837 – Halley’s Comet makes its closest approach to Earth at a distance equal to 0.0342 AU (5.1 million kilometres/3.2 million miles).
1407 – The lama Deshin Shekpa visits the Ming Dynasty capital at Nanjing. He is awarded the title “Great Treasure Prince of Dharma”.
1606 – The Virginia Company of London is established by royal charter by James I of England with the purpose of establishing colonial settlements in North America.
1710 – The Statute of Anne, the first law regulating copyright, comes into force in Great Britain.
1816 – The Federal government of the United States approves the creation of the Second Bank of the United States.
1829 – William Booth, English minister, founded The Salvation Army (d. 1912) was born.
1858 – After the original Big Ben, a 14.5 tonnes (32,000 lb) bell for the Palace of Westminster had cracked during testing, it is recast into the current 13.76 tonnes (30,300 lb) bell by Whitechapel Bell Foundry.
1865 – American Civil War: A day after his surrender to Union forces, Confederate General Robert E. Lee addresses his troops for the last time.
1866 – The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) is founded in New York City by Henry Bergh.
1904 – British mystic Aleister Crowley transcribes the third and final chapter of The Book of the Law.
1912 – RMS Titanic sets sail from Southampton, England on her maiden and only voyage.
1916 – The Professional Golfers’ Association of America (PGA) is created in New York City.
1919 – Mexican Revolution leader Emiliano Zapata is ambushed and shot dead by government forces in Morelos.
1925 – The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is first published in New York City, by Charles Scribner’s Sons.
1930 – Dolores Huerta, American activist, co-founded the United Farm Workers was born.
1936 – Bobbie Smith, American singer (The Spinners) (d. 2013) was born.
1941 – World War II: The Axis powers in Europe establish the Independent State of Croatia from occupied Yugoslavia with Ante Pavelić’s Ustaše fascist insurgents in power.
1944 – Rudolf Vrba and Alfréd Wetzler escape from the Birkenau death camp.
1947 – Bunny Wailer, Jamaican singer-songwriter and drummer (Bob Marley and the Wailers) was born.
1951 – David Helvarg, American journalist and activist was born.
1953 – Warner Bros. premieres the first 3-D film from a major American studio, entitled House of Wax.
1954 – Paul Bearer, American wrestler and manager (d. 2013) was born.
1957 – The Suez Canal is reopened for all shipping after being closed for three months.
1957 – Steve Gustafson, Spanish-American bass player (10,000 Maniacs) was born.
1959 – Brian Setzer, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (Stray Cats, The Tomcats, and The Brian Setzer Orchestra) was born.
1960 – Katrina Leskanich, American-British singer-songwriter and guitarist (Katrina and the Waves) was born.
1962 – Stuart Sutcliffe, Scottish bass player (The Beatles) (b. 1940) died.
1963 – One hundred twenty-nine American sailors die when the submarine USS Thresher sinks at sea.
1965 – Tim Alexander, American drummer (Primus and Major Lingo) was born.
1970 – Paul McCartney announces that he is leaving The Beatles for personal and professional reasons.
1972 – Tombs containing bamboo slips, among them Sun Tzu’s Art of War and Sun Bin’s lost military treatise, are accidentally discovered by construction workers in Shandong.
1972 – Vietnam War: For the first time since November 1967, American B-52 bombers reportedly begin bombing North Vietnam.
1972 – Seventy-four nations sign the Biological Weapons Convention, the first multilateral disarmament treaty banning the production of biological weapons.
1998 – Northern Ireland peace deal reached (Good Friday Agreement).
2008 – The International Olympic Committee (I.O.C.) had urged China to fulfill its promises to respect human rights in Tibet, when the E.U. Parliament passed a non-binding resolution in favor of boycotting of the opening ceremonies in Beijing. In today’s vote, the E.U. Parliament has expressed its support for a boycott of the August 8th opening ceremonies unless Beijing engages in dialogue with the Dalai Lama. The Parliament has also appealed to the individual E.U. states to consider not participating in the ceremonies. The E.U. resolution does not bind the bloc’s twenty-seven members into any form of compliance.
2014 – Kathleen Sebelius resigns as Secretary of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, in light of fallout from the botched rollout of HealthCare.gov.
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