TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON – JULY 9
0455 Avitus, the Roman military commander in Gaul, becomes Emperor of the West.
1401 Turko-Mongol ruler Tamerlane (Timur) destroys Baghdad, killing 20,000
1609 Emperor Rudolf II grants Bohemia freedom of worship.
1789 In Versailles, the French National Assembly declares itself the Constituent Assembly and begins to prepare a French constitution.
1816 Argentina formally declared independence from Spain.
1850 U.S. President Zachary Taylor dies in office at the age of 65. He is succeeded by Millard Fillmore.
1868 Tennessee and South Carolina are 1st to ratify the 14th Amendment to the US constitution, guaranteeing civil rights
1872 The doughnut cutter was patented by John F. Blondel of Thomaston, Me.
1878 The corncob pipe was patented by Henry Tibbe.
1900 The British Parliament proclaimed that as of Jan. 1, 1901, the six Australian colonies would be united at the Commonwealth of Australia.
1932 A bill to legalize beer containing 3.2 percent alcohol was presented to the senate but was rejected keeping the country dry for a further period.
1941 British cryptologists break the secret code (Enigma) used by the German army to direct ground-to-air operations on the Eastern front.
1942 Anne Frank and her family go into hiding in the attic above her father’s office in an Amsterdam warehouse.
1951 U.S. President Truman asked Congress to formally end the state of war between the United States and Germany.
1962 Andy Warhol’s iconic Campbell’s Soup Cans make their debut
1971 The United States turns over complete responsibility of the Demilitarized Zone to South Vietnamese units.
1981 Donkey Kong is released by Nintendo. Nintendo’s famous character Mario debuted as Jumpman in this popular arcade game
2002 The African Union is established in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The first chairman is Thabo Mbeki, President of South Africa.
2004 A Senate Intelligence Committee report concluded the CIA had provided unfounded assessments of the threat posed by Iraq which the Bush administration used to justify for invasion of Iraq.
2015 The South Carolina House of Representatives approved taking down the Confederate flag from the Capitol grounds. The flag was removed the next day and taken to a state military museum.
** history.net, onthisday.com, infoplease.com, timeanddate.com, thepeoplehistory.com, on-this-day.com **
