July 4 Events |
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| July 4th, 2006 (July 04 2006) | Event | Space Shuttle program: STS-121 MissionSpace Shuttle Discovery launches at 18:37:55 UTC. | |
| July 4th, 2006 (July 04 2006) | Event | North Korea tests four short-range missiles, one medium-range missile, and a long-range Taepodong-2. The long-range Taepodong-2 reportedly fails in mid-air over the Sea of Japan/East Sea. | |
| July 4th, 2005 (July 04 2005) | Event | The Deep Impact collider hits the comet Tempel 1. | |
| July 4th, 2004 (July 04 2004) | Event | The cornerstone of the Freedom Tower is laid on the site of the World Trade Center in New York City. (This was largely a symbolic event; actual construction would not start for several weeks) | |
| July 4th, 1997 (July 04 1997) | Event | NASA s Pathfinder space probe lands on the surface of Mars. | |
| July 4th, 1993 (July 04 1993) | Event | Sumitomo Chemical s resin plant in Nihama explodes killing one worker and injuring three others. | |
| July 4th, 1987 (July 04 1987) | Event | In France, former Gestapo chief Klaus Barbie (aka the "Butcher of Lyon") is convicted of crimes against humanity and is sentenced to life imprisonment. | Klaus Barbie Quotes |
| July 4th, 1982 (July 04 1982) | Event | Iranian diplomats kidnapping (1982): four Iranian diplomats are kidnapped by Lebanese militia in Lebanon. | |
| July 4th, 1976 (July 04 1976) | Event | Israeli commandos raid Entebbe airport in Uganda, rescuing all but four of the passengers and crew of an Air France jetliner seized by Palestinian terrorists. | |
| July 4th, 1969 (July 04 1969) | Event | Two teens (one male, one female) are attacked at Blue Rock Springs in California. They were the second (known) victims of the Zodiac Killer. The male survives. | |
| July 4th, 1969 (July 04 1969) | Event | The Ohio Fireworks Derecho kills 18 Ohioans and destroys over 100 boats on Lake Erie. | |
| July 4th, 1966 (July 04 1966) | Event | President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Freedom of Information Act into United States law. The act goes into effect the next year. | Lyndon Johnson Quotes |
| July 4th, 1966 (July 04 1966) | Event | The Beatles, in the Phillipines to give two concerts, are accused of standing up Imelda Marcos. Their entourage is beaten up at the airport. | |
| July 4th, 1961 (July 04 1961) | Event | Walt Disney is one of the two main speakers on the Independence Day in The Rebild Hills at Skorping in Denmark | Walt Disney Quotes |
| July 4th, 1960 (July 04 1960) | Event | Due to the post-Independence Day admission of Hawai?i as the 50th U.S. state on August 21, 1959, the 50-star flag of the United States debuts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania almost ten and a half months later (see Flag Act). | |
| July 4th, 1959 (July 04 1959) | Event | With the admission of Alaska as the 49th U.S. state earlier in the year, the 49-star flag of the United States debuts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. | |
| July 4th, 1950 (July 04 1950) | Event | The first broadcast by Radio Free Europe. | |
| July 4th, 1947 (July 04 1947) | Event | The "Indian Independence Bill" is presented before British House of Commons, suggesting bifurcation of British India into two sovereign countriesIndia and Pakistan. | |
| July 4th, 1946 (July 04 1946) | Event | After 381 years of near-continuous colonial rule, the Philippines is granted full independence by the United States. | |
| July 4th, 1941 (July 04 1941) | Event | Nazi Germans massacre Polish scientists and writers in the captured Polish city of Lwow. | |
| July 4th, 1939 (July 04 1939) | Event | Lou Gehrig, recently diagnosed with Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, tells a crowd at Yankee Stadium that he considers himself "The luckiest man on the face of the earth" as he announces his retirement from major league baseball. | |
| July 4th, 1934 (July 04 1934) | Event | Leo Szilard patents the chain-reaction design for the atomic bomb. | Leo Szilard Quotes |
| July 4th, 1927 (July 04 1927) | Event | First flight of the Lockheed Vega. | |
| July 4th, 1918 (July 04 1918) | Event | Ottoman sultan Mehmed VI ascends to the throne. | |
| July 4th, 1918 (July 04 1918) | Event | Bolsheviks kill Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and his family (Julian calendar date). | Julian Quotes |
| July 4th, 1910 (July 04 1910) | Event | African-American boxer Jack Johnson knocks out white boxer Jim Jeffries in a heavyweight boxing match sparking race riots across the United States. | Jack Johnson Quotes |
| July 4th, 1894 (July 04 1894) | Event | The short-lived Republic of Hawaii is proclaimed by Sanford B. Dole. | |
| July 4th, 1892 (July 04 1892) | Event | Western Samoa changes the International Date Line, so that year there were 367 days in this country, with two occurrences of Monday, July 4. | |
| July 4th, 1887 (July 04 1887) | Event | The founder of Pakistan, Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, joins Sindh-Madrasa-tul-Islam, Karachi. | Muhammad Ali Quotes |
| July 4th, 1886 (July 04 1886) | Event | The people of France offer the Statue of Liberty to the people of the United States. | |
| July 4th, 1886 (July 04 1886) | Event | The first scheduled Canadian transcontinental train arrives in Port Moody, British Columbia. | |
| July 4th, 1881 (July 04 1881) | Event | In Alabama, the Tuskegee Institute opens. | |
| July 4th, 1865 (July 04 1865) | Event | Alice s Adventures in Wonderland is published. | |
| July 4th, 1863 (July 04 1863) | Event | American Civil War: Siege of VicksburgVicksburg, Mississippi surrenders to Ulysses S. Grant after 47 days of siege. 150 miles up the Mississippi River, a Confederate Army is repulsed at the Battle of Helena, Arkansas. | Ulysses S. Grant Quotes |
| July 4th, 1862 (July 04 1862) | Event | Lewis Carroll tells Alice Liddell a story that would grow into Alice s Adventures in Wonderland and its sequels. | Lewis Carroll Quotes |
| July 4th, 1859 (July 04 1859) | Event | Austro-Sardinian War: the Battle of Magenta. | |
| July 4th, 1855 (July 04 1855) | Event | In Brooklyn, New York, the first edition of Walt Whitman s book of poems, titled Leaves of Grass, is published. | Walt Whitman Quotes |
| July 4th, 1845 (July 04 1845) | Event | Near Concord, Massachusetts, Henry David Thoreau embarks on a two-year experiment in simple living at Walden Pond (see Walden). | Henry David Thoreau Quotes |
| July 4th, 1840 (July 04 1840) | Event | The Cunard Line s 700 ton wooden paddle steamer RMS Britannia departs from Liverpool bound for Halifax, Nova Scotia on the first transatlantic crossing with a scheduled end. | |
| July 4th, 1838 (July 04 1838) | Event | The Iowa Territory is organized. | |
| July 4th, 1837 (July 04 1837) | Event | Grand Junction Railway, the world s first long-distance railway, opens between Birmingham and Liverpool. | |
| July 4th, 1827 (July 04 1827) | Event | Slavery is abolished in New York State. | |
| July 4th, 1817 (July 04 1817) | Event | At Rome, New York, United States, construction on the Erie Canal begins. | |
| July 4th, 1810 (July 04 1810) | Event | The French occupy Amsterdam. | |
| July 4th, 1803 (July 04 1803) | Event | The Louisiana Purchase is announced to the American people. | |
| July 4th, 1802 (July 04 1802) | Event | At West Point, New York the United States Military Academy opens. | |
| July 4th, 1778 (July 04 1778) | Event | Forces under George Rogers Clark capture Kaskaskia during the Illinois campaign. | |
| July 4th, 1776 (July 04 1776) | Event | American Revolution: the United States Declaration of Independence is adopted by the Second Continental Congress | |
| July 4th, 1754 (July 04 1754) | Event | Lt-Col. George Washington surrenders Fort Necessity to French Capt. Louis Coulon de Villiers. | George Washington Quotes |
| July 4th, 1636 (July 04 1636) | Event | City of Providence, Rhode Island forms. | Ovid Quotes |
| July 4th, 1634 (July 04 1634) | Event | The city of Trois-Rivieres is founded in New France, later to become the Canadian province of Quebec. | |
| July 4th, 1359 (July 04 1359) | Event | Francesco II Ordelaffi of Forli surrenders to the Papal commander Gil de Albornoz. | |
| July 4th, 1253 (July 04 1253) | Event | Battle of West-Capelle: John I of Avesnes defeats Guy of Dampierre. | |
| July 4th, 1187 (July 04 1187) | Event | The Crusades: Battle of HattinSaladin defeats Guy of Lusignan, King of Jerusalem. | |
| July 4th, 1120 (July 04 1120) | Event | Jordan II of Capua is anointed as prince after his infant nephew s death. | |
| July 4th, 1054 (July 04 1054) | Event | A supernova is observed by the Chinese, the Arabs and possibly Amerindians near the star ? Tauri. For several months it remains bright enough to be seen during the day. Its remnants form the Crab Nebula. | |
| July 4th, 0993 (July 04 0993) | Event | Saint Ulrich of Augsburg is canonized. | |
| July 4th, 0836 (July 04 0836) | Event | Pactum Sicardi, peace between the Principality of Benevento and the Duchy of Naples | |
