July 4

Day Aphelion, the point in the year when the Earth is furthest from the Sun, occurs around this date.

Events

* 836 - "Pactum Sicardi", peace between the Principality of Benevento and the Duchy of Naples
* 993 - Saint Ulrich of Augsburg is canonized.
*1054 - A supernova is observed by the Chinese, the Arabs and possibly Amerindians near the star ζ Tauri. For several months it remains bright enough to be seen during the day. Its remnants form the Crab Nebula.
*1120 - Jordan II of Capua is anointed as prince after his infant nephew's death.
*1187 - The Crusades: Battle of Hattin - Saladin defeats Guy of Lusignan, King of Jerusalem.
*1253 - Battle of West-Capelle: John I of Avesnes defeats Guy of Dampierre.
*1359 - Francesco II Ordelaffi of Forlì surrenders to the Papal commander Gil de Albornoz.
*1534 - Christian III is elected King of Denmark and Norway in the town of Rye.
*1634 - The city of Trois-Rivières is founded in New France, later to become the Canadian province of Quebec.
*1636 - City of Providence, Rhode Island forms.
*1754 - French and Indian War: George Washington surrenders Fort Necessity to French Capt. Louis Coulon de Villiers.
*1774 - Orangetown Resolutions adopted in the Province of New York, one of many protests against the British Parliament's Coercive Acts
*1776 - American Revolution: the United States Declaration of Independence is adopted by the Second Continental Congress
*1778 - American Revolutionary War: Forces under George Rogers Clark capture Kaskaskia during the Illinois campaign.
*1802 - At West Point, New York the United States Military Academy opens.
*1803 - The Louisiana Purchase is announced to the American people.
*1810 - The French occupy Amsterdam.
*1817 - At Rome, New York, United States, construction on the Erie Canal begins.
*1827 - Slavery is abolished in New York State.
*1837 - Grand Junction Railway, the world's first long-distance railway, opens between Birmingham and Liverpool.
*1838 - The Iowa Territory is organized.
*1840 - 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.
*1845 - Near Concord, Massachusetts, Henry David Thoreau embarks on a two-year experiment in simple living at Walden Pond (see "Walden").
*1855 - In Brooklyn, New York, the first edition of Walt Whitman's book of poems, titled "Leaves of Grass", is published.
*1859 - Austro-Sardinian War: the Battle of Magenta.
*1862 - Lewis Carroll tells Alice Liddell a story that would grow into "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" and its sequels.
*1863 - American Civil War: Siege of Vicksburg - Vicksburg, 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.
*1865 - "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" is published.
*1881 - In Alabama, the Tuskegee Institute opens.
*1886 - The people of France offer the Statue of Liberty to the people of the United States.
*1886 - The first scheduled Canadian transcontinental train arrives in Port Moody, British Columbia.
*1887 - The founder of Pakistan, Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, joins Sindh-Madrasa-tul-Islam, Karachi.
*1892 - Western Samoa changes the International Date Line, so that year there were 367 days in this country, with two occurrences of Monday, July 4.
*1894 - The short-lived Republic of Hawaii is proclaimed by Sanford B. Dole.
*1910 - African-American boxer Jack Johnson knocks out white boxer Jim Jeffries in a heavyweight boxing match sparking race riots across the United States.
*1913 - President Woodrow Wilson addresses American Civil War veterans at the Great Reunion of 1913.
*1918 - Ottoman sultan Mehmed VI ascends to the throne.
* 1918 - Bolsheviks kill Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and his family (Julian calendar date).
*1927 - First flight of the Lockheed Vega.
*1934 - Leo Szilard patents the chain-reaction design for the atomic bomb.
*1939 - 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.
*1941 - Nazi Germans massacre Polish scientists and writers in the captured Polish city of Lwów.
*1946 - After 381 years of near-continuous colonial rule, the Philippines is granted full independence by the United States.
*1947 - The "Indian Independence Bill" is presented before British House of Commons, suggesting bifurcation of British India into two sovereign countries - India and Pakistan.
*1950 - The first broadcast by Radio Free Europe.
*1959 - 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.
*1960 - Due to the post-Independence Day admission of Hawaiˈi 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).
*1961 - Walt Disney is one of the two main speakers on the Independence Day in The Rebuild Hills at Skørping in Denmark
*1966 - President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Freedom of Information Act into United States law. The act goes into effect the next year.
*1969 - 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.
*1969 - The Ohio Fireworks Derecho kills 18 Ohioans and destroys over 100 boats on Lake Erie.
*1976 - 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.
*1982 - Iranian diplomats kidnapping (1982): four Iranian diplomats are kidnapped by Lebanese militia in Lebanon.
*1987 - In France, former Gestapo chief Klaus Barbie (aka the "Butcher of Lyon") is convicted of crimes against humanity and is sentenced to life imprisonment.
*1993 - Sumitomo Chemical's resin plant in Nihama explodes killing one worker and injuring three others.
*1997 - NASA's Pathfinder space probe lands on the surface of Mars.
*2004 - 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)
*2005 - The Deep Impact collider hits the comet Tempel 1.
*2006 - Space Shuttle program: STS-121 Mission - Space Shuttle "Discovery" launches at 18:37:55 UTC.
* 2006 - 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.

Births

*1330 - Ashikaga Yoshiakira, Japanese shogun (d. 1367)
*1546 - Murat III, Ottoman Sultan (d. 1595)
*1694 - Louis-Claude Daquin, French composer (d. 1772)
*1715 - Christian Fürchtegott Gellert, German poet (d. 1769)
*1719 - Michel-Jean Sedaine, French dramatist (d. 1797)
*1790 - George Everest, Welsh surveyor (d. 1866)
*1799 - King Oscar I of Sweden, French general (d. 1859)
*1804 - Nathaniel Hawthorne, American writer (d. 1864)
*1807 - Giuseppe Garibaldi, Italian patriot (d. 1882)
*1816 - Hiram Walker, American grocer and distiller (d. 1899)
*1826 - Stephen Foster, American songwriter (d. 1864)
*1845 - Thomas Barnardo, Irish humanitarian (d. 1905)
*1847 - James Anthony Bailey, American circus impresario (d. 1906)
*1854 - Victor Babeş, Romanian bacteriologist (d. 1926)
*1868 - Henrietta Swan Leavitt, American astronomer (d. 1921)
*1872 - Calvin Coolidge, 30th President of the United States (d. 1933)
*1881 - Ulysses S. Grant III, American soldier (d. 1968)
*1882 - Louis B. Mayer, American film producer (d. 1957)
*1883 - Rube Goldberg, American cartoonist (d. 1970)
*1895 - Irving Caesar, American lyricist and composer (d. 1996)
*1896 - Mao Dun, Chinese writer (d. 1981)
*1898 - Dr. Pilar Barbosa, Puerto Rican historian (d. 1997)
* 1898 - Gertrude Lawrence, English-born actress (d. 1952)
*1902 - Meyer Lansky, Russian-born American gangster (d. 1983)
* 1902 - George Murphy, American entertainer (d. 1992)
*1903 - Flor Peeters, Belgian composer, organist and teacher (d. 1986)
*1904 - Angela Baddeley, English actress (d. 1976)
*1905 - Irving Johnson, American adventurer (d. 1991)
*1907 - Gordon Griffith, American director (d. 1958)
* 1907 - Howard Taubman, American music and theater critic (d. 1996)
*1910 - Gloria Stuart, American actress
*1911 - Mitch Miller, American entertainer
*1912 - Viviane Romance, French actress (d. 1991)
*1916 - Iva Toguri D'Aquino, American World War II figure (d. 2006)
*1917 - Manolete, Spanish bullfighter (d. 1947)
*1918 - Ann Landers, American advice columnist (d. 2002)
* 1918 - Abigail Van Buren, American advice columnist
* 1918 - King Taufa'ahau Tupou IV of Tonga (d. 2006)
* 1918 - Johnnie Parsons, American race car driver (d. 1984)
*1920 - Norm Drucker, American basketball referee
* 1920 - Leona Helmsley, American hotel operator and real estate investor (d. 2007)
*1921 - Gerard Debreu, French economist, Nobel laureate (d. 2004)
* 1921 - Tibor Varga, Hungarian violinist (d. 2003)
*1923 - Rudolf Friedrich, Swiss Federal Councilor
*1924 - Eva Marie Saint, American actress
*1926 - Alfredo Di Stéfano, Argentine-Spanish footballer
*1927 - Gina Lollobrigida, Italian actress
* 1927 - Neil Simon, American playwright
*1929 - Al Davis, American businessman
* 1929 - Chuck Tanner, American baseball player
* 1929 - Bill Tuttle, American baseball player (d. 1998)
*1930 - Frunzik Mkrtchyan, Armenian actor
* 1930 - George Steinbrenner, American businessman
* 1930 - Yuri Tyukalov, Soviet Olympic rower
*1931 - Stephen Boyd, Northern Irish actor (d. 1977)
* 1931 - Sébastien Japrisot, French author, film director and sreenwriter (d. 2003)
*1932 - Aurèle Vandendriessche, Belgian athlete
*1934 - Colin Welland, English actor
*1935 - Paul Scoon, Governor General of Grenada
*1937 - Sonja Haraldsen, Queen of Norway (spouse of King Harald V of Norway)
* 1937 - Thomas Nagel, American philosopher
*1938 - Bill Withers, American singer and songwriter
*1940 - Karolyn Grimes, American actress
*1941 - Brian Willson, American peace activist
*1942 - Hal Lanier, American baseball player
* 1942 - Floyd Little, American football player
* 1942 - Stefan Meller, Polish foreign minister (d. 2008)
*1943 - Konrad "Conny" Bauer, German musician
* 1943 - Geraldo Rivera, American reporter
* 1943 - Alan "Blind Owl" Wilson, American musician (d. 1970)
* 1943 - Emerson Boozer, American football player
* 1943 - Milan Máčala, Czech football coach
*1944 - Ray Meagher, Australian actor
*1946 - Tish Howard, American model
* 1946 - Ron Kovic, American peace activist
* 1946 - Michael Milken, American financier
* 1946 - Ed O'Ross, American actor
*1947 - Morganna Roberts, American entertainer
*1948 - Ed Armbrister, baseball player
* 1948 - René Arnoux, French race car driver
* 1948 - Tommy Körberg, Swedish singer and actor
* 1948 - Jeremy Spencer, English musician
*1950 - David Jensen, Canadian-born British radio DJ
*1951 - Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, American politician
*1952 - Álvaro Uribe Vélez, Colombian politician
*1954 - Jim Beattie, American baseball player
*1955 - John Waite, English singer
*1957 - Princess Chulabhorn of Thailand
*1958 - Kirk Pengilly, Australian musician
*1959 - Victoria Abril, Spanish actress
*1960 - Sid Eudy, American professional wrestler
* 1960 - Roland Ratzenberger, Austrian racing driver (d. 1994)
*1961 - Richard Garriott, English video game designer
*1962 - Neil Morrissey, English actor
* 1962 - Pam Shriver, American former tennis player
*1963 - Henri Leconte, French former tennis player
* 1963 - Matt Malley, American musician
* 1963 - José Oquendo, Puerto Rican baseball player
*1964 - Cle Kooiman, American soccer player
* 1964 - Mark Slaughter, American singer
* 1964 - Mark Whiting, American filmmaker and actor
*1965 - Horace Grant, American basketball player
* 1965 - Jo Whiley, English radio DJ
*1966 - Lee Reherman, American actor
*1967 - Vinny Castilla, Mexican baseball player
* 1967 - Andy Walker, Canadian television personality
* 1967 - Rick Wilkins, American baseball player
* 1968 - Jack Frost, American musician
*1970 - Tony Vidmar, Australian former footballer
*1971 - Andy Creeggan, Canadian musician
* 1971 - Brendan Donnelly, American baseball player
* 1971 - Koko, sign-language gorilla
* 1971 - Andrew Murray, English entrepreneur
* 1971 - Ned Zelic, Australian soccer player
*1973 - Gackt, Japanese singer
* 1973 - Keiko Ihara, Japanese racing driver
* 1973 - Michael Johnson, English-born Jamaican footballer
* 1973 - Jan Magnussen, Danish racing driver
* 1973 - Tony Popovic, Australian soccer player
*1974 - La'Roi Glover, American football player
* 1974 - Vince Spadea, American tennis player
*1975 - Tania Davis, Australian violist
*1976 - Daijiro Kato, Japanese motorcycle racer (d. 2003)
*1977 - Katia Zygouli, Greek supermodel
* 1977 - Jonas Kjellgren, Swedish musician (Scar Symmetry)
*1978 - Vicky Kaya, Greek supermodel and actress
* 1978 - Stephen McNally, British singer and songwriter (BBMak)
* 1978 - Emile Mpenza, Belgian footballer
* 1978 - Becki Newton, American actress
*1980 - Muhammad Ali Hasan, American filmmaker
* 1980 - Max Elliott Slade, American film actor
*1981 - Francisco Cruceta, Dominican baseball player
*1982 - Hannah Harper,English porn star
*1983 - Isabeli Fontana, Brazilian model
* 1983 - Ben Jorgensen, American musician
* 1983 - Andy Mrotek, American musician
*1984 - Gina Glocksen, American singer
* 1984 - Akanishi Jin, Japanese singer
*1986 - Takahisa Masuda, Japanese singer
*2003 - Alessia di Matteo, Italian medical figure (d. 2005)

Deaths

* 907 - Luitpold, Margrave of Bavaria
* 943 - Taejo of Goryeo, ruler of Korea (b. 877)
* 965 - Pope Benedict V, Italian Roman Catholic Pope (b. unknown)
* 973 - Ulrich of Augsburg, German bishop (b. 890)
*1187 - Raynald of Chatillon, Prince of Antioch
*1541 - Pedro de Alvarado, Spanish explorer (b. 1495)
*1546 - Hayreddin Barbarossa, Admiral of the Ottoman Navy (b. 1478)
*1603 - Philippe de Monte, Flemish composer (b. 1521)
*1623 - William Byrd, English composer
*1648 - Antoine Daniel, French Jesuit missionary, one of the Canadian Martyrs (b. 1601)
*1742 - Guido Grandi, Italian mathematician (b. 1671)
*1754 - Philippe Néricault Destouches, French dramatist and author (b. 1680)
*1761 - Samuel Richardson, English writer (b. 1689)
*1780 - Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine, Austrian military leader (b. 1712)
*1787 - Charles de Rohan, prince de Soubise, Marshal of France (b. 1715)
*1821 - Richard Cosway, English artist (b. 1742)
*1826 - John Adams, 2nd President of the United States (b. 1735)
* 1826 - Thomas Jefferson 3rd President of the United States (b. 1743)
*1831 - James Monroe, 5th President of the United States (b. 1758)
*1848 - François-René de Chateaubriand, French writer (b. 1768)
*1850 - William Kirby, English entomologist (b. 1759)
*1854 - Karl Friedrich Eichhorn, German jurist (b. 1781)
*1857 - William L. Marcy, American statesman (b. 1786)
*1881 - Johan Vilhelm Snellman, Finnish statesman (b. 1806)
*1882 - Joseph Brackett, American composer (b. 1797)
*1891 - Hannibal Hamlin, U.S. Vice President (b. 1809)
*1901 - Johannes Schmidt, German linguist (b. 1843)
*1902 - Swami Vivekananda, Indian spiritual leader (b. 1863)
*1905 - Élisée Reclus, French anarchist (b. 1830)
*1910 - Melville Weston Fuller, 8th Chief Justice of the United States (b. 1833)
* 1910 - Giovanni Schiaparelli, Italian astronomer (b. 1835)
*1916 - Alan Seeger, American war poet (b. 1888)
*1922 - Lothar von Richthofen, German pilot (b. 1894)
*1926 - Pier Giorgio Frassati, Italian Saint (b. 1901)
*1931 - Buddie Petit, American jazz musician (b. 1895)
* 1931 - Emanuele Filiberto, 2nd Duke of Aosta, Italian aristocrat (b. 1869)
*1934 - Maria Sklodowska-Curie, Nobel Prize in Chemistry and Physics (b. 1867)
*1938 - Otto Bauer, Austrian Social Democratic politician (b. 1881)
* 1938 - Suzanne Lenglen, French tennis player (b. 1899)
*1941 - Antoni Łomnicki, Polish mathematician (b. 1881)
*1946 - Gerda Steinhoff, Nazi concentration camp overseer (b. 1922)
*1948 - Monteiro Lobato, Brazilian writer (b. 1882)
*1963 - Bernard Freyberg, Governor-General of New Zealand (b. 1889)
*1970 - Barnett Newman, American artist (b. 1905)
* 1970 - Harold Stirling Vanderbilt, member of the Vanderbilt family (b. 1884)
*1971 - August Derleth, American writer and editor (b. 1909)
*1975 - Georgette Heyer, English author (b. 1902)
*1976 - Antoni Słonimski, Polish poet (b. 1895)
*1977 - Gersh Budker, Russian physicist (b. 1918)
*1979 - Lee Wai Tong, Chinese footballer (b. 1905)
*1980 - Maurice Grevisse, Belgian grammarian (b. 1895)
*1982 - Terry Higgins, early British AIDS death (b. 1945)
*1984 - Jimmie Spheeris, American singer-songwriter (b. 1949)
*1986 - Oscar Zariski, Russian mathematician (b. 1899)
* 1986 - Flor Peeters, Belgian composer, organist, and teacher (b. 1903)
*1988 - Adrian Adonis, American professional wrestler (b. 1954)
*1991 - Victor Chang, Australian physician (b. 1936)
*1992 - Ástor Piazzolla, Argentinian composer (b. 1921)
*1993 - Bona Arsenault, French Canadian politician and historian (b. 1903)
*1994 - Joey Marella, American professional wrestling referee (b. 1964)
*1995 - Eva Gabor, Hungarian actress (b. 1919)
* 1995 - Bob Ross, American artist and television host (b. 1942)
*1997 - Charles Kuralt, American television presenter (b. 1934)
* 1997 - John Zachary Young, English zoologist (b. 1907)
*1999 - Leo Garel, American artist and cartoonist (b.1917)
*2000 - Gustaw Herling-Grudzinski, Polish writer (b. 1919)
*2001 - Keenan Milton, Professional Skater (b. 1974)
*2002 - Benjamin O. Davis Jr., American general (b. 1912)
* 2002 - Mansoor Hekmat, Iranian politician (b. 1951)
* 2002 - Winnifred Quick, American Titanic survivor (b. 1904)
*2003 - Barry White, American singer (b. 1944)
* 2003 - André Claveau, French singer (b. 1915)
*2004 - Jean-Marie Auberson, Swiss conductor (b. 1920)
* 2004 - Frank Robinson (Xylophone Man), an eccentric street entertainer in Nottingham, England (b. 1932)
*2005 - Hank Stram, American football coach (b. 1923)
*2007 - Barış Akarsu, Turkish rock musician (b. 1979)
* 2007 - Bill Pinkney, American singer and performer (b. 1925)
*2008 - Charles Wheeler, British journalist (b. 1923)
* 2008 - Jesse Helms, American politician (b. 1921)
* 2008 - Terrence Kiel, American Football Player (b. 1980)
* 2008 - Thomas M. Disch, American science fiction author (b. 1940)
* 2008 - Evelyn Keyes, American actress (b. 1916)

Holidays and observances

*Filipino-American Friendship Day
*In astronomy, the approximate date of Earth's aphelion.
*Saint Flavian
*Translation, Ordination of Saint Martin, bishop of Tours, confessor
*Saint Odo, bishop of Canterbury
*Saint Procopius, abbot (at Prague), confessor
*Saint Ulric, bishop of Augsburg, confessor (d. 973)
*Saint Bertha, widow, abbess of Blangy in Artois
*United States - Independence Day (1776)
*Saint Elizabeth Lusitania of Portugal (d. 1336), patron saint of Coimbra (city holiday), known there as Rainha Santa Isabela

External links

* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/4 BBC: On This Day]
*
* [http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_this_day?mth=Jul&day=04 On This Day in Canada]

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