July 21

July 21 is the 202nd day (203rd in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian
Calendar, with 165 days remaining.

Events

   * 1718 - Treaty of Passarowitz signed.
   * 1774 - Russo-Turkish War: Russia and the Ottoman Empire sign the Treaty
     of Kuchuk-Kainarji ending six years of war.
   * 1831 - Inauguration of Leopold I of Belgium, first king of the
     Belgians.
   * 1861 - American Civil War: First Battle of Bull Run - At Manassas
     Junction, Virginia, the first major battle of the war begins
     (Confederate victory).
   * 1865 - In the market square of Springfield, Missouri, Wild Bill Hickok
     shoots Dave Tutt dead in what is regarded as the first true western
     showdown.
   * 1873 - At Adair, Iowa, Jesse James and the James-Younger gang pull off
     the first successful train robbery in the American West (US$3,000 from
     the Rock Island Express).
   * 1877 - A day after bloody rioting in Baltimore from Baltimore and Ohio
     Railroad workers and the deaths of 9 rail workers at the hands of the
     Maryland militia, workers in Pittsburgh stage a sympathy strike that is
     met with an assault by the state militia - Pittsburgh then erupts into
     widespread rioting.
   * 1925 - Scopes Trial: In Dayton, Tennessee, high school biology teacher
     John T. Scopes is found guilty of teaching evolution in class and fined
     $100.
   * 1931 - CBS's New York City station begins broadcasting the first
     regular seven days a week television schedule in the U. S. The first
     broadcast included Mayor James J. Walker, Kate Smith, and George
     Gershwin.
   * 1944 - A day after the July 20 Plot to assassinate him, Adolf Hitler
     makes an announcement on German radio pledging that "accounts will be
     settled."
   * 1944 - World War II: Battle of Guam - American troops land on Guam
     starting the battle (ends on August 10).
   * 1954 - First Indochina War: The Geneva Conference partitions Vietnam
     into North Vietnam and South Vietnam.
   * 1961 - Mercury program: Gus Grissom piloting the Mercury 4 capsule
     "Liberty Bell 7" becomes the second American to go into orbit around
     the Earth.
   * 1970 - After 11 years of construction, the Aswan High Dam in Egypt is
     completed.
   * 1984 - In Jackson, Michigan, a factory robot crushes a worker against a
     safety bar in apparently the first robot-related death in the United
     States.
   * 1997 - The fully restored USS Constitution (aka "Old Ironsides")
     celebrates her 200th birthday by setting sail for the first time in 116
     years.
   * 2002 - Telecom giant WorldCom files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy
     protection in the largest such filling in United States history.
   * 2003 - The last old-style Volkswagen Beetle rolled of its production
     line in Pueblo, Mexico. It was car number 21,529,464 of the model, and
     was immediately shipped of to the company's museum in Wolfsburg,
     Germany. In true Mexican fashion, a mariachi band serenaded the last
     car in the 68-year-old history.

Births

   * 1810 - Henri Victor Regnault chemist and physicist
   * 1858 - Lovis Corinth, painter and graphic artist (+ 1925)
   * 1870 - Emil Orlik, painter and graphic artist (+ 1932)
   * 1893 - Hans Fallada, writer (+ 1947)
   * 1899 - Hart Crane, poet (+ 1932)
   * 1899 - Ernest Hemingway, author (+ 1961)
   * 1911 - Marshall McLuhan, author (+ 1980)
   * 1920 - Isaac Stern, violinist (+ 2001)
   * 1924 - Don Knotts, actor
   * 1926 - Norman Jewison, film director
   * 1935 - Norbert BlŸm, politician
   * 1938 - Janet Reno, former Attorney General of the United States
   * 1944 - Paul Wellstone, U.S. Senator: A Democrat from Minnesota
   * 1948 - Cat Stevens (Yusuf Islam), singer
   * 1948 - Garry Trudeau, cartoonist
   * 1952 - Robin Williams, comedian
   * 1957 - Jon Lovitz, comedian
   * 1968 - Brandi Chastain, American soccer player
   * 1978 - Josh Hartnett, actor

Deaths

   * 1425 - Manuel II Palaeologus, Byzantine Emperor
   * 1796 - Robert Burns, poet
   * 1870 - Joseph Strauss, composer
   * 1938 - Owen Wister, author
   * [[1943] - Charlie Paddock, American athlete
   * 1948 - David Wark Griffith, film director
   * 1967 - Basil Rathbone, actor
   * 1968 - Ruth St. Denis, dancer, choreographer
   * 1982 - Dave Garroway, television host
   * 1998 - Alan Shepard, astronaut
   * 1998 - Robert Young, actor

Holidays and observances

   * Belgium: National holiday (1831 - inauguration of Leopold I, first king
     of the Belgians)
   * Bolivia: Martyrs' Day
   * Guam: Liberation Day (1944)