On This Day in History
Today is Wednesday, July 3, the 185th day of 2024 with 181 to follow.
The moon is waning. Morning stars are Jupiter, Mars, Neptune, Saturn and Uranus. Evening stars are Mercury, Saturn and Venus.
Those born on this date are under the sign of Cancer. They include artist John Singleton Copley in 1738; writer/social reformer Charlotte Perkins Gilman in 1860; writer Franz Kafka in 1883; writer Tom Stoppard in 1937 (age 87); musician Fontella Bass in 1940; celebrity attorney Gloria Allred in 1941 (age 83); actor Kurtwood Smith in 1943 (age 81); humorist Dave Barry in 1947 (age 77); actor Betty Buckley in 1947 (age 77); overthrown Haitian dictator Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier in 1951; musician Laura Branigan in 1952; actor Bruce Altman in 1955 (age 69); talk show host Montel Williams in 1956 (age 68); musician Vince Clarke (Erasure) in 1960 (age 64); actor Tom Cruise in 1962 (age 62); actor Thomas Gibson in 1962 (age 62); actor Yeardley Smith in 1964 (age 60); actor Connie Nielsen in 1965 (age 59); celebrity chef Sandra Lee in 1966 (age 58); musician Kevin Hearn (Barenaked Ladies) in 1969 (age 55); actor Shawnee Smith in 1969 (age 55); actor/musician Audra McDonald in 1970 (age 54); actor Benedict Wong in 1971 (age 53); WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in 1971 (age 53); actor Patrick Wilson in 1973 (age 51); actor Andrea Barber in 1976 (age 48); actor Olivia Munn in 1980 (age 44); champion Formula 1 driver Sebastian Vettel in 1987 (age 37); musician Elle King, born Tanner Elle Schneider, in 1989 (age 35).
On this date in history:
In 1608, French explorer Samuel de Champlain founded the Canadian town of Quebec.
In 1775, George Washington took command of the Continental Army at Cambridge, Mass.
In 1863, the Union army under the command of Gen. George Meade defeated Confederate forces commanded by Gen. Robert E. Lee at Gettysburg, Pa.
In 1890, Idaho became the 43rd state of the United States of America.
In 1915, J.P. Morgan Jr., son of renowned banker and financier J. P. Morgan, was shot twice in the groin by Eric Muenter, a German professor at Harvard University. Morgan survived the would-be assassination attempt.
In 1938, President Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicated the Eternal Light Peace Memorial Gettysburg.
In 1971, rock star Jim Morrison, 27, was found dead of heart failure in a bathtub in Paris.
In 1986, Rudy Vallee, one of the United States' most popular singers in the 1920s and '30s, died at the age of 84 .
In 1988, during the Iran-Iraq War, missiles fired from the USS Vincennes brought down an Iranian airliner in the Persian Gulf , killing all 290 people aboard. The United States said the ship's crew had incorrectly identified the jetliner, believing it was an attacking Iranian fighter jet. Years later, the United States agreed to pay millions of dollars in reparations for what it called "a terrible human tragedy."
In 1996, Boris Yeltsin was re-elected president of Russia , defeating Gennadi Zyuganov in a runoff.
In 2009, Sarah Palin, who became a national figure as the Republican candidate for vice president in 2008, announced she was resigning as governor of Alaska with 17 months to go in her term.
In 2010, at least 230 people were killed in an explosion sparked by a cigarette near an overturned oil tanker truck in the Republic of the Congo.
In 2013, the Egyptian military removed President Mohamed Morsi from office and announced it was suspending the constitution and planning new elections.
In 2023, Israeli forces launched a military operation in the occupied West Bank, targeting what officials said was a terrorist headquarters within the Jenin refugee camp. Nine Palestinians died and at least 100 were injured.
A thought for the day: "Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal." - President Abraham Lincoln in his Gettysburg Address
