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July 20 is the 201st day (202nd in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 164 days remaining.
Events
To 1300
1300-1899
- 1304 - Great Britain: Edward I of England takes the last rebel stronghold in the Wars of Scottish Independence.
- 1524 - Queen Claude of France
- 1712 - United Kingdom: The Riot Act took effect.
- 1738 - North America: French explorer Pierre de la Verendrye reaches the western shore of Lake Michigan.
- 1810 - South America: Colombia declares independence from Spain.
- 1833 - United States: An Anti-Mormon mob in Independence, Missouri, destroys the printing press for the Book of Commandments, now among the most valuable 19th century books.
- 1861 - American Civil War: The Confederate States of America Congress began sitting in Richmond, Virginia.
- 1864 - American Civil War: Battle of Peachtree Creek - Near Atlanta, Georgia, Confederate forces led by General John Bell Hood. unsuccessfully attack Union troops under General William T. Sherman.
- 1866 - Europe: The Austrian navy, led by admiral Wilhelm von Tegetthoff, defeats Italian near the island of Vis.
- 1871 - North America: British Columbia joins the confederation of Canada.
- 1872 - Technology: The United States Patent Office awards the first patent for wireless telegraphy to Mahlon Loomis.
- 1877 - United States: Rioting in Baltimore, Maryland by Baltimore and Ohio Railroad workers is put down by the state militia, resulting in nine deaths.
- 1881 - Indian Wars: Sioux chief Sitting Bull leads the last of his fugitive people in surrender to United States troops at Fort Buford in Montana.
1900-1920
1920-1929
- 1920: United States: Democratic presidential candidate James M. Cox denounces the campaign fundraising of the Republicans.
- 1920 - Europe: The funeral of Empress Eugenie of France is held in St. Michael's Abbey near Farnborough, England.
- 1920 - United States: Boxer Jack Johnson is arrested near San Diego, California, as he crossed the border from Tijuana, Mexico, after being on the run for five years after his conviction under the Mann Act.
- 1921 - Illinois: Governor Len Small and Lieutenant Governor Fred E. Sterling are indicted by the Sangamon County grand jury for embezzlement and defrauding the state of $2,000,000.
- 1921 - Massachusetts: The commonwealth's attorney general issues an opinion that while the Nineteenth Amendment gave women the vote, they are barred from running for office under the Massachusetts constitution.
- 1921 - United States: A United States Senate committee chaired by Kenneth McKellar (D-Tennessee) hears testimony of how mine operators hired private detectives to infiltrate and spy on the United Mine Workers.
- 1921 - Mexico: The Amatian oil fields eighty miles south of Tampico burn, causing millions of dollars in damage.
- 1921 - United States: Air mail service begins between New York City and San Francisco.
- 1922 - Africa: The League of Nations awards mandates of Togoland to France and Tanganyika to the United Kingdom.
- 1923 - United States: In New York City, the Ku Klux Klan sues William Randolph Hearst's International Magazine to stop it from publishing information from KKK files the Klan says were stolen.
- 1923 - New York State: New York City Mayor Mike Hylan, in a speech in Ogdensburg says both the Republican and Democratic Parties are "corrupt manipulators" and urges the public to abandon both of them.
- 1923 - Pacific Ocean: Japan presents a report to the League of Nations on the Mandated Islands that presents its administration as liberal and progressive.
- 1924 - Persia: Teheran is under martial law after the American vice consul, Robert Imbrie, is killed by a religious mob enraged by rumors he had poisoned a fountain and killed several people.
- 1924 - Olympics: Americans Helen Wills and Vincent Richards win the Olympic tennis championships in Paris.
- 1924 - New York State: On a sweltering day, Coney Island breaks its attendance record as over 600,000 try to escape the heat.
- 1925 - Tennessee: In Cleveland, Clarence Darrow questions William Jennings Bryan in the Scopes Monkey Trial in a session held out of doors about the literal truth of the Bible. Darrow also apologizes to the court after the judge cited him for contempt.
- 1926 - Methodist Church: A convention of the church votes to allow women to become priests.
- 1926 - Oklahoma: In Muskogee, four men were shot and six others badly beaten by two police officers on a drunken rampage in three downtown hotels.
- 1926 - United Kingdom: In a speech to the Christian Endeavor Movement, David Lloyd George tells youth it must not repeat the mistakes of his generation and avoid war. He warns them Europe had "[[delerium tremens" from arms and it is getting "drunk" on them once again.
- 1927 - Romania: Michael I becomes King at age five upon the death of his father Ferdinand I.
- 1927 - United States: Following a devastating spring flood in the lower Mississippi Valley, Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover charged by President Calvin Coolidge on investigating the region's needs, presents the president with a $200 million flood control plan.
- 1927 - Austria: Fifty-seven victims of rioting in Vienna are buried in a single grave.
- 1928 - United States: A United States Coast Guard patrol boat is sunk after a Brazilian freighter slices it in two off Lewes, Delaware, killing two sailors.
- 1928 - Hungary: The government issues a decree ordering Gypsies to end their nomadic ways, settle permanently in one place, and subject themselves to the same laws and taxes as other Hungarians.
- 1929 - Far East: Soviet troops attempt to cross the Amur River into Manchuria near Blagovestchensk as tensions mount between the Soviet Union and China.
- 1929 - New Hampshire: The locomotive "Old Peppersass" derails on the cog railway on Mount Washington and explodes, killing one.
- 1929 - France: Parliament narrowly approves President Poincare's plan to reschedule the country's foreign debts.
- 1929 - United States: President Herbert Hoover protests the use of his name on the selling of apricots grown on a California farm he owns an interest in.
- 1929 - Ohio: A plane crases near Toledo, killing three.
1930-1939
- 1930 - Soviet Union: Maxim Litvinov is named the Soviet Union's Commissar of Foreign Affairs.
- 1930 - New York State: Alfred E. Smith, president of the company building the Empire State Building, announces the structure will have an observation deck 1,288 feet above Fifth Avenue.
- 1930 - New York State: Five die in the 92°F heat New York City from the heat wave gripping the east coast.
- 1931 - United States: Former Interior Secretary Albert Fall enters state prison in Santa Fe, New Mexico on his bribery conviction from the Teapot Dome scandal.
- 1931 - Connecticut: Two United States Army Air Corps planes collide over Newington, killing two.
- 1931 - Spain: Three are dead in rioting in Seville after police clash with marchers in a funeral parade for a syndicalist killed by the police days earlier.
- 1932 - Germany: President Paul von Hindenberg signs a decree ordering Franz von Papen to take control of the Prussian state government and declares martial law.
- 1932 - South America: Crowds in the capitals of Bolivia and Paraguay demand their governments declare war on the other after fighting on their border.
- 1932 - United States: In Washington, D.C., police fire tear gas on World War I veterans part of the Bonus Expeditionary Force who attempt to march to the White House.
- 1932 - United States: The AFL votes to ask President Herbert Hoover to help it secure a five-day work week.
- 1933 - Europe: Germany's Franz von Papen and the Vatican's Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli sign a concordat on behalf of their respective nations.
- 1933 - United Kingdom: In London, 500,000 march against anti-semitism.
- 1933 - United States: President Franklin D. Roosevelt orders new regulations on the trading of grain in order to curb speculators.
- 1933 - Tennessee: The state becomes the nineteenth to approve the Twenty-first Amendment to repeal Prohibition.
- 1933 - Germany: The Nazis arrest two-hundred Jewish merchants in Nuremburg and parade them through the streets.
- 1933 - Aviation: Aviator Wiley Post damages his plane as he lands in Flat, Alaska, on his first round-the-world flight.
- 1934 - Minnesota: Police in Minneaspolis fire upon striking truck drivers, wounding fifty.
- 1934 - Washington State: In Seattle, Mayor Charles L. Smith leads police in firing tear gas on and clubbing 2,000 striking longshoremen.
- 1934 - Oregon: Governor Julius Meier calls out the National Guard to break a strike on the Portland docks.
- 1934 - Maine: Three murderers serving life sentences escape from the state prison in Thomaston.
- 1934 - Iowa: The state experiences its hottest day on record as the temperature hits 118°F in Keokuk.
- 1934 - United States: Postmaster General James A. Farley announces that the United States Post Office Department turned a $5 million profit in the fiscal year ended June 30, the first annual profit since 1919.
- 1934 - United States: President Franklin D. Roosevelt heads to Hawaii aboard the cruiser USS Houston (CA-30).
- 1934 - Andorra: Spain arrests a man who proclaimed himself the ruler of the tiny principality under the name "Boris I".
- 1935 - New York State: Lightning kills four on the shore at Brighton Beach.
- 1935 - Switzerland: A Royal Dutch Airlines plane en route from Milan to Frankfurt crashes into a Swiss mountain, killing thirteen.
- 1935 - Ethiopia: Emperor Hailie Selassie demands Italy cease its demands on his country.
- 1935 - Turkey: A munitions dump near Istanbul explodes killing many.
- 1935 - India: Riots between Muslims and Sikhs over a mosque in Lahore leave eleven dead.
- 1936 - Freedom of the seas: The Montreux Convention is signed in Montreux, Switzerland, authorizing Turkey to fortify the Dardanelles and Bosphorus but guaranteeing free passage to ships of all nations in peacetime.
- 1936 - Aviation: Aviator Wiley Post nears Alaska aboard the Winnie Mae on his second round the world flight. His trip makes him the first person to fly around the world twice.
- 1937 - Michigan: A judge rules the Ford Motor Company, as well as eight individuals, must stand trial on criminal charges of assault for attacks on strikers in May.
- 1937 - Florida: Two black men accussed of stabbing a policeman are taken by a mob from the Leon County jail in Tallahassee and killed.
- 1938 - United States: The Justice Department files suit in New York City against the motion picture industry charging violatings of anti-trust law. The case would eventually result in a break-up of the industry in 1948.
- 1938 - Aviation: Ireland's President Douglas Hyde receives Douglas "Wrongway" Corrigan in Dublin after his transatlantic flight.
- 1939 - United States: The keel of the battleship USS Massachusetts (BB-59) is laid at the Bethlehem Steel shipyard in Quincy, Massachusetts.
1940-1949
- 1940 - Denmark leaves the League of Nations.
- 1940 - Pop culture: Billboard magazine publishes its first "Music Popularity Chart"; the first number one song is Frank Sinatra's "I'll Never Smile Again".
- 1940 - Southeast Asia: Admiral Jean Decoux named governor of Indochina by Marshal Henri Petain.
- 1940 - United States: President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs a bill limiting political activity by Federal employees, the Hatch Act.
- 1941 - Soviet Union: Joseph Stalin consolidates the Commisariats of Home Affairs and National Security to form the NKVD and names Lavrenti Beria its chief.
- 1941 - South America: In Bolivia, the government makes arrests, including the former finance minister Victor Paz Estenssoro, and shuts down newspapers, claiming a Nazi coup is in the works.
- 1941 - Baseball: In Detroit, Michigan, the New York Yankees beat the Tigers 12-6 in a marathon seventeen inning game.
- 1942 - World War II: The first unit of the Women's Army Corps begins training in Des Moines, Iowa.
- 1942 - World War II: Red Army troops take bridgeheads over the Don River near Voronezh.
- 1942 - World War II: The Royal Air Force attacks Fuka
- 1942 - United States: The House of Representatives by a vote of 392-2 passes the largest tax increase in American history, $6.3 billion, and raises corporate tax rates to 90 percent.
- 1943 - World War II: Red Army forces launch an attack on a 450 mile front from Taganrog to Orel.
- 1943 - World War II: American and Canadian troops conquer Enna on Sicily.
- 1943 - World War II: Three Japanese Navy ships are sunk by American planes near Vila in the Solomon Islands.
- 1943 - World War II: In Washington, D.C., Admiral Frederick Horne, Vice Chief of Naval Operations says the U.S. Navy is planning for the war to last until 1949.
- 1943 - World War II: Axis leaders Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini confer in northern Italy
- 1944 - Germany: Adolf Hitler survives the July 20 Plot an assassination attempt led by Claus von Stauffenberg.
- 1944 - World War II: American troops land on Guam near Port Apra.
- 1944 - World War II: On Sicily, fighting continues between German and American forces near Catania.
- 1944 - India: In Bombay, health authorities announce a cholera epidemic has killed 34,000 in three months.
- 1944 - United States: The United States Democratic Party nominates Franklin D. Roosevelt for a fourth term as president.
- 1944 - Mexico: Fifty are hurt in rioting in front of the presidential palace in Mexico City.
- 1945 - United States: The U.S. Congress approves the Bretton Woods Agreement.
- 1945 - World War II: Talks continue on the fourth day of the Potsdam Conference outside Berlin.
- 1946 - World War II: The U.S. Congress's Pearl Harbor Committee says Franklin D. Roosevelt was completely blameless for the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and calls for a unified command structure in the armed forces.
- 1946 - United States: The United States House of Representatives votes 265-79 to put control of atomic energy in the hands of a civilian body, the Atomic Energy Commission, rather than leave the military in control.
- 1946 - United States: Congressional conferees agree to extend the Office of Price Administration and its wage and price controls to June 30, 1947.
- 1946 - United States: Congress sends President Harry S. Truman the GI Bill.
- 1946 - Michigan: A grand jury indicts nineteen members of the state legislature for bribery for obstructing a banking reform bill.
- 1946 - Roman Catholic Church: Pope Pius XII denounces nationalization of industries.
- 1946 - World War II: The Soviet Union informed the United States Army that Lord Hee Haw, the Iowa-born propaganda broadcaster, had died in a Soviet camp in October 1945.
- 1946 - United Kingdom: Prime Minister Clement Atlee denounces leader of the opposition Winston Churchill's "stunts" and says the Tories have no plan.
- 1947 - Southeast Asia: Police in Burma arrest former Prime Minister U Saw and 19 others on charges of assassinating Prime Minister U Aung San and seven members of his cabinet.
- 1947 - South Asia: The viceroy of India says the people of the Northwest Frontier Province overwhelmingly voted the previous day to join Pakistan rather than India.
- 1947 - Roman Catholic Church: Pope Pius XII canonizes a French saint, Blessed Louis-Marie Gregnon de Montort.
- 1948 - Cold War: President Harry S. Truman issues the first peacetime military draft in the United States amid increasing tensions with the Soviet Union.
- 1948 - Far East: Syngman Rhee is elected president of South Korea by parliament.
- 1948 - United States: In New York City, twelve leaders of the Communist Party USA are indicted under the Smith Act including William Z. Foster and Gus Hall.
- 1949 - Middle East: Israel and Syria sign a truce to end their nineteen month war.
- 1949 - Bulgaria: Parliament elects Vassil Kolarov prime minister, replacing Georgi Dimitrov.
- 1949 - United States: Carmine DeSapio becomes leader of Tammany Hall, the Democratic organization in New York City.
- 1949 - Journalism: Colonel Robert R. McCormick announces the purchase of the Washington Times-Herald by his paper, the Chicago Tribune.
- 1949 - United States: President Harry S. Truman signs a bill to enable urban renewal and slum clearance.
1950-1959
- 1950 - Belgium: Parliament authorizes king Leopold III to return from exile in Austria.
- 1950 - Korean War: North Korea attacks the temporary South Korean capital, Taejon.
- 1950 - United States: Senator Millard Tydings (D-Maryland) says Senator Joseph R. McCarthy (R-Wisconsin) had lied at a hearing and that his claims of Communists in the State Department are a "fraud and a hoax".
- 1950 - Korean War: The Daily Worker, the official newspaper of the Communist Party, editorializes that President Harry S. Truman is trying "to convert the Korean War into World War III."
- 1950 - Cold War: In Philadelphia, Harry Gold pleads guilty to spying for the Soviet Union by passing secrets from atomic scientist Klaus Fuchs.
- 1950 - Indonesia: A new federal system for the country's government is agreed on to take effect August 17.
- 1951 - Middle East: King Abdullah I of Jordan is assassinated while attending Friday prayers in Jerusalem.
- 1951 - World War II: The United States invites fifty nations to San Francisco to consider a peace treaty with Japan.
- 1951 - United States: The Missouri River continues to flood in the Midwest.
- 1952 - Middle East: The Egyptian prime minister, Hussein Sirry Pasha resigns.
- 1952 - Olympics - The 15th Olympic Games begin in Helsinki, Finland.
- 1952 - New York State - A train on the Long Island Railroad strikes an automobile near Central Islip, killing seven.
- 1953 - Middle East: Israel and the Soviet Union resume diplomatic relations after five month lapse.
- 1953 - United Nations: The United Nations Economic and Social Council votes to make UNICEF a permanent agency.
- 1953 - United States: President Dwight Eisenhower presents his agenda to Congressional leaders.
- 1953 - Far East: Eisenhower names Ellis O. Briggs ambassador to South Korea.
- 1954 - Germany: Otto John, head of West Germany's secret service, defects to East Germany.
- 1954 - United States: Senator Joseph R. McCarthy accepts the resignation of his aide Roy Cohn.
- 1954 - Southeast Asia: At Geneva, Switzerland, an armistice is signed that ends fighting in Vietnam and divides the country along the 17th parallel.
- 1955 - Far East: China shells Taiwan's islands Quemoy and Matsu.
- 1955 - Cold War: The summit between leaders of the United States, Soviet Union, France, and the United Kingdom continues at Geneva, Switzerland.
- 1955 - Michigan: The United Auto Workers is indicted under the Federal Corrupt Practices Act for its activities in Michigan in the 1954 elections.
- 1955 - United States: The committee working on the merger of America's two largest labor federations, the American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations, agrees to call the combined organization the "AFL-CIO"
- 1956 - Middle East: The British Foreign Office announces it was cancelling funding for Egypt's Aswan High Dam
- 1956 - United States: A nationwide civil defense drill, "Operation Alert", is held, simulating a Soviet nuclear strike on seventy-five American cities. As part of the exercise, 10,000 bureaucrats and officials leave Washington, D.C., for bunkers around the captial.
- 1956 - Far East: In Mukden, Pu Yi, the former Emperor of China, testifies in the war crimes trials of twenty-two Japanese, the first time Pu Yi's whereabouts had been known since 1946.
- 1956 - Western Hemisphere: United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower leaves for Panama, where a summit of leaders of the hemisphere's nations is to be held.
- 1957 - United States: President Dwight Eisenhower appoints a panel of federal officials to work with a committee of state governors on defining federal-state relations.
- 1957 - Freedom of the seas: The Soviet Union closes Peter the Great Bay, which provides access to Vladivostok, to foreign ships.
- 1958 -Yugoslavia: Twenty-six are dead in an explosion at a military base near Kokin Breg.
- 1958 - Middle East: Jordan suspends diplomatic relations with the United Arab Republic after it recognized the new government of Iraq.
- 1958 - United States: President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs legislation to give federal employees a 10 percent raise.
- 1958 - Baseball: Jim Bunning of the Detroit Tigers pitches a no-hitter against the Boston Red Sox.
- 1959 - Europe: The Organization for European Economic Cooperation admits Spain.
- 1959 - Africa: Haile Selassie, Emperor of Ethiopia, arrives in Paris for a state visit with President Charles de Gaulle.
- 1959 - Soviet Union: Premier Nikita Khrushchev postpones his visit to Scandinavia citing anti-Soviet sentiment there.
1960-1969
- 1960 - Asia: Ceylon elects Sirimavo Bandaranaike Prime Minister, the world's first elected female head of government.
- 1960 - United States: The Polaris missile is successfully launched from a submarine, the USS George Washington (SSBN-598), for the first time.
- 1960 - United Nations: Belgium defends its intervention in the Congo to the United Nations Security Council.
- 1960 - Africa: In Salisbury, Rhodesia, 20,000 protest over police brutality.
- 1960 - Middle East: In Lebanon, Saeb Salem is named Prime Minister.
- 1960 - United States: The Treasury Department reports the government had a budget surplus of $1,068,101,353 in the fiscal year that ended June 30.
- 1961 - United States: The United States House of Representatives rejects President John F. Kennedy's proposal to reform the National Labor Relations Board.
- 1961 - United States: President John F. Kennedy transfers authority for civil defense planning to the Defense Department.
- 1961 - Middle East: The Arab League admits Kuwait to membership.
- 1961 - Africa - French military forces break the Tunisian siege of Bizerte.
- 1962 - United States: General Maxwell Taylor is named chairman of the U.S.Joint Chiefs of Staff.
- 1962 - South America: Earthquakes in Colombia kill 40.
- 1962 - Africa: France and Tunisia restore diplomatic relations after one year break.
- 1963 - Pop culture: Jan and Dean's song "Surf City" hits number one.
- 1963 - Africa - The United States announced suspension of aid to the Republic of the Congo.
- 1963 - Indonesia announces it will in the future refer to the Indian Ocean as the "Indonesian Ocean".
- 1964 - Vietnam War - Viet Cong forces attack the capital of Dinh Tuong Province, Cai Be, killing 11 South Vietnamese military personnel and 40 civilians (30 of which are children).
- 1964 - Space exploration: NASA successfully tests the first electric rocket engine in California.
- 1964 - Caribbean: Cuba's Premier Fidel Castro compares U.S. Senator and presidential candidate Barry M. Goldwater to Adolf Hitler.
- 1965 - United States: Lyndon B. Johnson nominates Abe Fortas to the Supreme Court.
- 1965 - Pop culture: Columbia Records releases Bob Dylan's groundbreaking single "Like a Rolling Stone" to radio stations.
- 1965 - United States: In Hayneville, Alabama, two civil rights protesters, one a priest and the other a seminarian, are shot by a deputy sheriff. The seminarian died of his wounds.
- 1965 - Greece - Elias Tsirimokos becomes prime minister.
- 1965 - Turkey - Prime Minister Suat Hayri Urguplu returns from a visit to Moscow and announces the Soviet Union will provide aid to his country.
- 1965 - United States: Missouri experiences its greatest one-day rainfall as 18.18 inches fall near Edgerton.
- 1966 - United Kingdom: Prime Minister Harold Wilson announces budget cuts to combat inflation and calls for voluntary wage and price controls.
- 1966 - United States: In Cleveland, Ohio, the National Guard moves in after days of rioting.
- 1967 - North America: French President Charles de Gaulle arrives in St. Pierre and Miquelon.
- 1968 - Mexico: In Mexico City, students protest for more student participation in the management of universities.
- 1969 - Apollo Program: Apollo 11 lands on the Moon and Neil A. Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin become the first humans to walk on its surface.
1970-1979
- 1970 - Europe: Finland's President Urho Kaleva completes his state visit to the Soviet Union.
- 1970 - Middle East: President Richard Nixon says he is asking for a three month truce in the Middle East.
- 1970 - Vietnam War: Richard Nixon says the United States will oppose a coalition government for Vietnam that includes the Communist Party.
- 1970 - Vietnam War: Saigon is shelled by the Communists
- 1970 - United States: The Federal Trade Commission accuses McDonald's of fraud in a promotional contest.
- 1971 - United States: President Richard M. Nixon tells Taiwan it will continue to sell it arms.
- 1971 - United States: The United States Postal Service reaches an agreement with its labor unions.
- 1971 - United States: President Richard M. Nixon appoints Rush Moody, Jr. to the Federal Power Commission.
- 1971 - Space exploration: President Richard M. Nixon declares the day "National Moon Walk Day" in honor of the Apollo 11 landing this date in 1969.
- 1972 - Netherlands: The cabinet of Prime Minister Barend Biesheuvel resigns in a dispute over the budget.
- 1972 - United States: Senator George McGovern of South Dakota asks Lawrence O'Brien to become his campaign manager in his campaign for president.
- 1972 - United States: President Richard M. Nixon announces the transfer of twelve parcels of federal land to the states for use as parks.
- 1972 - South America: Uruguay is crippled by a general strike called to obtain wage increases in the face of high inflation.
- 1972 - Australia: Police in Canberra break up a protest by Aborigines in front of Parliament over land reform .
- 1973 - United States: The United States Senate passes the War Powers Act.
- 1973 - Vietnam War: In testimony by Assistant Secretary of Defense Jerry Friedheim to the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee, the United States Defense Department admits it lied to U.S. Congress about bombing Cambodia .
- 1973 - Greece: Seventy-three government officials and military officers are charged with conspiracy to overthrow the government.
- 1973 - Kenya: Julius Kiano, the government's Commerce and Industry Minister, tells Asian-owned businesses to close by the end of the year.
- 1973 - Middle East: Palestianian terrorists hijack a Japan Airlines jet en route from Amsterdam to Japan and force it down in Dubai.
- 1973 - Indiana: The state is found guilty of operating segregated schools by federal judge S. Hugh Dillin, who orders the state to develop a desegregation plan for Indianapolis's schools.
- 1974 - Turkish occupation of Cyprus: Forces from Turkey invade Cyprus after Greek Cypriots' attempt at enosis. NATO's Council praises the United States and the United Kingdom for attempts to settle the dispute. Syria and Egypt put their militaries on alert.
- 1974 - Connecticut: The Democratic state convention nominates Ella T. Grasso forgovernor.
- 1974 - Middle East: Iraq announces plans to improve navigation on the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.
- 1974 - California: Reconsidering its decision in June to create nude beaches, the Los Angeles city council votes to ban nudity on all public beaches after a public outcry.
- 1975 - Africa: In Angola, cease fire in the country between the government and UNITA rebels is broken only hours after it begins.
- 1975 - South Asia: India expels three reporters from The Times, The Daily Telegraph, and Newsweek because they refused to sign a pledge to abide by government censorship.
- 1975 - Florida: Three employees of Mel Fisher drown near Key West as part of efforts to find the Spanish galleon Nuestra Señora de Atocha.
- 1975 - United States: The United States Postal Service reaches an agreement with its unions.
- 1976 - Viking program: The Viking 1 lander successfully lands on Mars.
- 1976 - Vietnam War: The United States military completes its troop withdrawal from Thailand.
- 1977 - United States: Leon Jaworksi agrees to be the House Ethics Committee's special counsel in its probe of the Koreagate scandal.
- 1977 - Pennsylvania: Johnstown is hit by a flash flood that kills eighty and causes $350 million in damage.
- 1977 - United States: The Central Intelligence Agency releases documents under the Freedom of Information Act revealing it had engaged in mind control experiments.
- 1978 - Middle East: Israel's parliament exempts religious women from military service.
- 1978 - Watergate: Former U.S. Attorney General John Mitchell is released on parole.
- 1978 - Africa: The Organization of African Unity continues its annual meeting in Khartoum, Sudan.
- 1979 - Swimming: Diana Nyad swims the sixty miles from the Bahamas to Florida.
- 1979 - Far East: American President Jimmy Carter says troop withdrawals from South Korea will cease and the remainder will stay for at least two years.
1980-1989
- 1980 - Middle East: Takieddih Solh is named Lebanon's new prime minister.
- 1980 - Middle East: The United Nations Security Council votes 14-0 that member states should not recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
- 1980 - United States: The Air Force reveals it has a stealth plane.
- 1981 - Middle East: The United States suspends sales of F-16 fighter jets to Israel.
- 1982 - United Kingdom: The Provisional IRA detonates two bombs in Hyde Park and Regents Park in central London, killing eight soldiers, wounding forty-seven people, and leading to the deaths of seven horses.
- 1982 - United Kingdom: Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher faces an angry House of Commons when she refuses to answer questions about Geoffrey Arthur Prince, an employee of GCHQ accussed of spying for the Soviet Union.
- 1983 - United States: The United States House of Representatives censures two of its members, Gerry Studds (D-Massachusetts) and Daniel B. Crane (R)-Illinois, for having sex with congressional pages.
- 1983 - Middle East: The Israeli cabinet votes to withdraw troops from Beirut but to remain in southern Lebanon.
- 1984 - United States: Officials of the Miss America pageant ask Vanessa Williams to quit after Penthouse published nude photos of her.
- 1985 - Oceanography: The main ship wreck site of the Spanish galleon Nuestra Señora de Atocha (which sank in 1622) is found 40 miles off the coast of Key West, Florida by treasure hunters who soon begin to raise $400 million in coins and silver.
- 1985 - Africa: The Organization of African Unity ends its annual meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia by declaring that most of the continent's nations are on the brink of economic collapse and blames the developed world for the situation.
- 1985 - South Africa: The government declares a state of emergency because of unrest in the black townships.
- 1985 - Austria: 120 Polish pilgrims on their way to Rome ask for political asylum.
- 1985- Caribbean: The government of Aruba passes legislation to secede from the Netherlands Antilles.
- 1986 - South Africa: Police fire tear gas into a church service for families of those held under the government's emergency decrees. Near Johannesburg, AFL-CIO chief Lane Kirkland is detained by police.
- 1986 - Massachusetts: In Cambridge, Gerald Amirault of the Fell Acres Day School is convicted of molesting nine children.
- 1986 - Pennsylvania: Municipal employees in Philadelphia vote to return to work after a twenty day strike.
- 1987 - Europe: Morocco announces it will apply for membership in the European Community.
- 1987 - Middle East: The United Nations Security Council demands a ceasefire in the Iran-Iraq War.
- 1987 - Arizon: A recall drive is begun against Governor Evan Mecham.
- 1987 - United States: President Ronald Reagan appoints Larry Kramer, co-founder of Gay Men's Health Crisis, to a federal panel on AIDS.
- 1988 - United States: The Democrats nominate Governor Michael Dukakis of Massachusetts for President.
- 1988 - Cold War: The United States Department of State rejects a Soviet offer to dismantle the Krasnoyarsk radar in exchange for concessions regarding the ABM Treaty.
- 1989 - Space exploration: President George H.W. Bush calls for a manned mission to Mars .
- 1989 - Art: Photographer Robert Mapplethorpe's show opens at Washington, D.C.'s Project for the Arts after the Smithsonian Institution's Corcoran Gallery cancelled it.
1990-1999
2000-2099
- 2000 - Olympics: The leaders of Salt Lake City's bid to win the 2002 Winter Olympics are indicted by a federal grand jury for bribery, fraud, and racketeering.
- 2000 - Africa: In Zimbabwe, Parliament opens its new session and seats opposition members for the first time in a decade.
- 2000 - Europe: Carlos the Jackal sues France in the European Court of Human Rights for allegedly torturing him.
- 2000 - United States: The United States House of Representatives votes to ease the trade embargo and travel restrictions on Cuba.
- 2000 - Japan: American President Bill Clinton arrives in Okinawa for the G8 summit and pledges to the islanders that the United States will reduce the impact American military bases have on their lives.
- 2000 - World War II: The Commission on Fine Arts approves the World War II Memorial's design and location on the Mall in Washington, D.C..
- 2001 - United States: Vanessa Legget is found in contempt by a Federal Court for refusing to release notes made for her book on the Doris Angleton murder.
- 2001 - United Kingdom: The London Stock Exchange goes public.
- 2002 - Italy: The 27th Annual G8 summit opens in Genoa. An Italian protestor in Genoa, Carlo Giuliani, is shot by police.
- 2002 - United States: The United States Senate confirms Roger L. Gregory as the first black to sit on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.
- 2002 - South America: A fire in a discotheque in Lima, Peru kiulls over twenty-five.
- 2003 - Liberia: Fighting between militias controlled by the country's president, Charles Taylor, and rebels continues in Monrovia.
- 2003 - Middle East: Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon meets with Mahmoud Abbas in Jerusalem.
- 2003 - South Korea: British Prime Minister Tony Blair arrives in Seoul to meet with President Roh Moo Hyun and faces questions about the death of David Kelley.
- 2004 - Middle East: Palestinian lawmaker Nabil Amr is shot in the West Bank.
- 2004 - Middle East: The United Nations Security Council votes to demand Israel cease construction on its wall through the West Bank.
- 2004 - Iraq War: Angelo de la Cruz, a Fillipino truck driver taken hostage in Iraq, is released.
- 2004 - United Kingdom: The House of Commons debates the Butler report on pre-Iraq War intelligence.
- 2004 - Canada: Prime Minister Paul Martin appoints his new cabinet.
- 2004 - United States: Former National Security Advisor Sandy Berger resigns as an advisor to Senator John Kerry's presidential campaign after it was revealed he stole classified documents from the National Archives.
Births
1300-1899
- 1304 - Francesco Petrarch, Italian poet (d. 1374)
- 1519 - Pope Innocent IX
- 1754 - Destutt de Tracy, philosopher
- 1797 - Sir Paweł Edmund Strzelecki, Polish explorer and geologist (d. 1873)
- 1838 - George Otto Trevelyan, British statesman and biographer (d. 1928)
- 1838- Augustin Daly, American playwright (d. 1899)
- 1847 - Max Liebermann, painter and graphic artist (d. 1935)
- 1849 - Robert Anderson Van Wyck, Mayor of New York City (d. 1918)
- 1865 - Carlos Avril, French actor (d. 1940)
- 1868 - Miron Cristea, First patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church (d. 1939)
- 1870 - Charles McHugh, American actor (d. 1931)
- 1870 - Gerard Wolst Trenité, Dutch writer
- 1873 - Alberto Santos-Dumont, Brazilian aviator (d. 1932)
- 1877 - William Colman, American actor (d. 1930)
- 1881 - Clyde Benson, American actor (d. 1947)
- 1881 - Hugh Sothern, American actor (d. 1947)
- 1884 - Hellwig F. Rimmen, Danish actor
- 1889 - Erich Pommer, German actor (d. 1966)
- 1889 - Ruth Weijden (d. 1956)
- 1889 - John Reith, BBC director-general
- 1890 - Theda Bara (Theodosia Burr Goodman), American actress (d. 1955)
- 1890 - Gonzalo Roig, Cuban composer (d. 1970)
- 1890 - Richard Billinger, Austrian writer (d. 1965)
- 1890 - Freeman H. Owens, American cinematographer
- 1890 - King George II of Greece (d. 1947)
- 1891 - Ralph Faukner, American actor and fight choreographer for films (d. 1987)
- 1894 - Errett Cord, automobile entrepreneur
- 1895 - László Moholy-Nagy, painter, photographer, sculptor (d. 1946)
- 1897 - Clifford Braughton, American actor (d. 1979)
- 1898 - Stepan Kayukov, Russian actor (d. 1960)
- 1899 - Melville De Lay, American actor (d. 1947)
1900-1909
1910-1919
- 1910 - Louise Rousseau, American screenwriter (d. 1981)
- 1910 - Henri Calef, Belgian filmmaker (d. 1994)
- 1910 - Muriel Evans, American actress (d. 2000)
- 1911 - Mirelle Balin, French actress (d. 1968)
- 1912 - Tom McDermott, American actor (d. 1996)
- 1913 - Elmer Lahti, Finnish actor
- 1913 - Irma Cordoba, Argentine actress
- 1914 - Masa Niemi, Finnish actor (d. 1960)
- 1916 - Claude Vernier, French actor (d. 1996)
- 1917 - Paul Hubschmid, German actor (d. 2001)
- 1918 - Cindy Walker, American country music singer
- 1919 - Sir Edmund Hillary, New Zealand mountain climber
- 1919 - Ernie Wilkins, American jazz musician (d. 1999)
- 1919 - Benson Ford, son of industrialist Henry Ford (d. 1978)
- 1919 - Paolo Levi, Italian writer (d. 1989)
- 1919 - K. T. Stevens, American actress (d. 1994)
1920-1929
- 1920 - Tommy Prothro, American football coach
- 1920 - Elliot Richardson, American politician (d. 1999)
- 1920 - Dick Lucas, American animator (d. 1997)
- 1921 - Hall Daniels, American composer (d. 1984)
- 1921 - Takanobu Hozumi, Japanese actor
- 1924 - Tor Isedal, Swedish actor (d. 1990)
- 1924 - Mort Garson, Canadian composer
- 1924 - Tatyana Lioznova, Soviet director
- 1924 - Thomas Berger, American novelist
- 1924 - Bob Nichols, American actor
- 1925 - Jacques Delors, former President of the European Commission
- 1926 - Lola Albright, American actress (Peter Gunn)
- 1926 - Ilija Ivezic, Yugoslav actor
- 1926 - Patricia Cutts, British actress (Coronation Street)(d. 1974)
- 1927 - Leon Sinden, British actor
- 1927 - Heather Chasen, British actress
- 1927 - Paul Marin, American actor
- 1928 - Terence Feely, British screenwriter
- 1928 - Pavel Kohout, Czech writer
- 1929 - Mike Illitch, American businessman (Little Caesar's Pizza), sports executive, and philanthropist
- 1929 - Rajendra Kumar, Indian actor (d. 1999)
- 1929 - Zlatko Sudovic, Yugoslav director
1930-1939
- 1930 - Oleg Anofriyev, Russian actor
- 1930 - James Kenney, British actor (d. 1982)
- 1932 - Otto Schily, German politician
- 1932 - Ove Verner Hansen, Danish actor
- 1933 - Chuck Daly, American basketball coach
- 1933 - Nelson Doubleday, American book publisher and baseball executive
- 1933 - Cormac McCarthy, American author
- 1933 - Rex Williams, English snooker player
- 1934 - Sally Ann Howes, British actress
- 1934 - Uwe Johnson, German writer
- 1934 - Adriano Reys, Brazilian actor
- 1934 - Aliki Vougiouklaki, Greek actress
- 1935 - Henson Cargil, American country music singer
- 1935 - Sleepy LaBeef, American country music singer
- 1935 - Raleigh Bond, American actor (d. 1989)
- 1936 - Barbara Mikulski, U.S. Senator from Maryland
- 1936 - Ken Johnson, American sound editor in motion pictures
- 1936 - Christian Rode, German actor
- 1936 - Andrzej Kondratiuk, Polish filmmaker
- 1937 - Ken Ogata, Japanese actor
- 1938 - Natalie Wood, American actress: (Rebel Without a Cause, West Side Story (d. 1981)
- 1938 - Dame Diana Rigg, British actress
- 1938 - Timothy Scott, American actor (d. 1995)
- 1939 - Judy Chicago, American feminist artist
1940-1949
- 1940 - Tony Oliva, Cuban-born American baseball player
- 1940 - David Tukhmanov, Russian composer
- 1941 - Kurt Raab, German actor (d. 1988)
- 1941 - Lyudmila Chursina, Russian actress
- 1941 - Koji Ishizaka, Japanese actor
- 1942 - Pete Hamilton, American race car driver
- 1942 - Yves Mourousi, French television news anchor (d. 1998)
- 1943 - Wendy Richard, British television actress (Are You Being Served?, EastEnders)
- 1943 - John Lodge, American singer (The Moody Blues)
- 1943 - Ernie Gehr, American film director
- 1943 - Chris Murney, American actor
- 1943 - Chris Aman, New Zealand race car driver
- 1944 - T. G. Sheppard, American country music singer
- 1945 - Kim Carnes, American singer and songwriter ("Bette Davis Eyes")
- 1945 - Harrison Ellenshaw, American special effects artist in motion pictures
- 1945 - Larry Craig, U.S. Senator from Idaho
- 1946 - Randall Kleiser, American film director (Grease)
- 1946 - Peter Simons, Belgian director
- 1947 - Carlos Santana, Mexican guitarist
- 1947 - Judi Connelli, Australian opera singer
- 1948 - Niki Harris, American dancer
- 1948 - Muse Watson, American actor
1950-1959
- 1950 - Naseeruddin Shah, Indian actor
- 1950 - Tantoo Cardinal, Canadian actress
- 1951 - Anne Dymna, Polish actress
- 1951 - Hans Royards, Belgian actor
- 1951 - Jeff Rawle, English actor
- 1952 - Keiko Maysuzako, Japanese actress
- 1953 - Marcia Hines, American born-Australian singer
- 1956 - Paul Cook, English musician (The Sex Pistols)
- 1956 - Donna Dixon, American actress (Spies Like Us), wife of Dan Aykroyd
- 1958 - Michael McNeil, American musician (Simple Minds)
- 1959 - Radney Foster, American singer
1960-1969
- 1961 - Robert Peters, American actor
- 1961 - Cheryl Rusa, American wrestler (Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling) and motion picture stuntwoman
- 1962 - Carols Alazraqui, American actor
- 1963 - Alexander Zhulin, Russian ice skater
- 1963 - Dino Espisito, American singer
- 1963 - Frank Whaley, American actor
- 1963 - Amir Derakh, American guitarist (Orgy
- 1964 - Chris Cornell, American musician
- 1964 - Kool G. Rap, American musician
- 1964 - Terri Irwin, American television personality, wife of Steve Irwin
- 1964 - [Michael Richard Plowman]], British-born Canadian composer
- 1965 - Laurent Lucas, French actor
- 1966 - Steve Gossard, American musician (Pearl Jam)
- 1967 - Reed Diamond, American actor (Judging Amy)
- 1968 - Michael Park, American actor (As the World Turns)
- 1968 - Jimmy Carson, American hockey player
- 1968 - Julian Rhind-Tutt, English actor (Keen Eddie)
- 1968 - Dave Revsine, American television sportscaster
- 1969 - Vitamin C, British singer
- 1969 - Josh Holloway, American actor (Lost)
1970 to date
- 1971 - Yasmine Pendavis, American actress in pornographic films
- 1971 - Charles Johnson, American baseball player
- 1972 - Geena Lisa, Beligan musician (The Dinky Toys)
- 1973 - Haakon Magnus, Crown Prince of Norway
- 1973 - Peter Forsberg, Swedish-born hockey player
- 1973 - John D. Beck, American screenwriter (According to Jim)
- 1974 - Simon Rex, American actor
- 1974 - Bengie Molina, American baseball player
- 1975 - Judy Evans Greer, American actress
- 1975 - Jason Raize, American actor (The Lion King) (d. 2004)
- 1976 - Florian Panzer, German actor
- 1977 - Dora Lipoucan, German actress
- 1977 - Susana Werner, Brazilian actress
- 1977 - Bert Ratundo, American actor
- 1978 - Charlie Korsmo, American actor (Dick Tracy)
- 1978 - Denny Mendez, Italian model and former Miss Italy
- 1979 - Claudine Barretto, Filipino actor
- 1980 - Gisele Bundchen, Brazilian model
- 1985 - John Francis Daley, American actor
- 1991 - Scout Willis, daughter of actors Bruce Willis and Demi Moore
- 1996 - Billi Bruno, American actress (According to Jim)
Deaths
To 1899
1900-1999
- 1901 - William Cosmo Monkhouse, poet, critic (b. 1840)
- 1903 - Pope Leo XIII
- 1908 - Demetrius Vikelas, Greek International Olympic Committee president
- 1922 - Andrey Markov, mathematician
- 1923 - Pancho Villa, revolutionary (assassinated)
- 1926 - Felix Edmundovich Dzerzhinskiy, head of the Soviet secret police
- 1927 - King Ferdinand of Romania
- 1937 - Guglielmo Marconi, Italian radio inventor
- 1941 - Lew Fields, American vaudeville performer
- 1945 - Paul Valéry, French author and poet
- 1951 - Friedrich Wilhelm Hohenzollern, Crown Prince of Germany
- 1951 - King Abdullah, King of Jordan
- 1953 - Dumarsaid Estime, President of Haiti (b. 1900)
- 1953 - Jan Struther, British author
- 1957 - Dr. Alfred Einstein Cohen, American cardiologist
- 1959 - Admiral William Leahy, American naval officer
- 1967 - Albert Lutuli, South African civil rights leader, winner of the 1960 Nobel Peace Prize
- 1968 - Bray Hammond, American historian
- 1973 - Bruce Lee, actor and martial artist
- 1990 - Herbert T. Jenkins, American policeman, former police chief of Atlanta, Georgia (1947-1973)
- 1991 - Earl Robinson, American singer and composer
- 1992 - John Bratby, British painter
- 1996 - Colin Mitchell, British Member of Parliament
- 1993 - Vincent Foster Jr., White House deputy counsel
- 1997 - John Akii-Bua Ugandan hurdler
- 1999 - Sandra Gould, American actress (Bewitched)
2000-2099
Holidays and observances
- Colombia - Independence Day
- Japan - Marine Day (Umi-no-hi)
- Occupied North Cyprus - Peace and Freedom Day
- Argentina - Friendship Day
- Feast day for at least thirteen saints in the Roman Catholic Church: Ss. Aurelius, Margaret of Antioch, Wilgefortis, Elias, Barhadbesciabas, Wulmar, Sabinus, Severa (two of this name), Flavian, John of Pulsano, Joseph of Barsabas, Margaret, and Paul of St. Zoilus.
References
July 19 - July 21 - June 20 - August 20 -- listing of all days
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