1559 – King Henry II of France is mortally wounded in a jousting match against Gabriel de Montgomery.
1688 – The Immortal Seven issue the Invitation to William (continuing the English rebellion from Rome), which would culminate in the Glorious Revolution.
1785 – James Oglethorpe, English general and founder of the state of Georgia (b. 1696)Died
1794 – Native American forces under Blue Jacket attack Fort Recovery.
1805 – The U.S. Congress organizes the Michigan Territory.
1864 – U.S. President Abraham Lincoln grants Yosemite Valley to California for “public use, resort and recreation”.
1882 – Charles J. Guiteau is hanged in Washington, D.C. for the assassination of U.S. President James Garfield. Part of Guiteau’s brain remains on display at the Mütter Museum in Philadelphia and National Museum of Health and Medicine in Maryland. Guiteau’s bones and more of his brain, along with Garfield’s backbone and a couple of ribs, are kept at the National Museum of Health and Medicine in Washington, D.C. on the grounds of the Walter Reed Army Medical Center. His skull and feet are missing.
1886 – The first transcontinental train trip across Canada departs from Montreal. It arrives in Port Moody, British Columbia on July 4.
1892 – The Homestead Strike begins near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
1894 – Gavrilo Princip, Alleged Bosnian assassin (arch duke Ferdinand)Born
1914: Assassination of the Archduke Francis Ferdinand was a conspiracy
1905 – Albert Einstein publishes the article On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies, in which he introduces special relativity.
1906 – The United States Congress passes the Meat Inspection Act and Pure Food and Drug Act.
1917 – World War I: Greece declares war on the Central Powers.
1917 – Lena Horne, Brooklyn New York, American actress/singer (Stormy Weather, Wiz) Born
1921 – U.S. President Warren G. Harding appoints former President William Howard Taft Chief Justice of the United States.
1922 – In Washington D.C., U.S. Secretary of State Charles Evans Hughes and Dominican Ambassador Francisco J. Peynado sign the Hughes-Peynado agreement, which ends the United States occupation of the Dominican Republic.
1931 – Al Capone’s attorney has asked for and been granted a one month period for Al Capone to put his business affairs in order and spend time with his family prior to sentencing for tax evasion and jail time.
1934 (80 year Anny) – The Night of the Long Knives, Adolf Hitler’s violent purge of his political rivals in Germany, takes place. (Ernst Rohm, German staff member, executed at 46 / Gustav Ritter von Kahr, Prime Minister of Bavaria, Erich Klausener, Catholic politician, Gregor Strasser German pharmacist/NSDAP-leader, Kurt von Schleiger German chancellor…. )
1936 – Tony Musante, Bridgeport Ct, actor (David Toma-Toma, Nowhere to Hide), (d. 2013) Born
1937 – The world’s first emergency telephone number, 999, is introduced in London
1937 – Adolf Hitler meets a number of American Businessmen in Berlin and tells them there will be no war Germany can not afford a war and does not a war, most believe his sincere style.
1944 – World War II: The Battle of Cherbourg ends with the fall of the strategically valuable port to American forces.
1953 – The first Chevrolet Corvette rolls off the assembly line in Flint, Michigan.
1963 – Ciaculli massacre: a car bomb, intended for Mafia boss Salvatore Greco, kills seven police officers and military personnel near Palermo
1963 – Yngwie J. Malmsteen, Swedish guitarist – Born
1966 – “Iron” Mike Tyson, NY, youngest heavyweight boxing champ (1986-90) Born
1968 – Phil Anselmo, American singer-songwriter and producer (Pantera, Arson Anthem, Down, and Superjoint Ritual) was born.
1971 – Ohio ratifies the 26th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, reducing the voting age to 18, thereby putting the amendment into effect.
1979 – Faisal Shahzad, Pakistani-American terrorist, attempted the Times Square bombing was born.
1982 – Andy Knowles, British musician / Director (Franz Ferdinand) Born
1985 – Thirty-nine American hostages from the hijacked TWA Flight 847 are freed in Beirut after being held for 17 days.
1985 – Michael Phelps, Baltimore, Maryland, American swimmer (16 Olympic medals)Born
1986 – The U.S. Supreme Court rules in Bowers v. Hardwick that states can outlaw homosexual acts between consenting adults.
1987 – The Royal Canadian Mint introduces the $1 coin, known as the Loonie.
1990 – East Germany and West Germany merge their economies.
1991 – Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas, starts “The Great Gage Park Decency Drive” picketing the park, starting their notorious picketing campaign that would later include funerals of AIDS victims and fallen American military.
1993 – George “Spanky” McFarland, child actor (Our Gang), dies at age 65
1996 – Margaux Hemingway, model/actress / granddaughter of writer Ernest Hemingway (Lipstick), commits suicide at 41
1997 – The United Kingdom transfers sovereignty over Hong Kong to the People’s Republic of China.
2001 – Chet Atkins, American country guitar player and producer (b. 1924)Dies
2003 – Buddy Hackett, American comic (b. 1924) Dies
2007 – A green Jeep Cherokee filled with gas cylinders and fuel is crashed through the check in entrance at Glasgow Airport in Scotland where it burst into flames . The unusual and worrying part of the attack was that the terrorists were working as doctors in the British Health Service
2012 – Yitzhak Shamir, Israeli Prime Minister, dies from Alzheimer’s disease at 96