TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON: JULY 9
0455 Avitus, the Roman military commander in Gaul, becomes Emperor of the West.
1540 England’s King Henry VIII 6-mo marriage to Anne of Cleves annulled
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.
1790 Russo-Swedish War: Second Battle of Svensksund – in the Baltic Sea, the Swedish Navy captures one third of the Russian fleet
1868 Louisiana and South Carolina are the last states to ratify the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution, guaranteeing civil rights
1872 The doughnut cutter was patented by John F. Blondel of Thomaston, Me.
1900 The Commonwealth of Australia is established by an act of British Parliament, uniting the separate colonies under a federal government.
1932 Washington Redskins (then Boston Braves) formed
1932 A bill to legalize beer containing 3.2 percent alcohol was presented to the senate but was again 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.
1962 Andy Warhol’s iconic Campbell’s Soup Cans make their debut
1966 Prisoners at Maryland Penitentiary rioted setting fire to a number of buildings, the riot was stopped in the end by authorities using tear gas on the 1200 inmates.
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.
1982 30-year-old Michael Fagan broke into Buckingham Palace morning and spent 10 minutes talking with Queen Elizabeth II in her bedroom before being arrested inside the palace at 3 a.m.
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.
REFERENCE: history.net, onthisday.com, thepeopleshistory.com, timeanddate.com, scopesys.com, on-this-day.com
