On This Day in History - July 2 LBJ Signs Civil Rights Act

Once again, it should be reiterated, that this does not pretend to be a very extensive history of what happened on this day (nor is it the most original - the links can be found down below). If you know something that I am missing, by all means, shoot me an email or leave a comment, and let me know!

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history

July 2, 1964: Johnson signs Civil Rights Act  

On this day in 1964, U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signs into law the historic Civil Rights Act in a nationally televised ceremony at the White House.  

In the landmark 1954 case Brown v. Board of Education, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that racial segregation in schools was unconstitutional. The 10 years that followed saw great strides for the African-American civil rights movement, as non-violent demonstrations won thousands of supporters to the cause. Memorable landmarks in the struggle included the Montgomery bus boycott in 1955--sparked by the refusal of Alabama resident Rosa Parks to give up her seat on a city bus to a white woman--and Martin Luther King, Jr.'s famous "I have a dream" speech at a rally of hundreds of thousands in Washington, D.C., in 1963.  

As the strength of the civil rights movement grew, John F. Kennedy made passage of a new civil rights bill one of the platforms of his successful 1960 presidential campaign. As Kennedy's vice president, Johnson served as chairman of the President's Committee on Equal Employment Opportunities. After Kennedy was assassinated in November 1963, Johnson vowed to carry out his proposals for civil rights reform.  

The Civil Rights Act fought tough opposition in the House and a lengthy, heated debate in the Senate before being approved in July 1964. For the signing of the historic legislation, Johnson invited hundreds of guests to a televised ceremony in the White House's East Room. After using more than 75 pens to sign the bill, he gave them away as mementoes of the historic occasion, according to tradition. One of the first pens went to King, leader of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), who called it one of his most cherished possessions. Johnson gave two more to Senators Hubert Humphrey and Everett McKinley Dirksen, the Democratic and Republican managers of the bill in the Senate.  

The most sweeping civil rights legislation passed by Congress since the post-Civil War Reconstruction era, the Civil Rights Act prohibited racial discrimination in employment and education and outlawed racial segregation in public places such as schools, buses, parks and swimming pools. In addition, the bill laid important groundwork for a number of other pieces of legislation--including the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which set strict rules for protecting the right of African Americans to vote--that have since been used to enforce equal rights for women as well as all minorities.  

This seemed worthy of mentioning, as well: today also marks the date that the Second Continental Congress voted in favor of independence (same link as above):

July 2, 1776: Congress votes for independence    

On this day in 1776, the Second Continental Congress, assembled in Philadelphia, formally adopts Richard Henry Lee's resolution for independence from Great Britain. The vote is unanimous, with only New York abstaining.  

The resolution had originally been presented to Congress on June 7, but it soon became clear that New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and South Carolina were as yet unwilling to declare independence, though they would likely be ready to vote in favor of a break with England in due course. Thus, Congress agreed to delay the vote on Lees Resolution until July 1. In the intervening period, Congress appointed a committee to draft a formal declaration of independence. Its members were John Adams of Massachusetts, Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania, Roger Sherman of Connecticut, Robert R. Livingston of New York and Thomas Jefferson of Virginia. Thomas Jefferson, well-known to be the best writer of the group, was selected to be the primary author of the document, which was presented to Congress for review on June 28, 1776.  

On July 1, 1776, debate on the Lee Resolution resumed as planned, with a majority of the delegates favoring the resolution. Congress thought it of the utmost importance that independence be unanimously proclaimed. To ensure this, they delayed the final vote until July 2, when 12 colonial delegations voted in favor of it, with the New York delegates abstaining, unsure of how their constituents would wish them to vote. John Adams wrote that July 2 would be celebrated as the most memorable epoch in the history of America. Instead, the day has been largely forgotten in favor of July 4, when Jeffersons edited Declaration of Independence was adopted.   

















Jul 2, 1863: Fighting continues at the Battle of Gettysburg

On this day in 1863, during the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia attacks General George G. Meade's Army of the Potomac at both Culp's Hill and Little Round Top, but fails to move the Yankees from their positions.  

On the north end of the line, or the Union's right flank, Confederates from General Richard Ewell's corps struggled up Culp's Hill, which was steep and heavily wooded, before being turned back by heavy Union fire. But the most significant action was on the south end of the Union line. General James Longstreet's corps launched an attack against the Yankees, but only after a delay that allowed additional Union troops to arrive and position themselves along Cemetery Ridge. Many people later blamed Longstreet for the Confederates' eventual defeat. Still, the Confederates had a chance to destroy the Union left flank when General Daniel Sickles moved his corps, against Meade's orders, from their position on the ridge to open ground around the Peach Orchard. This move separated Sickles' force from the rest of the Union army, and Longstreet attacked. Although the Confederates were able to take the Peach Orchard, they were repulsed by Yankee opposition at Little Round Top. Some of the fiercest fighting took place on this day, and both armies suffered heavy casualties.  

Lee's army regrouped that evening and planned for one last assault against the Union center on July 3: the infamous Pickett's Charge.















Jul 2, 1947: Soviet Union rejects Marshall Plan assistance

Soviet Foreign Minister V. M. Molotov walks out of a meeting with representatives of the British and French governments, signaling the Soviet Union's rejection of the Marshall Plan. Molotov's action indicated that Cold War frictions between the United States and Russia were intensifying.  

On June 4, 1947, Secretary of State George C. Marshall gave a speech in which he announced that the United States was willing to offer economic assistance to the war-torn nations of Europe to help in their recovery. The Marshall Plan, as this program came to be known, eventually provided billions of dollars to European nations and helped stave off economic disaster in many of them. The Soviet reaction to Marshall's speech was a stony silence. However, Foreign Minister Molotov agreed to a meeting on June 27 with his British and French counterparts to discuss the European reaction to the American offer.  

Molotov immediately made clear the Soviet objections to the Marshall Plan. First, it would include economic assistance to Germany, and the Russians could not tolerate such aid to the enemy that had so recently devastated the Soviet Union. Second, Molotov was adamant in demanding that the Soviet Union have complete control and freedom of action over any Marshall Plan funds Germany might receive. Finally, the Foreign Minister wanted to know precisely how much money the United States would give to each nation. When it became clear that the French and British representatives did not share his objections, Molotov stormed out of the meeting on July 2. In the following weeks, the Soviet Union pressured its Eastern European allies to reject all Marshall Plan assistance. That pressure was successful and none of the Soviet satellites participated in the Marshall Plan. The Soviet press claimed that the American program was "a plan for interference in the domestic affairs of other countries." The United States ignored the Soviet action and, in 1948, officially established the Marshall Plan and began providing funds to other European nations.  

Publicly, U.S. officials argued that the Soviet stance was another indication that Russia intended to isolate Eastern Europe from the West and enforce its communist and totalitarian doctrines in that region. From the Soviet perspective, however, its refusal to participate in the Marshall Plan indicated its desire to remain free from American "economic imperialism" and domination.



















Jul 2, 1809: Chief Tecumseh urges Indians to unite against whites 

Alarmed by the growing encroachment of whites squatting on Native American lands, the Shawnee Chief Tecumseh calls on all Indians to unite and resist.  

Born around 1768 near Springfield, Ohio, Tecumseh early won notice as a brave warrior. He fought in battles between the Shawnee and the white Kentuckians, who were invading the Ohio River Valley territory. After the Americans won several important battles in the mid-1790s, Tecumseh reluctantly relocated westward but remained an implacable foe of the white men and their ways.  

By the early 19th century, many Shawnee and other Ohio Valley Indians were becoming increasingly dependent on trading with the Americans for guns, cloth, and metal goods. Tecumseh spoke out against such dependence and called for a return to traditional Indian ways. He was even more alarmed by the continuing encroachment of white settlers illegally settling on the already diminished government-recognized land holdings of the Shawnee and other tribes. The American government, however, was reluctant to take action against its own citizens to protect the rights of the Ohio Valley Indians.  

On this day in 1809, Tecumseh began a concerted campaign to persuade the Indians of the Old Northwest and Deep South to unite and resist. Together, Tecumseh argued, the various tribes had enough strength to stop the whites from taking further land. Heartened by this message of hope, Indians from as far away as Florida and Minnesota heeded Tecumseh's call. By 1810, he had organized the Ohio Valley Confederacy, which united Indians from the Shawnee, Potawatomi, Kickapoo, Winnebago, Menominee, Ottawa, and Wyandot nations.  

For several years, Tecumseh's Indian Confederacy successfully delayed further white settlement in the region. In 1811, however, the future president William Henry Harrison led an attack on the confederacy's base on the Tippecanoe River. At the time, Tecumseh was in the South attempting to convince more tribes to join his movement. Although the battle of Tippecanoe was close, Harrison finally won out and destroyed much of Tecumseh's army.  

When the War of 1812 began the following year, Tecumseh immediately marshaled what remained of his army to aid the British. Commissioned a brigadier general, he proved an effective ally and played a key role in the British capture of Detroit and other battles. When the tide of war turned in the American favor, Tecumseh's fortunes went down with those of the British. On October 5, 1813, he was killed during Battle of the Thames. His Ohio Valley Confederacy and vision of Indian unity died with him.



















Jul 2, 1881: President Garfield is shot  

On this day in 1881, President James A. Garfield, who had been in office just under four months, is shot by an assassin. Garfield lingered for 80 days before dying of complications from the shooting.  

Garfield's assassin was an attorney and political office-seeker named Charles Guiteau. He was a relative stranger to the president and his administration in an era when federal positions were doled out on a "who you know" basis. When his requests for an appointment were ignored, a furious Guiteau stalked the president, vowing revenge.  

On the morning of July 2, 1881, Garfield headed for the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad station on his way to a short vacation. As he walked through the station toward the waiting train, Guiteau stepped behind the president and fired two shots. The first bullet grazed Garfield's arm; the second lodged below his pancreas. Doctors made several unsuccessful attempts to remove the bullet while Garfield lay in his White House bedroom, awake and in pain. Alexander Graham Bell, who was one of Garfield's physicians, tried to use an early version of a metal detector to find the second bullet, but also failed.  

Historical accounts vary as to the exact cause of Garfield's death. Some believe that the physicians' treatments—which included the administration of quinine, morphine, brandy and calomel and feeding him through the rectum--may have hastened his demise. Others insist Garfield died from an already advanced case of heart disease. By early September, Garfield, who was recuperating at a seaside retreat in New Jersey, appeared to be recovering. He died on September 19. Autopsy reports at the time said that pressure from the festering internal wound had created an aneurism that was the likely cause of death. Upon Garfield's demise, Vice President Chester A. Arthur became the nation's 20th president. Guiteau was deemed sane by a jury, convicted of murder and hung on June 30, 1882.  

Garfield's spine is kept as a historical artifact by the National Museum of Health and Medicine in Washington, D.C.
























Jul 2, 1917: Greece declares war on Central Powers

On this day in 1917, several weeks after King Constantine I abdicates his throne in Athens under pressure from the Allies, Greece declares war on the Central Powers, ending three years of neutrality by entering World War I alongside Britain, France, Russia and Italy.  

Constantine, educated in Germany and married to a sister of Kaiser Wilhelm II, was naturally sympathetic to the Germans when World War I broke out in the summer of 1914, refusing to honor Greece's obligation to support Serbia, its ally during the two Balkan Wars in 1912-13. Despite pressure from his own pro-Allied government, including Prime Minister Eleutherios Venizelos, and British and French promises of territorial gains in Turkey, Constantine maintained Greece's neutrality for the first three years of the war, although he did allow British and French forces to disembark at Salonika in late 1914 in a plan to aid Serbia against Austro-Hungarian and Bulgarian forces.  

By the end of 1915, with Allied operations bogged down in Salonika and failing spectacularly in the Dardanelles, Constantine was even less inclined to support the Entente, believing Germany clearly had the upper hand in the war. He dismissed Venizelos in October 1915, substituting him with a series of premiers who basically served as royal puppets. Meanwhile, civil war threatened in Greece, as Constantine desperately sought promises of naval, military and financial assistance from Germany, which he did not receive. After losing their patience with Constantine, the Allies finally sent an ultimatum demanding his abdication on June 11, 1917; the same day, British forces blockaded Greece and the French landed their troops at Piraeus, on the Isthmus of Corinth, in blatant disregard of Greek neutrality. The following day, Constantine abdicated in favor of his second son, Alexander.  

On June 26, Alexander reinstated Venizelos, who returned from exile in Crete, where he had established a provisional Greek government with Allied support. With a pro-Allied prime minister firmly in place, Greece moved to the brink of entering World War I. On July 1, Alexander Kerensky, the Russian commander in chief and leader of the provisional Russian government after the fall of Czar Nicholas II the previous March, ordered a major offensive on the Eastern Front, despite the turmoil within Russia and the exhausted state of Kerensky's army. The offensive would end in disastrous losses for the Russians, but at the time it seemed like a fortuitous turn of events for the Allies, in that it would help to sap German resources. The following day, Greece declared war on the Central Powers.  

The new king, Alexander, stated the case for war dramatically in his official coronation address on August 4: "Greece has to defend her territory against barbarous aggressors. But if in the trials of the past Greece has been able, thanks to the civilizing strength of the morale of the race, to have overcome the conquerors and to rise free amidst the ruins, today it is quite a different matter. The present cataclysm will decide the definite fate of Hellenism, which, if lost, will never be restored." Over the next 18 months, some 5,000 Greek soldiers would die on the battlefields of World War I. 


















Jul 2, 1944: American bombers deluge Budapest, in more ways than one

On this day in 1944, as part of Operation Gardening, the British and American strategy to lay mines in the Danube River by dropping them from the air, American aircraft also drop bombs and leaflets on German-occupied Budapest.  

Hungarian oil refineries and storage tanks, important to the German war machine, were destroyed by the American air raid. Along with this fire from the sky, leaflets threatening "punishment" for those responsible for the deportation of Hungarian Jews to the gas chambers at Auschwitz were also dropped on Budapest. The U.S. government wanted the SS and Hitler to know it was watching. Admiral Miklas Horthy, regent and virtual dictator of Hungary, vehemently anticommunist and afraid of Russian domination, had aligned his country with Hitler, despite the fact that he little admired him. But he, too, demanded that the deportations cease, especially since special pleas had begun pouring in from around the world upon the testimonies of four escaped Auschwitz prisoners about the atrocities there. Hitler, fearing a Hungarian rebellion, stopped the deportations on July 8. Horthy would eventually try to extricate himself from the war altogether—only to be kidnapped by Hitler's agents and consequently forced to abdicate.  

One day after the deportations stopped, a Swedish businessman, Raoul Wallenberg, having convinced the Swedish Foreign Ministry to send him to the Hungarian capital on a diplomatic passport, arrived in Budapest with 630 visas for Hungarian Jews, prepared to take them to Sweden to save them from further deportations.


Very interesting day in history, filled with significant dates sprinkled throughout history, particularly American history.

Nostradamus died on this date. Cromwell's Parliamentary army won an important and very convincing victory. King James II disbanded Parliament. De Sade (the man from whom we get the term "sadist") shouted from the Bastille that prisoners were being slaughtered. The Second Continental Congress approved independence. The Battle of Gettysburg was decided in favor of the Union, and turned the tide of that war. A century later, the spirit of civil rights that Abraham Lincoln advocated during the Civil War was finally legally fulfilled, when Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act, ending legalized Jim Crow segregation in the United States (particularly in the South). President Garfield was fatally shot. The Sherman Anti Trust Act was passed. In Germany, the first successful flight of a zeppelin was on this date. Amelia Earhardt disappeared on this date, while trying to fly around the world. Hitler ordered the invasion of England (Operation Sealion). This was the dater of the infamous crash in Roswell, New Mexico. North and South Vietnam were formally reunited. Elvis Presly recorded "Hound Dog". The Castros (Fidel and Raul) visited Moscow. The US Supreme Court reversed a former decision, and proclaimed that the death penalty was not "cruel and unusual". Susan B. Anthony coins became the first American coins to honor a woman. There was a stampede at Mecca that killed over 1,400 people. Vincente Fox Quesada of the opposition party was elected President of Mexico, ending seventy years of rule by the PRI. An oil tanker explosion in the Democratic Republic of the Congo killed well over two hundred.

Here's a more detailed look at events that transpired on this date throughout history:


311 - St Militiades begins his reign as Catholic Pope

 626 - In fear of assassination, Li Shimin ambushes and kills his rival brothers Li Yuanji and Li Jiancheng in the Incident at Xuanwu Gate. On September 4, Shimin's father abdicates in his favour and Shimin becomes Emperor Taizong of Tang, Emperor of China.

706 - In China, Emperor Zhongzong of Tang has the remains of Emperor Gaozong of Tang, his wife and recently-deceased ruling empress Wu Zetian, her son Li Xian, her grandson Li Chongrun, and granddaughter Li Xianhui all interred in a new tomb complex outside Chang'an known as the Qianling Mausoleum, located on Mount Liang.

963 - The imperial army proclaims Nicephorus Phocas to be Emperor of the Romans on the plains outside Cappadocian Caesarea.

1140 - Hartbert becomes bishop of Utrecht

1214 - Battle of La Roche-aux-Moines (Angers), part of King John of England attempt to reclaim Normandy from France

1298 - Battle on Hasenbuhl (Gollheim) between German kings Adolf of Nassau and Albrecht I of Austria   Albrecht I defeated and killed Adolf of Nassua near Worms, Germany.

1555 - Turgut Reis sacks the Italian city of Paola.

1561 - Menas, Emperor of Ethiopia, defeats a revolt in Emfraz.

1566 - French astrologer, physician, and prophet Nostradamus died.

1576 - Muitende Spanish soldiers conquer Zierik Sea

1578 - Martin Frobisher sights Baffin Island.

1582 - Battle of Yamazaki: Toyotomi Hideyoshi defeats Akechi Mitsuhide.

1600 - Battle at Newport: Earl Mauritius van Nassau beats Spanish Army

1613 - The first English expedition from Massachusetts against Acadia led by Samuel Argall.

1625 - The Spanish army took Breda, Spain, after nearly a year of siege.

1644 - Lord Cromwell's Parliamentary forces crushed the Royalists at the Battle of Marston Moor near York, England.

1679 - Europeans first visit Minnesota and see headwaters of Mississippi in an expedition led by Daniel Greysolon de Du Luth.

1681 - Earl of Shaftesbury arrested for high-treason

1687 - King James II disbands English parliament

1698 - Thomas Savery patents the first steam engine

1747 - Marshall Saxe led the French forces to victory over an Anglo-Dutch force under the Duke of Cumberland at the Battle of Lauffeld.

1776 - NJ gave all adults who could show a net worth of 50 pounds right to vote

1776 - Richard Henry Lee’s resolution that the American colonies "are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States" was adopted by the Continental Congress.

1777 - Vermont becomes first American colony to abolish slavery

1787 - De Sade shouts from Bastille that prisoners are being slaughtered

1794 - Second Battle of Seneffe: France-Austria

1808 - Simon Fraser completes his trip down Fraser R, BC, lands at Musqueam

1823 - Bahia Independence Day: the end of Portuguese rule in Brazil, with the final defeat of the Portuguese crown loyalists in the province of Bahia.

1843 - An alligator falls from sky during a Charleston SC thunderstorm

1847 - Envelope bearing 1st US 10 cent stamps, still exists today

1849 - Garibaldi in Rome begins hunger strike

1850 - Benjamin J. Lane patents gas mask with a breathing apparatus

1850 - Prussia agreed to pull out of Schlewig and Holstein, Germany.

1857 - New York City’s first elevated railroad officially opened for business.

1858 - Czar Alexander II partially emancipated the serfs working on Russian imperial lands.

1861 - Battle of Hoke's Run, WV - small Union victory

1862 - Lincoln signs act granting land for state agricultural colleges

1863 - Battle of Gettysburg (2nd day)

1863 - R Morgan's: Burksville, KY to Salineville, OH [->JUL 26]

1864 - Gen Early and Confederate forces reach Winchester en route to Wash DC

1864 - Statuary Hall in US Capitol forms

1865 - William Booth founds Salvation Army (Army of the Salvation)

1867 - First US elevated railroad begins service, NYC

1870 - Jules Joseph d'Anethan is elected the tenth Prime Minister of Belgium.

1881 - Charles J. Guiteau, a disappointed office-seeker, shot and fatally wounded American President James A. Garfield in Washington, DC. Garfield died on Sept. 19.

1885 - Canada's North-west Insurrection ends with surrender of Big Bear

1890 - The U.S. Congress passed the Sherman Antitrust Act.

1894 - Government obtains injunction against striking Pullman Workers

1900 - Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin 1st airship LZ-1, flies

1900 - Sibelius' "Finlandia," premieres in Helsinki

1900 - First zeppelin flight takes place on Lake Constance near Friedrichshafen, Germany.

1901 - Butch Cassidy & Sundance Kid rob train of $40,000 at Wagner Montana

1902 - John J McGraw becomes manager of NY Giants (stays for 30 years)

1903 - AL/NL batting champ Ed Delahanty, disappears, found dead days later

1903 - Pitcher Jack Doscher, 1 son of a major leaguer debuts with Cubs

1906 - Yanks win by forfeit, for their 1st time

1916 - Lenin says Imperialism is caused by capitalism

1916 - Russian offensive in Armenia

1917 - Riots in East St Louis Mo

1921 - 41st Wimbledon Mens Tennis: B Tilden beats B Norton (46 26 61 60 75)

1921 - Jack Dempsey KOs George S Carpentier in 4 for heavyweight boxing title 1st million dollar gate ($1.7m) boxing match (Dempsey KOs Carpentier)

1926 - The U.S. Congress established the US Army Air Corps; Distinguish Flying Cross authorized

1927 - 40th Wimbledon Womens Tennis: Helen Moody beats L de Alvarez (62 64)

1927 - Earthquake hits Palestine

1928 - British parliament accept female sufferage

1932 - 52nd Wimbledon Mens Tennis: Ellsworth Vines beats H Austin (64 62 60)

1932 - FDR makes first presidential nominating conventional acceptance speech

1933 - Carl Hubbell shuts-out Cards 1-0 in 18 innings without a walk

1934 - General Lazaro Cardenas elected president of Mexico

1935 - Great Britain boxers beat US team in 1st intl Golden Gloves

1937 - American aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart disappeared in the Central Pacific during an attempt to fly around the world at the equator.

1937 - 57th Wimbledon Mens Tennis: Don Budge beats G von Cramm (63 64 62)

1938 - 51st Wimbledon Womens Tennis: Helen Moody beats Helen Jacobs (64 60)

1939 - At Mount Rushmore, Theodore Roosevelt's face was dedicated.

1940 - Dutch PM Colijn publishes "Borders of 2 Worlds" (German victory)

1940 - Hitler ordered the invasion of England (Operation Sealion)

1940 - Lake Washington (Seattle) Floating bridge dedicated

1940 - PM Churchill meets gen-mjr B Montgomery

1940 - Indian independence leader Subhas Chandra Bose is arrested and detained in Calcutta.

1941 - DiMaggio breaks Willie Keeler's 44 game hitting streak (45th of 56)

1941 - Earthquake hits Palestine

1941 - Nazi mass murder in Lvov/Lemberg (7,000 dead)

1941 - Noel Coward's "Blithe Spirit," premieres in London 1943 - Gulf of Biskaje: Liberator bombers sinks U-126

1943 - Indians score 12 runs in 4th inning & beat Yankees 12-0

1943 - Lt Charles Hall, becomes first black pilot to shoot down Nazi plane

1944 - Marshal von Kluge replaces General von Rundstedt

1944 - American bombers, as part of Operation Gardening, dropped land mines, leaflets and bombs on German-occupied Budapest.

1946 - Dutch Beel government forms

1946 - Harbor workers end strike at Rotterdam & Amsterdam

1947 - Military coup discovered in France

1947 - An object crashed near Roswell, NM. The U.S. Army Air Force insisted it was a weather balloon, but eyewitness accounts led to speculation that it might have been an alien spacecraft.

1948 - 62nd Wimbledon Mens Tennis: Falkenburg beats Bromwich (75 06 62 36 75)

1949 - "High Button Shoes" closes at Century Theater NYC after 727 perfs

1949 - "Red Barber's Clubhouse" sports show premieres on CBS (later NBC) TV

 1949 - 56th Wimbledon Womens Tennis: L Brough beats M duPont (10-8 16 10-8)

1950 - Indian Bob Feller, wins his 200th game, 5-3 over Detroit

1950 - Kinkaku-ji in Kyoto, Japan burns down.

1950 - Henri Queuille is elected the seventh Prime Minister of the Fourth French Republic.

1951 - Bill Veeck buys St Louis Browns from Bill & Charlie DeWitt

1951 - Bob and Ray show premieres on NBC radio

1951 - Hugo Yarnold stumps 6 at Dundee, Worcester v Scotland

1951 - Island advisor of Curacao installed

1951 - Leidse astronomers discover radio signal out of Milky Way system

1952 - Princess Beatrice opens miniature city of Madurodam

1954 - 68th Wimbledon Mens Tennis: J Drobny beats K Rosewall (13-11 46 62 97)

1954 - Denis Compton scores 278 in 290 minutes v Pakistan

1955 - "7th Heaven" closes at ANTA Theater NYC after 44 performances

1955 - "Almost Crazy" closes at Longacre Theater NYC after 16 performances

1955 - "Lawrence Welk Show" premieres on ABC

1955 - 62nd Wimbledon Womens Tennis: Louise Brough beats B Fleitz (75 86)

1956 - Elvis Presley records "Hound Dog" and "Don't Be Cruel"

1956 - US performs nuclear test at Enwetak (atmospheric tests)

1957 - First submarine designed to fire guided missiles launched, Grayback

1957 - Pope Pius XII publishes encyclical Le pelerinage De Lourdes

1958 - US performs atmospheric nuclear test at Bikini Island

1959 - "Plan 9 From Outer Space," one of the worse films ever, premieres

1960 - "Once Upon a Mattress" closes at Alvin Theater NYC after 460 perfs

1961 - Maris hits 29th and 30th en route to 61 homers

1962 - Cubans minister of Foreign affairs Raul Castro arrives in Moscow

1962 - Fidel Castro visits Moscow

1963 - Giant Willie Mays' HR in 16th inning gives them a 1-0 win over Braves

1963 - Juan Marichal (Giants) beats Warren Spahn (Braves), 1-0 in 16 innings

1964 - Cilla Black records Beatle's "Its For You," McCartney plays piano

1964 - Grand jury indicts Beckwith in murder of Medger Evers

1964 - U.S. President Lyndon Baines Johnson signed the "Civil Rights Act of 1964" and Voting Rights Act into law. The act made it illegal in the U.S. to discriminate against others because of their race.

1965 - 79th Wimbledon Mens Tennis: Roy Emerson beats Fred Stolle (62 64 64)

1966 - First France nuclear explosion on Mururoa atoll

1966 - 73rd Wimbledon Womens Tennis: Billie J King beats Frasier (63 36 61)

1966 - France performs nuclear test at Muruora Island

1967 - The U.S. Marine Corps launched Operation Buffalo in response to the North Vietnamese Army's efforts to seize the Marine base at Con Thien.

1967 - 22nd US Women's Open Golf Championship won by Catherine Lacoste

1967 - Catherine Lacoste becomes youngest (22), 1st foreigner (France) & 1st amateur to US Women's open golf tournament

1969 - Ireland bowl out WI for 25 at Londonderry, win by 9 wkts

1969 - Leslie West & Felix Pappalardi form rock group Mountain

1970 - First Boeing 747 to land in Amsterdam & Brussels

1970 - NY Yankees Horace Clarke breaks up a no-hitter in the 9th for 3rd time in 28 days

1971 - 78th Wimbledon Womens Tennis: Evonne Goolagong beats M Smith (64 61)

1971 - USSR performs underground nuclear test

1972 - "Fiddler on the Roof" closes at Imperial Theater NYC after 3242 perfs

1972 - 27th US Women's Open Golf Championship won by Susie Maxwell Berning

1972 - Bob Seagren pole vaults world record 5.63m

1972 - India and Pakistan sign peace accord

1973 - James R Schlesinger, ends term as 9th director of CIA

1973 - Nation Black Network begins operation on radio

1974 - Fernando Mameda of Portugal sets record for 10,000 m (27:13.81)

1976 - 83rd Wimbledon Womens Tennis: Chris Evert beats E Goolagong (63 46 86)

1976 -  In Gregg v. Georgia, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the death penalty was not inherently cruel or unusual.

1976 - North Vietnam and South Vietnam were formally reunited.

1977 - 91st Wimbledon Mens Tennis: Bjorn Borg beats Connors (36 62 61 57 64)

1978 - Pitcher Ron Guidry sets Yankee record of 13-0 start

1979 - Susan B Anthony dollar is issued, became the first US coin to honor a woman

1979 - The U.S. Mint officially released the Susan B. Anthony coin in Rochester, NY.

1980 - U.S. President Jimmy Carter reinstated draft registration for males 18 years of age.

1980 - Grateful Dead's Bob Weir and Mickey Hart are arrested for incitement

1980 - Julie Marie Bryan, 18, of Georgia, crowned America's Young Woman of Yr

1981 - Soyuz T-6 returned to Earth.

1982 - Larry Walters using lawn chair & 42 helium balloons, rose to 16,000'

1982 - Soyuz T-6 returns to Earth

1983 - 90th Wimbledon Womens Tennis: M Navratilova beats A Jaeger (60 63)

1985 - Andrei Gromyko appointed president of USSR

1985 - European Space Agency launches Giotto (Halley's Comet Flyby)

1985 - General Motors announced that it was installing electronic road maps as an option in some of its higher-priced cars.

1986 - After 14 wins, Roger Clemens suffer his first loss of year

1986 - General strike against Pinochet regime in Chile

1986 - Supreme Court upholds affirmative action in 2 rulings

1987 - Jim Eisenreich, comeback after nervous disorder in 1984

1987 - Nilde Iotti is named as the first female President of the Italian Chamber of Deputies.

1988 - 95th Wimbledon Womens Tennis: Steffi Graf beats Navratilova (57 62 61)

1990 - Imelda Marcos & Adnan Khashoggi found not guilty of racketeering

1990 - Panic in tunnel of Mecca: 1,426 pilgrims trampled to death

1991 - Riot at Guns N' Roses concert in St Louis

1991 - Donald Trump proposes to Marla Maples and gives her a 7½ karat diamond ring

1992 - Braniff Airlines goes out of business

1993 - Boat sinks at Bocaue Philippines, 325 die

1993 - F-28 crashes at Sorong Irian Barat, 41 die

1993 - Kansas Royals rename stadium Ewing Kaufman Stadium after founder

1993 - Moslem fundamentalists in Sivas Turkey, set hotel on fire, kill 36

1993 - NY Met Anthony Young loses a record 25th straight game (goes to 27)

1993 - Pope John Paul II hospitalized for Cat Scan test

1994 - 101st Wimbledon Womens Tennis: C Martinez beats Navratilova (64 36 63)

1994 - 37 dies in US Air DC-9 crash in NC

1994 - John Wayne Bobbitt & Kristina Elliot arrested for domestic battery

1994 - Richard Johnson takes 10-45 for Middlesex against Derbyshire

1994 - US Air DC-9 crash in NC, 37 killed

1995 - "Rose Tattoo" closes at Circle in the Square NYC after 80 perfs

1995 - Thailand: Banharn Silpa-Archa's party wins election

1995 - "Forbes" magazine reported that Microsoft's chairman, Bill Gates, was the worth $12.9 billion, making him the world's richest man. In 1999, he was worth about $77 billion.

1997 - Actor James Stewart died in Beverly Hills, Calif. 2002 Steve Fossett became the first to circumnavigate the globe solo in a balloon.

1998 - Cable News Network (CNN) retracted a story that alleged that U.S. commandos had used nerve gas to kill American defectors during the Vietnam War.

2000 - In Mexico, Vicente Fox Quesada of the Partido Acción Nacional (National Action Party, or PAN) defeated Francisco Labastida Ochoa of the Partido Revolucionario Institucional.(Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI) in the presidential election. The PRI had controlled the presidency in Mexico since the party was founded in 1929, or over seventy years.

2001 - AbioCor self contained artificial heart created.

2002 - Steve Fossett becomes the first person to fly solo around the world nonstop in a balloon.

2003 - Silvio Berlusconi, Prime Minister of Italy, insults German MP Martin Schulz by calling him a "kapo" during a session of the European Parliament.

2004 - ASEAN Regional Forum accepts Pakistan as its 24th member.¨

2008 - Ingrid Betancourt and 14 other FARC hostages are rescued by the Colombian armed forces.

2010 - Oil tanker truck explosion in South Kivu, the Democratic Republic of the Congo kills at least 230 people

2012 - GlaxoSmithKline settle the largest healthcare fraud case in history for US$3 Billion \

2012 - Monsoon rain in East India kills at least 79 people and leaves 2.2 million homeless




The following links are to web sites that were used to complete this blog entry:

http://www.historyorb.com/today/events.php

http://on-this-day.com/onthisday/thedays/alldays/jul02.htm

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history

http://www.infoplease.com/dayinhistory