July 20

From open-encyclopedia.com - the free encyclopedia.

July 20 is the 201st day (202nd in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 164 days remaining.

Template:JulyCalendar2008

Events

1300-1899

• 1304 - Fall of Stirling Castle: Edward I of England takes the last rebel stronghold in the Wars of Scottish Independence.
• 1712 - In the United Kingdom, the Riot Act took effect
• 1738 - French explorer Pierre de la Verendrye reaches the western shore of Lake Michigan
• 1810 - Colombia declares independence from Spain.
• 1833 - Anti-Mormon mob destroys press for the Book of Commandments, now among the most valuable 19th century books.
• 1861 - American Civil War: The Confederate States of America Congress began sitting in Richmond, Virginia
• 1864 - American Civil War: Battle of Peachtree Creek - Near Atlanta, Georgia, Confederate forces led by General John Bell Hood unsuccessfully attack Union troops under General William T. Sherman.
• 1866 - Austrian navy, led by admiral Wilhelm von Tegetthoff, defeats Italian near the island of Vis
• 1871 - British Columbia joins the confederation of Canada.
• 1872 - The United States Patent Office awards the first patent for wireless telegraphy to Mahlon Loomis
• 1877 - Rioting in Baltimore, Maryland by Baltimore and Ohio Railroad workers is put down by the state militia, resulting in nine deaths.
• 1881 - Indian Wars: Sioux chief Sitting Bull leads the last of his fugitive people in surrender to United States troops at Fort Buford in Montana.

1900-1949

• 1917 - Yugoslavia: Corfu Declaration that enabled post-war Kingdom of Yugoslavia was signed by the Yugoslav Committee and Kingdom of Serbia
• 1917 - Russia: Alexander Kerensky becomes Prime Minister of the provisional government and survives an assasination attempt
• 1917 - United States: The first military draft numbers are drawn
• 1922 - Africa: The League of Nations awards mandates of Togoland to France and Tanganyika to the United Kingdom
• 1927 - Romania: Michael I becomes King at age five upon the death of his father Ferdinand I
• 1930 - Soviet Union: Maxim Litvinov is named the Soviet Union's Commisar of Foreign Affairs
• 1932 - Germany: Martial law is declared
• 1933 - United Kingdom: In London, 500,000 march against anti-semitism
• 1936 - Turkey is authorized to fortify the Dardanelles
• 1937 - United States: Police open fire on striking truckers, wounding 50
• 1940 - Denmark leaves the League of Nations
• 1940 - Pop culture: Billboard magazine publishes its first "Music Popularity Chart"; the first number one is Frank Sinatra's "I'll Never Smile Again"
• 1940 - Southeast Asia: Admiral Jean Decoux named governor of Indochina by Marshal Henri Petain
• 1940 - United States: President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs a bill limiting political activity by Federal employees, the Hatch Act
• 1941 - Soviet Union: Lavrenti Beria is named head of the secret police, the NKVD
• 1941 - South America: In Bolivia, the government makes arrests and shuts down newspapers claiming a Nazi coup was in the works
• 1942 - World War II: The first unit of the Women's Army Corps begins training in Des Moines, Iowa
• 1942 - World War II: Red Army troops take bridgeheads over the Don River near Voronezh
• 1942 - World War II: The Royal Air Force attacks Fuka
• 1942 - United States: The House of Representatives passes the largest tax increase in American history, $6.3 billion
• 1943 - World War II: Red Army forces launch an attack on a 450 mile front from Taganrog to Orel
• 1943 - World War II: American and Canadian troops conquer Enna on Sicily
• 1943 - World War II: Three Japanese Navy ships are sunk by American planes near Vila in the Solomon Islands
• 1943 - World War II: In Washington, D.C., Admiral Frederick Horne, Vice Chief of Naval Operations says the U.S. Navy is planning for the war to last until 1949.
• 1944 - Germany: Adolf Hitler survives the July 20 Plot an assassination attempt led by Claus von Stauffenberg.
• 1944 - World War II: American troops land on Guam near Port Apra
• 1944 - India: In Bombay, health authorities announce a cholera epidemic has killed 34,000 in three months
• 1944 - United States: The United States Democratic Party nominates Franklin D. Roosevelt for a fourth term as president
• 1945 - United States: The United States Congress approves the Bretton Woods Agreement
• 1946 - World War II: The United States Congress's Pearl Harbor Committee says Franklin D. Roosevelt was completely blameless for the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor
• 1947 - Southeast Asia: Police in Burma arrest former Prime Minister U Saw and 19 others on chargest of assasinating Prime Minister U Aung San and seven members of his cabinet
• 1948 - Cold War: President Harry S. Truman issues the first peacetime military draft in the United States amid increasing tensions with the Soviet Union.
• 1948 - Far East: Syngman Rhee is elected president of South Korea by parliament
• 1948 - United States: In New York City, twelve leaders of the Communist Party USA are indicted under the Smith Act including William Foster and Gus Hall
• 1949 - Middle East: Israel and Syria sign a truce to end their nineteen month war
• 1949 - Bulgaria: Parliament elects Vassil Kolarov prime minister, replacing Georgi Dimitrov
• 1949 - United States: Carmine DeSapio becomes leader of Tammany Hall, the Democratic organization in New York City
• 1949 - Journalism: Colonel Robert R. McCormick announces the purchase of the Washington Times-Herald by his paper, the Chicago Tribune

1950-1974

• 1950 - Belgium: Parliament authorizes king Leopold III to return from exile in Austria
• 1950 - Korean War: North Korea attacks the temporary South Korean capital, Taejon
• 1951 - Middle East: King Abdullah I of Jordan is assassinated while attending Friday prayers in Jerusalem.
• 1951 - World War II: The United States invites fifty nations to San Francisco to consider a peace treaty with Japan
• 1953 - Middle East: Israel and the Soviet Union resume diplomatic relations after five month lapse
• 1953 - United Nations: The United Nations Economic and Social Council votes to make UNICEF a permanent agency
• 1953 - United States: President Dwight Eisenhower presents his agenda to Congressional leaders
• 1953 - Far East: Eisenhower names Ellis O. Briggs ambassador to South Korea
• 1954 - Germany: Otto John, head of West Germany's secret service, defects to East Germany
• 1954 - United States: Senator Joseph R. McCarthy accepts the resignation of his aide Roy Cohn
• 1955 - Far East: China shells Taiwan's islands Quemoy and Matsu
• 1955 - United States: The United Auto Workers is indicted under the Federal Corrupt Practices Act for its activities in Michigan in the 1954 elections
• 1955 - United States: The committee working on the merger of America's two largest labor federations, the American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations, agrees to call the combined organization the "AFL-CIO"
• 1956 - Middle East: The British Foreign Office announces it was cancelling funding for Egypt's Aswan High Dam
• 1958 -Yugoslavia: 26 are dead in an explosion at a military base near Kokin Breg
• 1958 - Middle East: Jordan suspends diplomatic relations with the United Arab Republic after it regonized the new government of Iraq
• 1958 - United States: President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs legislation to give federal employees a 10 percent raise
• 1958 - Baseball: Jim Bunning of the Detroit Tigers pitches a no-hitter against the Boston Red Sox
• 1959 - Europe: The Organization for European Economic Cooperation admits Spain
• 1959 - Africa: Halie Selassie, Emperor of Ethiopia, arrives in Paris for a state visit with President Charles de Gaulle
• 1960 - Asia: Ceylon elects Sirimavo Bandaranaike Prime Minister, the world's first elected female head of government.
• 1960 - United States: The Polaris missile is successfully launched from a submarine, the USS George Washington (SSBN-598), for the first time
• 1960 - United Nations: Belgium defends its intervention in the Congo to the United Nations Security Council
• 1960 - Africa: In Salisbury, Rhodesia, 20,000 protest over police brutality
• 1960 - Middle East: In Lebanon, Saeb Salem is named Prime Minister
• 1962 - United States: General Maxwell Taylor is named chairman of the U.S.Joint Chiefs of Staff
• 1962 - South America: Earthquakes in Columbia kill 40
• 1962 - Africa: France and Tunisia restore diplomatic relations after one year break
• 1963 - Pop culture: Jan and Dean's song "Surf City" hits number one
• 1963 - Indonesia announces it will in the future refer to the Indian Ocean as the "Indonesian Ocean"
• 1964 - Vietnam War - Viet Cong forces attack the capital of Dinh Tuong Province, Cai Be, killing 11 South Vietnamese military personnel and 40 civilians (30 of which are children).
• 1964 - Space exploration: NASA successfully tests the first electric rocket engine in California
• 1964 - Caribbean: Cuba's Premier Fidel Castro compares U.S. Senator and presidential candidate Barry M. Goldwater to Adolf Hitler
• 1965 - United States: Lyndon B. Johnson nominates Abe Fortas to the Supreme Court
• 1965 - Pop culture: Columbia Records releases Bob Dylan's groundbreaking single "Like a Rolling Stone" to radio stations.
• 1966 - United Kingdom: Prime Minister Harold Wilson announces budget cuts to combat inflation
• 1966 - United States: In Cleveland, Ohio, the National Guard moves in after days of rioting.
• 1967 - North America: French President Charles de Gaulle arrives in St. Pierre and Miquelon
• 1969 - Apollo Program: Apollo 11 lands on the Moon and Neil A. Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin become the first humans to walk on its surface.
• 1970 - Europe: Finland's President Urho Kaleva completes his state visit to the Soviet Union
• 1970 - Middle East: President Richard Nixon says he is asking for a three month truce in the Middle East
• 1970 - Vietnam War: Richard Nixon says the United States will oppose a coalition government for Vietnam that includes the Communist Party
• 1970 - Vietnam War: Saigon is shelled by the Communists
• 1970 - United States: Federal Trade Commission accuses McDonald's of fraud in a promotional contest
• 1971 - United States: President Richard Nixon tells Taiwan it will continue to sell it arms
• 1971 - United States: The United States Postal Service reaches an agreement with its labor unions
• 1972 - Netherlands: The cabinet resigns in a dispute over the budget
• 1972 - United States: Senator George McGovern of South Dakota asks Lawrence O'Brien to become his campaign manager in his campaign for president
• 1972 - South America: Uruguay is crippled by a general strike called to obtain wage increases in the face of high inflation
• 1972 - Australia: Police in Canberra break up a protest by Aborigines in front of Parliament over land reform
• 1973 - United States: The United States Senate passes the War Powers Act
• 1973 - Vietnam War: In testimony by Assistant Secretary of Defense Jerry Friedheim to the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee, the United States Defense Department admits it lied to Congress about bombing Cambodia *1973 - Greece: Seventy-three government officials and military officers are charged with conspiracy to overthrow the goverment
• 1973 - Kenya: Julius Kiano, the government's Commerce and Industry Minister, tells Asian-owned businesses to close by the end of the year
• 1973 - Middle East: Palestianian terrorists hijack a Japan Airlines jet en route from Amsterdam to Japan and force it down in Dubai
• 1973 - United States: Indiana is found guilty of operating segregated schools by federal judge S. Hugh Dillin, who orders the state to develop a desegregation plan for Indianapolis's schools
• 1974 - War of July 1974: Forces from Turkey invade Cyprus. NATO's Council praises the United States and the United Kingdom for attempts to settle the dispute. Syria and Egypt put their militaries on alert

1975-1999

• 1976 - Viking program: The Viking 1 lander successfully lands on Mars.
• 1976 - Vietnam War: The United States military completes its troop withdrawal from Thailand
• 1977 - United States: Leon Jaworksi agrees to be the House Ethics Committee's special counsel in its probe of the Koreagate scandal
• 1977 - United States: Johnstown, Pennsylvania is hit by a flash flood that killed 80 and caused $350 million in damage
• 1978 - Middle East: Israel's parliament exempts religious women from military service
• 1978 - Watergate: Former U.S. Attorney General John Mitchell is released on parole
• 1979 - Swimming: Diana Nyad swims the sixty miles from the Bahamas to Florida
• 1980 - Middle East: Takieddih Solh is named Lebanon's new prime minister
• 1981 - Middle East: The United States suspends sales of F-16 fighter jets to Israel
• 1982 - United Kingdom: The Provisional IRA detonates two bombs in Hyde Park and Regents Park in central London, killing eight soldiers, wounding 47 people, and leading to the deaths of 7 horses.
• 1983 - United States: The United States House of Representatives censures two of its members, Gerry Studds and Daniel Crane, for having sex with congressional pages
• 1984 - United States: Officials of the Miss America pageant ask Vanessa Williams to quit after Penthouse published nude photos of her
• 1985 - Oceanography: The main ship wreck site of the Spanish galleon Nuestra Señora de Atocha (which sank in 1622) is found 40 miles off the coast of Key West, Florida by treasure hunters who soon begin to raise $400 million in coins and silver
• 1985 - South Africa: The government declares a state of emergency because of unrest in the black townships
• 1985 - Austria: 120 Polish pilgrims on their way to Rome ask for asylum
• 1985- Caribbean: The government of Aruba passes legislation to secede from the Netherlands Antilles
• 1987 - Europe: Morocco announces it will apply for membership in the European Community
• 1988 - United States: The Democrats nominate Governor Michael Dukakis of Massachusetts for President
• 1988 - Cold War: The United States Department of State rejects a Soviet offer to dismantle the Krasnoyarsk radar in exchange for concessions regarding the ABM Treaty
• 1989 - Space exploration: President George H.W. Bush calls for a manned mission to Mars
• 1989 - Art: Photographer Robert Mapplethorpe show opens at Washington, D.C.'s Project for the Arts after the cancellation of the show by the Smithsonian Institution's Corcoran Gallery
• 1990 - Caribbean: Haiti asks the United States to send observers to monitor its upcoming elections
• 1990 - United Kingdom: An Irish Republican Army bomb explods at the International Stock Exchange
• 1990 - United States: Supreme Court Justice William Brennan announces his retirement from the Court
• 1990 - Iran Contra: All of Colonel Oliver North's convictions for perjury and other offenses are overturned by an appeals court
• 1991 - Europe: The United States Department of Defense begins airlifting supplies to Albania
• 1992 - Czechoslovakia: Václav Havel resigns as president
• 1992 - Poland: 4,000 copper miners go on strike
• 1992 - Georgia: A TU-154 cargo plane crashes in the suburbs of Tblisi, killing 40
• 1993 - United States: President Bill Clinton nominates Judge Louis Freeh to be director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation
• 1993 - United Kingdom: 20,000 policemen gather at Wembley Stadium in London to protest pay reforms
• 1994 - Middle East: Israel's Shimon Peres visits Jordan, the highest ranking Israeli official to do so
• 1994 - Astronomy: Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9's Fragment Q1 hits Jupiter
• 1995 - United States: The Regents of the University of California vote to end all affirmative action in the UC system by 1997
• 1996 - Spain: An ETA bomb at an airport kills 35
• 1997 - United Kingdom: An Irish Republican Army truce took effect
• 1997 - Yugoslavia: The Serb Democratic Party forces President Biljana Plavsic to resign
• 1998 - Afghanistan: 200 aid workers from CARE International, Doctors Without Borders and other aid groups leave the country on orders of the Taliban
• 1999 - Mercury program: Liberty Bell 7 is raised from the Atlantic Ocean
• 1999 - Europe: The European Parliament elects Nichole Fontaine its president
• 1999 - United States: Officials of the Public Broadcasting System admit in testimony to Congress that its stations gave donor lists to the Democratic party and Democratic candidates

2000-2099

• 2001 - Vanessa Legget is found in contempt by a Federal Court for refusing to release notes made for her book on the Doris Angleton murder.
• 2002 - Italy: The 27th Annual G8 summit opens in Genoa. An Italian protestor in Genoa, Carlo Giuliani, is shot by police.
• 2002 - United States: The United States Senate confirms Roger L. Gregory as the first black to sit on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.
• 2003 - Liberia: Fighting between militias controlled by the country's president, Charles Taylor, and rebels continues in Monrovia
• 2003 - Middle East: Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon meets with Mahmoud Abbas in Jerusalem.
• 2003 - South Korea: British Prime Minister Tony Blair arrives in Seoul to meet with President Roh Moo Hyun
• 2004 - Middle East: Palestinian lawmaker Nabil Amr is shot in the West Bank
• 2004 - Middle East: The United Nations Security Council votes to demand Israel cease construction on its wall through the West Bank
• 2004 - Iraq War: Angelo de la Cruz, a Fillipino truck driver taken hostage in Iraq, is released
• 2004 - United Kingdom: The House of Commons debates the Butler repoort on pre-Iraq War intelligence
• 2004 - Canada: Prime Minister Paul Martin appoints his new cabinet.

Births

1300-1899

• 1304 - Francesco Petrarch, Italian poet (d. 1374)
• 1754 - Destutt de Tracy, philosopher
• 1797 - Sir Paweł Edmund Strzelecki, Polish explorer and geologist (d. 1873)
• 1838 - George Otto Trevelyan, British statesman and biographer (d. 1928)
• 1847 - Max Liebermann, painter and graphic artist (d. 1935)
• 1868 - Miron Cristea, First patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church (d. 1939)
• 1873 - Alberto Santos-Dumont, Brazilian aviator (d. 1932)
• 1890 - Theda Bara (Theodosia Burr Goodman), American actress (d. 1955)
• 1890 - Freeman Owens
• 1890 - King George II of Greece (d. 1947)
• 1894 - Errett Cord, automobile entrepreneur
• 1895 - László Moholy-Nagy, painter, photographer, sculptor (d. 1946)

1900-1999

• 1901 - Heinie Manush, Baseball Hall of Famer (d. 1971)
• 1919 - Sir Edmund Hillary, New Zealand mountain climber
• 1920 - Tommy Prothro, American football coach
• 1920 - Elliot Richardson, American politician (d. 1999)
• 1925 - Jacques Delors, former President of the European Commission
• 1926 - Lola Albright, American actress (Peter Gunn)
• 1928 - Pavel Kohout, writer
• 1929 - Mike Illitch, American businessman (Little Caesar's Pizza), sports executive, and philanthropist
• 1932 - Otto Schily, politician
• 1933 - Chuck Daly, American basketball coach
• 1933 - Nelson Doubleday, American book publisher and baseball executive
• 1933 - Cormac McCarthy, author
• 1933 - Rex Williams, English snooker player
• 1934 - Sally Ann Howes, British actress
• 1934 - Uwe Johnson, writer
• 1935 - Henson Cargil, American country music singer
• 1935 - Sleepy LaBeef, American country music singer
• 1936 - Barbara Mikulski, U.S. Senator from Maryland
• 1938 - Natalie Wood, actress: From Here to Eternity, Rebel Without a Cause, West Side Story (d. 1981)
• 1938 - Dame Diana Rigg, actress
• 1939 - Judy Chicago, American feminist artist
• 1941 - Kurt Raab, German actor (d. 1988)
• 1942 - Pete Hamilton, American racecar driver
• 1943 - Wendy Richard, British television actress (Are You Being Served?, EastEnders)
• 1943 - John Lodge, American singer (The Moody Blues)
• 1944 - T. G. Sheppard, American country music singer
• 1945 - Kim Carnes, American pop singer
• 1945 - Larry Craig, U.S. Senator from Idaho
• 1946 - Randal Kleiser, film director
• 1947 - Carlos Santana, guitarist, singer
• 1956 - Paul Cook, British singer (The Sex Pistols)
• 1957 - Donna Dixon, American actress
• 1959 - Radney Foster, American singer
• 1963 - Dino Espisito, American singer
• 1963 - Frank Whaley, American actor
• 1964 - Chris Cornell, American singer (Audioslave)
• 1966 - Steve Gossard, American singer (Pearl Jam)
• 1967 - Reed Diamond, Actor
• 1968 - Julian Rhind-Tutt, British actor
• 1969 - Vitamin C, British singer
• 1973 - Haakon Magnus, Crown Prince of Norway
• 1973 - Peter Forsberg, Swedish NHL star
• 1974 - Simon Rex, American actor
• 1975 - Judy Evans Greer, American actress
• 1978 - Charlie Korsmo, American actor
• 1980 - Gisele Bundchen, Brazilian model
• 1985 - John Francis Daley, Actor
• 1996 - Billi Bruno, American actress (According to Jim)

Deaths

1000-1899

• 1031 - Robert II, king of France
• 1870 - Jules Alfred Huot de Goncourt, Prix Goncourt
• 1897 - Jean Ingelow, English poet (b. 1820)

1900-1999

• 1901 - William Cosmo Monkhouse, poet, critic (b. 1840)
• 1903 - Pope Leo XIII
• 1908 - Demetrius Vikelas, Greek IOC president
• 1922 - Andrey Markov, mathematician
• 1923 - Pancho Villa, revolutionary (assassinated)
• 1926 - Felix Edmundovich Dzerzhinskiy, head of the Soviet secret police
• 1927 - King Ferdinand of Romania
• 1937 - Guglielmo Marconi, radio inventor
• 1941 - Lew Fields, American vaudeville performer
• 1945 - Paul Valéry, French author and poet
• 1951 - Friedrich Wilhelm Hohenzollern, Crown Prince of Germany
• 1951 - King Abdullah, King of Jordan
• 1953 - Dumarsaid Estime, President of Haiti (b. 1900)
• 1953 - Jan Struther, British author
• 1957 - Dr. Alfred Einstein Cohen, American cardiologist
• 1959 - Admiral William Leahy, American naval officer
• 1967 - Albert Lutuli, South African civil rights leader, winner of the 1960 Nobel Peace Prize
• 1968 - Bray Hammond, American historian
• 1973 - Bruce Lee, actor and martial artist
• 1990 - Herbert T. Jenkins, American policeman, former police chief of Atlanta, Georgia (1947-1973)
• 1991 - Earl Robinson, American singer and composer
• 1992 - John Bratby, British painter
• 1996 - Colin Mitchell, British Member of Parliament
• 1993 - Vincent Foster Jr., White House deputy counsel
• 1997 - John Akii-Bua Ugandan hurdler
• 1999 - Sandra Gould, American actress (Bewitched)

2000-2099

• 2001 - Carlo Giuliani Italian activist
• 2003 - Nicolas Freeling, crime writer
• 2004 - Adi Lady Lala Mara, Fijian chieftainess and former First Lady; widow of long-time former Prime Minister and President, Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara.

Holidays and observances

• Colombia - Independence Day
• Japan - Marine Day (Umi-no-hi)
• Occupied North Cyprus - Peace and Freedom Day
• Argentina - Friendship Day
• Feast day for Aurelius

July 19 - July 21 - June 20 - August 20 -- listing of all days

af:07-20 bg:20 юли bs:Jul 20 ca:20 de juliol cs:20. červenec cy:20 Gorffennaf da:20. juli de:20. Juli et:20. juuli es:20 de julio eo:20-a de julio fr:20 juillet fy:20 july hr:20. srpnja io:20 di julio is:20. júlí it:20 luglio he:20 ביולי lt:Liepos 20 lb:20. Juli hu:Július 20 nl:20 juli ja:7月20日 no:20. juli oc:20 de julhet nds:20 Juni pl:20 lipca pt:20 de Julho ro:20 iulie ru:20 июля sl:20. julij fi:20. heinäkuuta sv:20 juli tr:20 Temmuz uk:20 липня zh:7月20日