1776: First public reading of the Declaration of Independence
1838: Early developer of guidable balloons, Count Ferdinand Zeppelin born in Konstanz, Germany
1877: Bell Telephone Co. formed
1947: Actress Kim Darby born in Los Angeles, California
1951: Academy and Golden Globe Award winning actress, Anjelica Huston born in Santa Monica, California
1957: Control Data Corporation formed
1961: Award winning country singer, Toby Keith born in Clinton, Oklahoma
1969: IBM’s CICS available for sale
2009: Watching for 07/08/09 10:11
1810: Napoleon annexes Holland for France
1816: Independence Day in Argentina
1918: Train collision in Nashville kills 101
1955: Actress Lisa Banes born in Chagrin Falls, Ohio
1956: Academy Award winning actor, Tom Hanks born in Concord, California
1982: Plane crash in Kenner, Louisiana kills 154
2006: Plane crash in Irkutsk, Siberia kills 200
1804: US Vice President Aaron Burr kills Secretary of Treasury Alexander Hamilton in a duel
1834: Avante-garde artist James Whistler born in Lowell, Massachusetts
1859: Dickens publishes A Tale of Two Cities
1920: Singer, author, photographer and Academy Award winning actor, Yul Brynner born in Vladivostok, Russia
1921: Independence Day in Mongolia
1966: Cheerleader, Homecoming Queen and actress, Debbe Dunning born in Burbank, California
1975: Grammy Award winning Hip Hop artist, Lil’ Kim born in Brooklyn, New York
1690: Battle of Boyne commemorated in Ireland
1817: Philosopher and author, Henry David Thoreau born in Concord, Massachusetts
1895: Architect, poet, author and inventor, Richard Buckminster Fuller born in Milton, Massachusetts
1909: Actor Joseph “Curly Joe” Wardell born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
1917: Presidential Medal of Freedom winning realist painter, Andrew Newell Wyeth born in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania
1933: First US minimum wage 33¢ per hour
1937: Emmy, Golden Globe, and Grammy Award winning comedian, Bill Cosby born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
1943: Songwriter, keyboardist and singer, Christine McVie born in Greenodd, England
1944: Actress and social activist, Denise Nicholas born in Detroit, Michigan
1969: Actress Lisa Nicole Carson born in Brooklyn, New York
1979: Independence Day in Kiribati
1979: Chicago DJ Steve Dahl holds “Disco Demolition” at Comiskey Park
1863: Anti-draft riots begin in New York City
1908: Women compete in Olympic games
1930: First World Cup soccer match
1940: Stage, movie, and television actor, Patrick Stewart born in Mirfield, England
1946: Actor and comedian Richard Anthony “Cheech” Marin born in Los Angeles, California
1951: Actress Didi Conn born in Brooklyn, New York
1977: 25 hour power outage in New York City results in looting, disorder and arson
1789: Parisians storm the Bastille
1912: Poet, songwriter and folk singer, Woody Guthrie born in Okemah, Oklahoma
1918: Author and pioneering computer engineer, Jay Wright Forrester born in Climax, Nebraska
1928: Academy Award nominated actress, Nancy Olson born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
1958: Iraqi monarchy overthrown
1965: Mariner 4 takes close-up photos of Mars
2002: French President Jacques Chirac escapes Bastille Day assassination attempt
1796: Painter, printmaker and etcher, Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot born in Paris, France
1907: Academy, Golden Globe, and Emmy Award winning actress, Barbara Stanwyck born in New York City
1911: Academy Award winning actress, singer and dancer, Ginger Rogers born in Independence, Missouri
1945: First atomic bomb detonated at Alamagordo
1958: One of the National Geographic Society’s Living Treasures, Irish step dancer Michael Flatley born in Chicago, Illinois
1963: Actress Phoebe Cates born Phoebe Belle Katz in New York City
1966: Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker form the rock band Cream
1973: Existence of Nixon tapes revealed
1998: Tsunami kills 3,000 in Papua, New Guinea
1889: Oscar winning actor James Cagney born in New York City
1912: Author and Grammy Award winning television personality, Art Linkletter born in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan
1917: Golden Globe nominated actress and comedienne, Phyllis Diller born in Lima, Ohio
1935: Golden Globe and Emmy Award winning actor, Donald Sutherland born in St John, New Brunswick
1935: Tony Award winning actress Diahann Carroll born in Bronx, New York
1948: Constitution Day in South Korea
1955: Disneyland opens
1968: Yellow Submarine premieres in London
1996: TWA Flight 800 explodes just after taking off from John F. Kennedy International Airport
1692: Five women hanged for witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts
1883: Animation pioneer and inventor of the Rotoscope, Max Fleischer born in Kraków, Poland
1912: A 400 lb meteorite explodes over the town of Holbrook, Arizona
1940: Model and actor, Dennis Cole born in Detroit, Michigan
1966: Theater and movie actress, Nancy Walls born in Cohasset, Massachusetts
1996: Summer Olympics open in Atlanta, Georgia
1924: US Army soldier and five-time Emmy Award winning actor, Don Knotts born in Morgantown, West Virginia
1938: 79th US Attorney General and first femal appointed to the office, Janet Reno born in Miami, Florida
1944: Attorney and award winning author, David Feintuch born in New York City
1948: Musician, singer and songwriter, Cat Stevens born Steven Demetre Georgiou in London, England
1948: Character actress and televison writer, Beverly Archer born in Oak Park, Illinois
1954: Vietnam divided at 17th parallel
2002: WorldCom files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection
2007: Author J.K. Rowling publishes Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
1894: 3-time Academy Award winning actor, Walter Brennan born in Swampscott, Massachusetts
1907: Korea becomes a protectorate of Japan
1920: First transatlantic two-way radio broadcast
1954: Pro Football Hall of Fame running back, Walter Payton born in Columbia, Mississippi
1965: Bob Dylan goes electric
1967: Actress Wendy Raquel Robinson born in Los Angeles, Califorina
1969: Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young debut
1999: Lance Armstrong wins the Tour de France
1847: Independence Day in Liberia
1895: Actress and comedienne, Gracie Allen born in San Francisco, California
1943: Musician and lead singer of the Rolling Stones, Sir Michael Phillip “Mick” Jagger born in Dartford, England
1956: Martin & Lewis give a farewell performance in the Copa Room of the Sands Hotel
1959: Two-time Oscar winning actor, Kevin Spacey born in South Orange, New Jersey
1964: Actress Sandra Bullock born in Arlington, Virginia
1965: Independence Day in Maldives
1857: Physician, sociologist, and political leader, José Celso Barbosa born in Bayamón, Puerto Rico
1922: US Army bombardier and four-time Emmy Award winning television producer, Norman Lear born in New Haven, Connecticut
1931: Actor and comedian, Jerry Van Dyke born in Danville, Illinois
1940: Oscar winning cartoon character, Bugs Bunny makes his debut in A Wild Hare
1941: Anti-Fascist uprising in Bosnia-Herzegowina
1948: Olympic Gold Medalist skater, Peggy Fleming born in San Jose, California
1952: Tony Award nominated actress, Roxanne Hart born in Trenton, New Jersey
1974: President Nixon is charged with obstruction of justice by the House of Representatives
1996: A pipe bomb explosion kills 1 and injures 11 others at the Atlanta Summer Olympics
1866: Botanist, illustrator and author, Beatrix Potter born in London, England
1914: Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia
1945: US Army B-25 bomber crashes into 79th floor of the Empire State Building
1948: Actress Sally Struthers born in Portland, Oregon
1972: Actress Elizabeth Berkley born in Farmington Hills, Michigan
2002: 9 coal miners trapped in the Quecreek Mine are rescued after 77 hours underground
1030: Olsok Eve in Norway
1874: Rain Day in Waynesburg, Pennsylvania
1938: Author and Emmy Award winning television news anchor, Peter Jennings born in Toronto, Ontario
1965: 101st Airborne Division paratroopers land at Cam Ranh Bay in Vietnam
1966: Grammy Award nominated country singer, Martina McBride born in Sharon, Kansas
1972: Blogger, Trekkie and actor, Wil Wheaton born in Burbank, California
1981: Lady Diana marries Charles, Prince of Wales
1419: Defenestration of Prague
1863: Automobile manufacturing pioneer, Henry Ford born in Detroit, Michigan
1936: Grammy Award winning singer and blues guitarist, Buddy Guy born in Lettsworth, Louisiana
1941: Actor, singer, and songwriter, Order of Cananda recipient Paul Anka born in Ottawa, Ontario
1947: Body building champion, actor and Governor of Californian, Arnold Schwarzenegger born in Thal bei Graz, Austria
1954: Elvis Presley makes his debut in Memphis
1956: “In God We Trust” adopted as US motto
1956: Miss Florida of 1974, actress Delta Burke born in Orlando, Florida
1963: Emmy Award winning actress, Lisa Kudrow born in Encino, California
1965: President Johnson signs Social Security Act into law, establishing Medicare, Medicaid
1790: First US patent issued to Samuel Hopkins
1944: Actress Geraldine Chaplin born in Santa Monica, California
1945: Drummer and leader of the Gary Lewis & the Playboys, Gary Lewis born Gary Harold Lee Levitch in Los Angeles, California
1951: Japan Airlines is established
1962: Martial artist, producer and actor, Wesley Snipes born in Orlando, Florida
1965: Author J.K. Rowling born in Yate, England
1975: Teamsters Union president Jimmy Hoffa is reported missing
1987: An F-4 tornado in Edmonton, Alberta kills 27
1819: Author of Moby Dick, Herman Melville born in New York City
1933: Actor and comedian, Dom DeLuise born in Brooklyn, New York
1941: First Jeep is produced
1942: Singer, songwriter and lead guitarist of the Grateful Dead, Jerry Garcia born in San Francisco, California
1944: Warsaw uprising against Nazi occupation
1971: The Concert for Bangla Desh takes place at Madison Square Garden
1972: Actress Tanya Reid born in Dryden, Ontario