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This Day in History

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July
July 1 In 1997, Hong Kong reverted to Chinese rule after 156 years as a British colony.
July 2 In 1937, aviator Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan disappeared over the Pacific Ocean while attempting to make the first round-the-world flight at the equator. 
July 3 In 1863, the Civil War’s Battle of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania ended after three days in a major victory for the North as Confederate troops retreated.IMG_1840
July 4 In 1976, the United States celebrated its Bicentential. In 1776, the Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence.
July 5 In 1975, Arthur Ashe became the first black man to win a Wimbledon singles title as he defeated Jimmy Connors.
July 6 In 1957, Althea Gibson became the first black tennis player to win a Wimbledon singles title, defeating fellow American Darlene Hard 6-3, 6-2.
July 7 In 1981, President Reagan announced he was nominating Arizona Judge Sandra Day O’Connor to become the first female justice on the United States Supreme Court.
July 8 In 1950, Gen. Douglas MacArthur was named commander-in-chief of United Nations forces in Korea.
July 9 In 1896, William Jennings Bryan caused a sensation at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago with his “cross of gold” speech denouncing supporters of the gold standard. Bryan went on to win the party’s nomination.
July 10 In 1940, during World War II, the 114-day Battle of Britain began as Nazi forces began attacking southern England by air. By late October, Britain managed to repel the Luftwaffe, which suffered heavy losses.
July 11 In 1979, the abandoned United States space station Skylab made a spectacular return to Earth, burning up in the atmosphere and showering debris over the Indian Ocean and Australia.
July 12 In 1984, Democratic presidential candidate Walter F. Mondale announced he had chosen U.S. Rep. Geraldine A. Ferraro of New York to be his running mate; Ferraro was the first woman to run for vice president on a major party ticket.
July 13 In 1977, a 25-hour blackout hit the New York City area after lightning struck upstate power lines.
July 14 In 1965, the American space probe Mariner 4 flew by Mars, sending back photographs of the planet.
July 15 In 1918, the Second Battle of the Marne began during World War I.
July 16 In 1918, Russia’s Czar Nicholas II, his empress and their five children were executed by the Bolsheviks.
July 17 In 1975, an Apollo spaceship docked with a Soyuz spacecraft in orbit in the first superpower linkup of its kind.
July 18 In 1936, the Spanish Civil War began as Gen. Francisco Franco led an uprising of army troops based in Spanish North Africa.
July 19 In 1941, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill launched his “V for Victory” campaign in Europe.
July 20 In 1969, Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong became the first man to walk on the moon when he stepped out of the lunar module.
July 21 In 1925, the so-called “Monkey Trial” ended in Dayton, Tenn., with John T. Scopes convicted of violating state law for teaching Darwin’s theory of evolution. The conviction was later overturned.
July 22 In 1934, a man identified as bank robber John Dillinger was shot to death by federal agents outside Chicago’s Biograph Theater.
July 23 In 1914, Austria-Hungary issued an ultimatum to Serbia following the killing of Archduke Francis Ferdinand by a Serb assassin; the dispute led to World War I.
July 24 In 1959, during a visit to the Soviet Union, Vice President Richard M. Nixon got into a “kitchen debate” with Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev at a United States 
July 25 In 1956, the Italian liner Andrea Doria sank after colliding with the Swedish ship Stockholm off the New England coast, killing 51 people.
July 26 In 1947, President Truman signed the National Security Act, creating the Department of Defense, the National Security Council, the Central Intelligence Agency and the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
July 27 In 1953, the Korean War armistice was signed at Panmunjom, ending three years of fighting.
July 28 In 1914, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. World War I began as declarations of war by other European nations quickly followed.
July 29 In 1981, Britain’s Prince Charles married Lady Diana Spencer at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London.
July 30 In 1945, the USS Indianapolis, which had just delivered key components of the Hiroshima atomic bomb to the Pacific island of Tinian, was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine. Only 316 out of 1,196 men survived the sinking and shark-infested waters. 
July 31 In 1964, the American space probe Ranger 7 transmitted pictures of the moon’s surface.
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