TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON: JULY 1
0069 Vespasian, a Roman army leader, is hailed as a Roman emperor by the Egyptian legions.
1535 Sir Thomas More went on trial in England charged with treason
1690 Army of England’s Protestant King William III defeats Roman Catholic King James II in Battle of the Boyne in Ireland (Now celebrated on July 12 as “The Battle of the Orange” )
1777 British troops depart from their base at the Bouquet River to head toward Ticonderoga, New York.
1798 Napoleon Bonaparte takes Alexandria, Egypt.
1863 In the first day’s fighting at Gettysburg, Federal forces retreat through the town and dig in at Cemetery Ridge and Cemetery Hill.
1867 Canada, by the terms of the British North America Act, becomes an independent dominion.
1874 1st US kidnapping for ransom, 4-year-old Charles Ross, $20,000
1898 American troops take San Juan Hill and El Caney, Cuba, from the Spaniards.
1905 The USDA Forest Service was created within the Department of Agriculture. The agency was given the mission to sustain healthy, diverse, and productive forests and grasslands for present and future generations.
1916 The Battle of the Somme begins. Approximately 30,000 men are killed on the first day, two-thirds of them British.
1940 – In Washington, the Tacoma Narrows Bridge was opened to traffic. The bridge collapsed during a wind storm on November 7, 1940.
1943 Income tax withholding began in the United States.
1945 New York established the New York State Commission Against Discrimination to prevent discrimination in employment because of race, creed or natural origin. It was the first such agency in the U.S.
1950 American ground troops arrive in South Korea to halt the advancing North Korean army.
1961 The first community air-raid shelter was built. The shelter in Boise, ID had a capacity of 1,000 people and family memberships sold for $100.
1963 The U.S. postmaster introduces the ZIP code.
1968 The United States, Britain, the Soviet Union, and 58 other nations signed the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.
1979 The Walkman makes its appearance in stores for the first time
1997 United Kingdom returns Hong Kong and the New Territories to the People’s Republic of China
1999 The U.S. Justice Department released new regulations that granted the attorney general sole power to appoint and oversee special counsels. The 1978 independent-counsel statute expired on June 30.
2002 The International Criminal Court (ICC) is established
REFERENCE: history.net, onthisday.com, thepeopleshistory.com, timeanddate.com, scopesys.com, on-this-day.com
