Today In History

230 St. Pontianus begins his reign as Catholic Pope
365 Alexandria hit by Earthquake; 50,000 people die
866 John is appointed Bishop of the kingdom
905 Holy Roman Catholic Emperor Louis III captured
976 Emperor Otto II gives earl Leopold I, East Bavaria
1320 Count Louis of Nevers marries 8-year old daughter of Philips V
1542 Pope Paul III begins inquisition against Protestants (Sactum Officium)
1568 Battle at Jemmingen: Alva's troops beat Dutch rebellion
1579 Mechelen surrenders to duke of Parma
1588 English fleet defeats Spanish armada
1595 Alvara Mendana discovers Marquesas Island
1669 John Lockes Constitution of English colony Carolina approved
1730 States of Holland put death penalty on "sodomy"
1749 Pieter Steyn becomes pension advisor of Holland
1773 Pope Clemens XIV bans Jesuits
1774 Peace of Kutsjuk Kainardji (ends Russian-Turkish War)
1798 Napoleon Bonaparte wins Battle of Pyramids in Egypt
1825 Java princess Dipo Negoro/Mangkubumi declares war on all non-islamics
1831 Belgium gains independence from Netherlands, Leopold I made king
1836 The first Canadian RR opens, between Laprairie and St. John, Quebec
1846 Mormons found first English settlement in California (San Joaquin Valley)
1861 The first major battle of Civil War ends (Bull Run), Va-South wins
1866 Cholera-epidemic kills hundreds in London
1867 City Gardens on Folsom opens
1873 Jesse James and James Younger gang's first train robbery (Adair, Iowa)
1877 U.S. Army breaks railroad strike
1880 Compressed air accident kills 20 workers on Hudson River tunnel, New York
1884 The first Test Cricket match played at Lord's
1896 National Federation of Afro-American Women and Colored Women's
1897 Tate Gallery opens in England
1898 Spain cedes Guam to U.S.
1900 Pope Leo XIII encyclical to Greek-Melkite rite
1904 After 13 years, the 4,607-mile Trans-Siberian railway is completed
1904 Camille Jenatzy sets world auto speed record at 65.79 MPH
1919 Anthony Fokker's establishes airplane factory at Hamburg and Amsterdam
1919 Dirigible crashes through bank skylight killing 13 (Chicago, IL)
1925 Monkey Trial ends-John Scopes found guilty of teaching Darwinism
1928 The first woman to win an olympic gold medal - Halina Knonpacka of Poland
1930 U.S. Veterans Administration forms
1931 Reno race track, becomes first in U.S. to use daily double wagering
1933 Haifa Harbor in Palestine opens
1940 Soviet Union annexes Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania
1940 VARA-management accepts Rost of Tonningens demands
1941 200 Jewish Torahs are burned in Ukraine
1941 Himmler orders building of Majdanek concentration camp
1942 8 die as coal waste heap slides in river valley near Oakwood, Virginia
1944 British premier Winston Churchill flies to France and meets Montgomery
1944 General Koiso becomes premier of Japan
1944 U.S. forces land on Guam to get rid of Japanese invaders
1944 Von Kluge warns Hitler of impending collapse of front in Normandy
1946 Jesus T. Pinerol becomes first native born Puerto Rican governor
1951 Dalai Lama returns to Tibet
1952 7.8 earthquake shakes Kern County California, 14 killed
1952 Premier Ghavam es-Sultaneh of Persia, resigns
1954 At Geneva, France agrees to independence of North and South Vietnam
1955 The first sub powered by liquid metal cooled reactor is launched: Seawolf
1956 U.S. performs atmospheric nuclear Test at Enwetak
1957 39th PGA Championship: Lionel Hebert at Miami Valley GC Dayton Ohio
1957 The first black to win a major U.S. tennis tournament, Althea Gibson
1957 Marilynn Smith/Fay Crocker wins Hot Springs 4-Ball Golf Tournament
1959 The first nuclear powered merchant ship, NS Savannah, christened, Camden, New Jersey
1960 Country of Katanga forms in Africa
1960 Francis Chichester arrive in New York aboard Gypsy Moth II, setting record of 40 days for a solo Atlantic crossing
1960 In Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) Sirima Bandaranaike is world's first woman PM
1961 Launch of Mercury 4 (Liberty Bell) with Grissom
1962 160 civil right activists jailed after demonstration in Albany, Georgia
1962 Battles on Chinese and Indies boundary
1963 45th PGA Championship: Jack Nicklaus shoots a 279 at Dallas AC Dallas
1964 Mildred Simpson runs female world record marathon (3:19:33)
1964 Netherlands last whaling ship Willem Barents Sea sold to Japan
1965 Pakistan, Iran and Turkey sign Regional Co-Operation pact
1966 Gemini X returns to Earth
1966 U.S.S.R. performs nuclear Test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk U.S.S.R.
1968 50th PGA Championship: Julius Boros shoots a 281 at Pecan Valley, Texas
1968 Carol Mann wins LPGA Buckeye Savings Golf Invitational
1968 Jan Janssen wins Tour de France: first Dutchman
1969 Neil Armstrong steps on Moon at 2:56:15 AM, GMT
1969 Russia's Luna 15 impacts moon after 52 lunar orbits
1970 Huge Aswan Dam opens in Egypt
1970 Libya orders confiscation of all Jewish property
1970 U.S.S.R. performs nuclear Test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk U.S.S.R.
1971 U.S. performs nuclear Test at Nevada Test Site
1972 2 passenger trains collide head-on killing 76, Seville, Spain
1972 Bloody Friday: 22 IRA-bombs explode in Belfast
1972 In New York, 57 murders occur in 24 hours
1973 Braves Hank Aaron hits Ken Brett's fastball for his 700th HR
1973 France performs nuclear Test at Muruora Atoll un the Pacific
1973 U.S.S.R. launches Mars 4 for fly-by (2600 km) of red planet
1974 29th U.S. Women's Open Golf Championship won by Sandra Haynie
1974 Eddy Merckx wins his 5th Tour de France
1974 House Judiciary approves 2 Articles of Impeachment against President Nixon
1975 Billy Martin fired as Texas Rangers manager
1976 The first outbreak of "Legionnaire's Disease" kills 29 in Philadelphia
1977 Libyan-Egyptian border fights
1977 Sri Lanka premier Bandaranaike loses election
1978 Bolivia milt coup under general Juan Pereda, President Hugo Banzer flees
1978 U.S. Postal Service and unions agree on a contract averting mail strike
1978 World's strongest dog, 80-kg St. Bernard, pulls 2909-kg load 27 m
1979 108th British Golf Open: Seve Ballesteros shoots a 283 at Royal Lytham
1979 National Women's Hall of Fame (Seneca Falls, New York) dedicated
1980 Jean-Claude Droyer climbs Eiffel Tower in 2 hours 18 mins
1983 Polish government ends 19 months of martial law
1983 Storm cuts short free Diana Ross concert in New York's Central Park
1983 U.S. announces Lebanon freed American hostage David Dodge
1984 The first documented case of a robot killing a human in U.S.
1984 Marita Koch of E Germany sets world women's mark for 200m, 21.71s
1984 U.S.S.R. performs underground nuclear Test
1985 114th British Golf Open: Sandy Lyle shoots a 282 at Royal St. George
1985 Amina Fakir (Detroit), 23, crowned 18th Miss Black America
1985 Bernard Hinault wins his 5th and last Tour de France
1985 Judy Clark wins LPGA Boston Five Golf Classic
1986 Barbara Palacios Teyde, 22, of Venezuela, crowned 35th Miss Universe
1987 Kristi Addis, of Mississippi, crowned 5th Miss Teen USA
1988 ESA's Ariane-3 launches 2 communications satellites (1 Indian)
1989 Eastern Airlines submits a reorganization plan to creditors
1989 Greg LeMond wins Tour de France in fastest time
1989 Mike Tyson KOs Carl Williams in 1:33 for heavyweight boxing title
1990 Goodwill Games opens in Seattle, Washington
1990 Pink Floyds' "Wall" is performed where Berlin Wall once stood
1991 120th British Golf Open: Ian Baker-Finch shoots 272 at Royal Birkdale
1991 Betsy King wins LPGA JAL Big Apple Golf Classic
1991 Ferguson Jenkins, Gaylord Perry, Rod Carew, Tony Lazzeri, and Bill Veeck are elected into the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York
1991 Sharmell Sullivan (Gary, Indiana), 20, crowned 23rd Miss Black America
1996 125th British Golf Open: Tom Lehman shoots a 271 at Royal Lytham
1996 Dottie Pepper wins LPGA Friendly's Golf Classic
1996 Wayne Gretzky signs a 2 year deal with New York Rangers
1997 New York Yankee Mike Whiton held in Milwaukee on charges of sexual assault

Today In History - July 21

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