TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON: July 23
636 Arabs gain control of most of Palestine from the Byzantine Empire
1215 Frederick II crowned King of the Romans (King of the Germans) in Aachen
1253 Jews are expelled from Vienne France by order of Pope Innocent III
1637 King Charles of England hands over the American colony of Massachusetts to Sir Ferdinando Gorges, one of the founders of the Council of New England.
1664 Wealthy, non-church members in Massachusetts are given the right to vote.
1715 The first lighthouse in America was authorized for construction at Little Brewster Island, Massachusetts.
1803 Irish patriots throughout the country rebel against Union with Great Britain.
1829 William A. Burt patents his “typographer,” an early typewriter.
1840 Union Act passed by British Parliament, uniting Upper & Lower Canada
1865 William Booth founds the Salvation Army.
1868 The 14th Amendment is ratified, granting citizenship to African Americans.
1880 1st commercial hydroelectric power planet begins, Grand Rapids, Mich
1903 The Ford Motor Company sells its first automobile, the Model A.
1904 The ice cream cone was invented by Charles E. Menches during the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis, MO.
1914 Austria and Hungary issued an ultimatum to Serbia after the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand, precipitating World War I.
1938 The first federal game preserve was approved by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The area was 2,000 acres in Utah.
1944 Conference of Bretton Woods signed; IMF operations begin
1952 Revolution erupted in Egypt as the military took power in a bloodless coup. The following year the monarchy was abolished and, for the first time since the pharaohs, Egypt was again ruled by Egyptians.
1958 The submarine Nautilus departed from Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, under orders to conduct “Operation Sunshine.” The mission was to be the first vessel to cross the north pole by ship. The Nautils achieved the goal on August 3, 1958.
1962 The Geneva Conference on Laos forbids the United States to invade eastern Laos.
1967 43 killed in racial rebellion in Detroit (2,000 injured, 442 fires)
1980 River of No Return Wilderness Area designated by Jimmy Carter
1982 International Whaling Commission bans commercial whale hunting
1984 Miss America, Vanessa Williams, turned in her crown after it had been discovered that nude photos of her had appeared in “Penthouse” magazine. She was the first to resign the title.
1989 FOX-TV tops ABC, NBC & CBS for 1st time (America’s Most Wanted)
1995 Two astronomers, Alan Hale in New Mexico and Thomas Bopp in Arizona, almost simultaneously discover a comet.
1998 U.S. scientists at the University of Hawaii turned out more than 50 “carbon-copy” mice, with a cloning technique.
REFERENCE: HISTORY.NET, ONTHISDAY.COM, TIMEANDDATE.COM, INFOPLEASE.COM, FACTMONSTER.COM, SCOPESYS.COM, ON-THIS-DAY.COM, THEPEOPLEHISTORY.COM
