1945 – The USS Indianapolis was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine. The ship had just delivered key components of the Hiroshima atomic bomb to the Pacific island of Tinian. Only 316 out of 1,196 men aboard survived the attack. https://www.history.com/news/uss-indianapolis-sinking-survivor-stories-sharks
101 BC – Battle of Vercellae: Roman army under Gaius Marius defeats the Cimbri in Cisalpine Gaul, ending the Celto-Germanic threat on Italy’s border with over 100,000 Cimbri killed
0762 – City of Baghdad founded by Abbasid caliph Al-Mansur, just north of ancient Baghdad
1419 – First defenestration of Prague: anti-Catholic Hussites, followers of executed reformer Jan Hus, storm Prague town hall and throw the judge, mayor and several city council members out the windows. They die in the fall or killed by crowd outside.
1502 – Christopher Columbus landed at Guanaja in the Bay Islands off the coast of Honduras during his fourth voyage.
1619 – The first representative assembly in America convened in Jamestown, VA. (House of Burgesses)
1756 – Bartolomeo Rastrelli presents the newly-built Catherine Palace to Empress Elizabeth and her courtiers in Russia
1811 – Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, leader of the Mexican insurgency, is executed after being found guilty of treason by the Spanish military in Chihuahua, Mexico
1863 – President Abraham Lincoln issues “eye-for-eye” order to shoot a rebel prisoner for every black prisoner shot
1863 – Indian Wars: Chief Pocatello of the Shoshone tribe signs the Treaty of Box Elder, promising to stop harassing the emigrant trails in southern Idaho and northern Utah
1866 – New Orleans’s Democratic government orders police to raid an integrated Republican Party meeting, killing 40 people and injuring 150
1870 – The Republic of Klipdrift is proclaimed by Transvaal President Andries Pretorius after the discovery of diamonds in South Africa in 1866 resulted in a flood of treasure hunters; ownership of the diamond fields was contested by the Boer republics
1898 – “Scientific America” carried the first magazine automobile ad. The ad was for the Winton Motor Car Company of Cleveland, OH.
1902 – Anti-Jewish rioters attack funeral procession of Rabbi Joseph (NYC)
1914 – After initial reluctance, Tsar Nicholas II of Russia is persuaded to decree a general mobilizations in response to Austria; ‘Think of the thousands and thousands of men who will be sent to their deaths!’ he claims
1932 – Walt Disney’s “Flowers and Trees” premiered. It was the first Academy Award winning cartoon and first cartoon short to use Technicolor.
1937 – Russian Politburo issues NKVD Order no. 00447, to repress former kulak and anti-soviets, 269,100 to be arrested, 76,000 to be shot. Part of the Great Purge.
1942 – The WAVES were created by legislation signed by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The members of the Women’s Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service were a part of the U.S. Navy.
1945 – The USS Indianapolis was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine. The ship had just delivered key components of the Hiroshima atomic bomb to the Pacific island of Tinian. Only 316 out of 1,196 men aboard survived the attack. https://www.history.com/news/uss-indianapolis-sinking-survivor-stories-sharks
1956 – The phrase “In God We Trust” was adopted as the U.S. national motto.
1965 – U.S. President Johnson signed into law Social Security Act that established Medicare and Medicaid. It went into effect the following year.
1967 – Race riot in Milwaukee (4 killed)
1974 – House Judiciary Committee votes on 3rd & last charge of “high crimes & misdemeanors” to impeach President Nixon in the Watergate cover-up
1975 – Former Teamsters union president James Hoffa was reported missing. Many suspect he was murdered, though his remains have never been found.
1980 – The Israeli Knesset passes the Jerusalem Law and adds it to Israel’s Basic Law, The law declared Jerusalem the unified capital of Israel.
1980 – The Republic of Vanuatu, formerly known as the New Hebrides, gained its independence from France and Britain.
1987 – Indian troops arrived in Jaffna, Sri Lanka, to disarm the Tamil Tigers and enforce a peace pact.
1990 – Soldiers opens fire on worshippers in Monrovian church, 200-600 die
1997 – Terrorist double suicide bombing in Jerusalem, kills 14
1998 – A group of Ohio machine-shop workers (who call themselves the Lucky 13) won the $295.7 million Powerball jackpot. It was the largest-ever American lottery.
2002 – The Pretoria Accord was signed between the between the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Rwanda as an attempt to end the Second Congo War
2002 – The accounting law referred to as “The Sarbanes Oxley Act” signed into law by President George W. Bush
2003 – In Mexico, the last ‘old style’ Volkswagen Beetle rolled off an assembly line.
2012 – 620 million people were without power in India, the worst power outage in world history.
2014 – The EU and US extend sanctions on Russia to include banks, energy, and defense firms; Moscow denies the allegation that Russia is arming rebels in Eastern Ukraine
2017 – Russian President Vladimir Putin announces American diplomats in Russia cut by 755 in response to American sanctions
2018 – Official Malaysian investigation into the disappearance of Flight MH370 is unable to determine what happened
2020 – The US economy posts the largest quarterly fall on record with GDP down 9.5% for the 3 months to June 30
2020 – Federal law enforcement officers begin a phased withdrawal from Portland amid criticism of their actions to shut down Black Lives Matter protests
2021 – 1 out of 169 Americans employed by Amazon in new figures released by the company. Now US’s second largest employer (Walmart the largest employing 1 in 100)
REFERENCE: history.net, onthisday.com, thepeopleshistory.com, timeanddate.com, scopesys.com, on-this-day.com
