air attack
1944 - Plot-Failed assassination attempt on Hitler; Colonel Klaus von
Stauffenberg left a briefcase concealing a time bomb at Hitler's feet during a
meeting and left; four people were killed but a table shielded Hitler who was
only slightly wounded; conspirators believing that Hitler was dead continued
with their plans to seize control of the German government; by midnight most of
the conspirators including von Stauffenberg were dead.
1944 - US 15th Air Force attacks Friedrichshaven Memmingen
1944 - US invades Japanese-occupied Guam in WW II
1945 - The U.S. flag was raised over Berlin as the
first American troops moved in to take part in the post-World War II occupation.
1948 - Syngman Rhee elected president of South-Korea
1948 - US Communist Party chairman William Forster arrested
1949 - Israel's 19 month war of independence ends
1951 - King Abdullah of Jordan was assassinated by a Palestinian extremist while
entering a mosque in the Arab sector of east Jerusalem
1953 - USSR/Israel recover diplomatic relations
1954 - Armistice for Indo-China signed Vietnam separates into North & South
1954 - West German secret service head Otto John defects
1956 - France recognizes Tunisia's independence
1956 - Great Britain refuses to lend Egypt money to build Aswan Dam
1958 - King Hussein of Jordan breaks off diplomatic relations with UAR
1960 - 1st submerged submarine to fire Polaris missile (George Washington)
1962 - Dmitri Shostakovitch completes his 13th Symphony
1967 - Pablo Neruda receives 1st Viareggio-Versile prizes
1967 - Race riots in Memphis Tenn
1968 - The first Special Olympics games were held
at Soldier Field in Chicago.
1969 - 1st men on Moon at 10:56 p.m. EDT, Neil Armstrong, Edwin 'Buzz' Aldrin,
Apollo 11 left behind a plaque that read: "Here men from the planet Earth
first set foot on the Moon--July 1969 A.D--We came in peace for all
mankind." [H]
1970 - 1st baby born on Alcatraz Island.
1974 - Turkey invades Cyprus
1976 - Last US troops leave Thailand
1976 - Viking 1 lander an unmanned U.S. planetary probe became the first
spacecraft to successfully land on the surface of Mars, 1st pictures from Mars
surface received [H]
1977 - Flash flood hits Johnstown Pa kills 80 & causing $350 mil
damage
1982 - Bombs planted by Irish Republican Army explode in 2 London parks
1985 - Treasure hunter Mel Fisher's divers found the wreck
of the Nuestra Senora de Atocha, a Spanish galleon
sunk by a 1622 hurricane off Key West, Fla. It contained $400 million worth of
treasure
1988 - Michael Dukakis selected Democratic presidential nominee
1989 - President Bush called for the United States
to organize a long-range space program to support an orbiting space station, a
Moon base and a manned mission to Mars.
1990 - Justice William Brennan 84, resigned after
34 years on Supreme Court, citing age and ill health.
1990 - A federal appeals court set aside Oliver North's conviction on three
charges in the Iran-Contra case.
1991 - Mike Tyson is accused of raping a Miss Black America contestant
1991 - Peruvian evidence showed former President
Garcia transferred to the Panamanian branch of BCCI as much as $50 million of
government funds for private use.
1991 - Lebanon joined Syria in agreeing to participate in Mideast peace talks
with Israel.
1991 - Russian President Boris N. Yeltsin banned political activity in
government offices and republic-run businesses, effectively curtailing the
influence of the Communist Party.
1992 - Seven people were killed when a test model of the Marine Corps'
controversial V-22 Osprey transport aircraft crashed into the Potomac River.
1992 - The so-called "bearded bandit" charged in a series of
Chicago-area bank robberies grabbed a gun and opened fire on his guards, killing
two before turning the weapon on himself.
1993 - Deputy White House counsel Vincent Foster was found shot to death in a
park in northern Virginia. His death was ruled a suicide.
1994 - OJ Simpson offers $500,000 reward for evidence of ex-wife's killer
1995 - Baseball Hall-of-Famers Duke Snider
and Willie McCovey pleaded guilty in New York to tax evasion.
1995 - The California Board of Regents voted 14-10 to end consideration of race,
sex, religion, color, or national origin to the admission of students to state
colleges and universities. The board also voted, 15-10, to end affirmative
action in the hiring of faculty and awarding of contracts.
1999 - After 38 years at the bottom of the Atlantic, astronaut Gus Grissom's
Liberty Bell 7 Mercury capsule surfaced.
2000 - The Mideast summit, resurrected only hours after its reported demise,
moved forward with Secretary of State Madeleine Albright stepping in for
President Clinton, who had left for an economic summit in Japan.
2000 - A federal grand jury indicted two former Utah Olympic officials for their
alleged roles in paying $1 million in cash and gifts to help bring the 2002
games to Salt Lake City.
Birthdays
Today
1785 - Mahmud II sultan of Turkey (1808-39)/Westernizer/reformer
1824 - Alexander Schimmelfennig Prussia Brig General (Union volunteers)
1847 - Max Liebermann German impressionist painter
1870 - Vladimir D Nabokov Russian jurist/minister of Justice (1918-19)
1890 - Theda Bara (Goodman) Cincinnati, (actress: A Fool There Was, The Unchastened Woman, The Love Goddesses)
1890 - Verna Felton (actress: Picnic, The Oklahoman)
1919 - Sir Edmund Hillary NZ one of 1st 2 men to scale Mt Everest
1920 - Elliot L Richardson Attorney General (1973)/Sec of Defense (1973)
1920 - Tommy Prothro, Jr. (football)
1921 - Ted Schroeder (tennis champion: Wimbledon [1949], U.S. Open [1942])
1925 - Lola Albright (actress: The Tender Trap, The Impossible Years)
1929 - Mike Ilitch (entrepreneur: owner of Detroit Red Wings, Little Caesar's Pizza franchises)
1933 - Nelson Doubleday publisher
1934 - Sally Ann Howes (actress: Dead of Night, The History of Mr. Polly, Chitty, Chitty, Bang, Bang, Nicholas
Nickleby)
1936 - Butch (Fred) Baird (golfer)
1938 - Diana Rigg (Tony Award-winning actress: Medea; King Lear, Witness for the Prosecution, The
Avengers Emma Peel, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, In Trust and Follies; hostess: PBS' Mystery)
1938 - Jo Ann Campbell (singer: I Found a Love, Oh What a Love [w/Troy Seals])
1938 - Natalie Wood (Natasha Gurdin) (actress: From Here to Eternity, West Side Story, Splendor in the Grass, Rebel Without a Cause, Marjorie Morningstar, Gypsy, Love with the Proper Stranger)
1940 - Tony (Pedro) Oliva (baseball: three-time American League batting champion; Rookie of the Year [1964]: Minnesota Twins outfielder)
1942 - Mickey (Mitchell) Stanley (baseball: NY Yankees)
1942 - Pete Hamilton (auto racer: Daytona 500 winner [1970])
1943 - Chris Amon (auto racer)
1943 - John Lodge (musician: guitar: Blue Guitar [w/ Justin Hayward], singer: group: Moody Blues: Nights in White Satin)
1944 - T.G. Sheppard (William Bowder) (singer: I Loved 'Em Every One, Make My Day [w/Clint Eastwood], Last Cheater's Waltz)
1945 - Betty Burfeindt golfer: LPGA Champion [1976]
1945 - Kim Carnes (Grammy Award-winning singer: Bette Davis Eyes [1981]; w/Kenny Rogers: Don't Fall in Love With a Dreamer, What About Me)
1946 - John Almond (musician: reeds, keyboards, vibes: group: Johnny Almond and the Music Machine)
1946 - John Almond musician: reeds keyboards vibes:
1947 - Carlos Santana (musician: group: Santana: Evil Ways, Black Magic Woman, Oye Como
Va)
1963 - Dino Esposito (singer: I Like It, Romeo)
1970 - ? 1st baby born on Alcatraz Island
Famous
deaths
0833 - Ansegis/Ansegius, French abbot of Fontenelle/author,
dies at 63
1573 - Lancelot of Brederode, water beggar, beheaded
1636 - John Oldham, trader in Mass, murdered by Indians
1752 - John C Pepusch, English composer (Beggar's Opera), dies at 85
1923 - Pancho Villa, [Doroteo Arango], Mexican rebel, murdered at 55
1937 - Guglielmo Marconi, Ital engineer/marquis (radio, Nobel 1909)
1939 - Joseph Mendes da Costa, sculptor
1944 - Claus Schenk von Stauffenberg, count/German antifascist colonel,
summarily shot by SS after planting bomb in Hitler's briefing room
1944 - Friedrich Olbricht, German general (July 20th plotter), executed
1944 - Ludwig Beck, gen/chief Germany general staff (July 20th plot), executed
1945 - Paul Valery, French poet (Le cimetiere Marin, Mon Faust), dies at 73
1951 - King Abdullah of Jordan was assassinated by a Palestinian extremist
1962 - George MacAulay Trevelyan, English royal historian, dies at 86
1968 - Joseph Keilberth, German conductor (Bayreuther Festival)
1973 - Bruce Lee, [Lee Yuen Kam], actor , arguably the greatest martial artist
of modern times, died of a brain edema in Hong Kong at the age of 32
1984 - Jim [James] Fixx, jogger/writer (Jim Fixx on Running), dies of coronary
while running at 52
1994 - Kim II Sung, pres of North-Korea (1948-94), buried
If
you have other Birthdays or events to add for this day please
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