Monday, July 4

This Day In History

• 1776   The Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence.
• 1802   The U.S. Military Academy opened at West Point, N.Y.
• 1804   American author Nathaniel Hawthorne was born in Salem, Mass.
• 1826   Fifty years to the day after the Declaration of Independence was adopted, former presidents John Adams and Thomas Jefferson both died. Adams was 90 years old; Jefferson was 83.
• 1831   James Monroe, the fifth president of the United States, died at age 73.
• 1832   It was on this day that "America" was sung in public for the first time -- at the Park Street Church in Boston, MA. Dr. Samuel Francis Smith wrote the words, borrowing the tune from a German songbook. Ironically, and unknown to Dr. Smith at the time, the melody is the same as the British national anthem.
• 1845   American writer Henry David Thoreau began a two-year experiment in simple living at Walden Pond near Concord, Mass.
• 1872   Calvin Coolidge, the 30th president of the United States, was born in Plymouth, Vt.
• 1881   Tuskegee Institute opened its doors to the students who built it with bricks made in their own kiln. An abandoned plantation in Tuskegee, Alabama was the site chosen for Booker T. Washington’s institution for academic and vocational training.
• 1895   "America the Beautiful", the famous song often touted as the true U.S. national anthem, was originally a poem written by Katherine Lee Bates. The Wellesley College professor’s poem was first published this day in the "Congregationalist", a church newspaper.
• 1939   Baseball player Lou Gehrig, afflicted with a fatal illness, bid a tearful farewell at Yankee Stadium in New York, telling fans, ''Today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the Earth.''
• 1946   The Philippines became independent.
• 1959   A 49th star was added to the American flag to represent the new state of Alaska.
• 1960   The number of stars on the American flag was increased to 50 to honor the new state of Hawaii.
• 1976   Israeli commandos raided Entebbe airport in Uganda, rescuing almost all of the passengers and crew of an Air France jetliner seized by pro-Palestinian hijackers.
• 1976   America celebrated its bicentennial; in New York, more than 200 ships paraded up the Hudson River in Operation Sail.
• 1987   Klaus Barbie, the former Gestapo chief known as the ''Butcher of Lyon,'' was convicted by a French court of crimes against humanity and sentenced to life in prison.
• 2002   A gunman opened fire at Israel's El Al airline ticket counter at Los Angeles International Airport; three people were killed, including the gunman.
• 2003   Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant was arrested on suspicion of sexual assault after a woman accused him of sexual misconduct at a hotel near Vail, Colo.

Happy Birthday To

• 1826   Stephen Foster (song writer)
• 1872   Calvin Coolidge (30th U.S. President [1923-1929]; married to Grace Goodhue [two sons]; nickname: Silent Cal; died Jan 5, 1933)
• 1883   Rube (Reuben Lucius) Goldberg (inventor of elaborate, involved contraptions that accomplish simple tasks; cartoonist; died Dec 7, 1970)
• 1918   Ann Landers (Esther Pauline Friedman) (advice columnist; twin sister of Abigail Van Buren; died June 22, 2002)
• 1918   Abigail Van Buren (Pauline Esther Friedman) (advice columnist: Dear Abby; twin sister of Ann Landers)
• 1920   Leona Helmsley (hotel mogul: Helmsley Hotels)
• 1927   Gina Lollobrigida (actress: Trapeze, Belles de Nuit, Solomon and Sheba, Strange Bedfellows, Come September)
• 1927   Neil (Marvin) Simon (Tony Award-winning playwright)
• 1930   George Steinbrenner (shipping magnate, baseball team owner: New York Yankees)
• 1943   Geraldo Rivera (investigative reporter, talk show host: Geraldo)