July 2
Today’s highlights
1776
The Continental Congress passed the Lee Resolution, also known as the “Independence Resolution,” and declared for the first time that “these US colonies are free and independent states and should be.”
Also on this date
1867
New York’s first elevated railway, a single track between Battery Place and Greenwich Street, is now in service.
1881
President James A. Garfield was shot by Charles J. Gito at the Washington Railway Station. Garfield died in September of the following year. (Gito was hanged in June 1882.)
1917
A riot broke out in East St. Louis, Illinois, when a white mob attacked a black resident. It is believed that nearly 50 people, mainly blacks, died in violence.
1937
Astronaut Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan disappeared over the Pacific Ocean during their first round-the-world flight along the equator.
1961
The author, Ernest Hemingway, committed suicide at his home in Ketchum, Idaho.
1963
President John F. Kennedy met Pope Paul VI in the Vatican. This is the first meeting between the US Catholic Chief Executive Officer and the head of the Roman Catholic Church.
1964
President Lyndon B. Johnson has signed an extensive civil rights bill passed by Congress.
1976
The US Supreme Court of Greg v. Georgia ruled 7-2 that the death penalty was neither cruel nor unusual in nature.
1982
Larry Walters in San Pedro, California climbed to an altitude of 16,000 feet using a lawn chair with 45 helium-filled balloons. He landed on Long Beach, eight miles away.
1986
The Supreme Court has ruled in two proceedings and upheld affirmative action as a remedy for past job discrimination.
1990
More than 1,400 Muslim pilgrims were killed in a stampede in a pedestrian tunnel near Mecca, Saudi Arabia.
2018
A Thai rescue diver discovered 12 boys and their soccer coaches who were caught in a flood while exploring a cave over a week ago.
10 years ago: Petra Kvitova defeated Maria Sharapova 6-3, 6-4 to become the first left-handed woman to win the Wimbledon title since Martina Navratilova in 1990.
5 years ago: Hillary Clinton was voluntarily interviewed by the FBI for three and a half hours at the Washington headquarters of a government agency about the use of a private email server as Secretary of State. Holocaust Survivor and Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel, 87, has died in New York. Oscar-winning director Michael Cimino, 77, died in Beverly Hills, California.
1 year ago: According to the government, employers added 4.8 million jobs in June, and the unemployment rate fell to 11.1%, the level of the Great Depression, as the employment market improved for the second straight month. The coronavirus infection curve rose in 40 of the 50 states heading for the July 4 holiday weekend. A statement posted on his Twitter account is a hospital in the Atlanta area less than two weeks after former Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain attended President Donald Trump’s campaign rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He revealed that he was being treated for coronavirus. (Cain died of viral complications on July 30.) Five of the nine casinos in Atlantic City, NJ, reopened during a pandemic. British social celebrity Ghislaine Maxwell was arrested in New Hampshire for seducing at least three girls, one 14 years old, to be sexually abused by the late financier Jeffrey Epstein.
Today’s birthday
Former Philippine first lady, Imelda Marcos, is 92 years old. Jazz musician Ahmad Jamal is 91 years old. Actor Robert Ito is 90 years old. Actor Polly Holliday is 84 years old. Richard Petty of the Racing Hall of Fame is 84 years old. Former White House staff chief and former New Hampshire Governor John H. Sununu is 82 years old. Former Mexican President Vicente Fox is 79 years old. Writer and director comedian Larry David is 74 years old. Luci Baines Johnson, daughter of President Lindon B. Johnson, is 74 years old. Actor Sole Ruby Neck is 73 years old. Rock musician Roy Bitan (Bruce) Springsteen & E Street Band) is 72 years old. Actor Wendy Schaal is 67 years old. Actor model Jerry Hall is 65 years old. Actor Jimmy McNichol is 60 years old. Country singer Guy Penrod is 58 years old. Rock musician Dave Parsons (Bush) is 56 years old. Actor Yancy Butler. Modern Christian musician Melodee DeVevo (Casting Crowns) is 45 years old. Actor Owain (OH’-wyn) Yeoman is 43 years old. Race car driver Sam Hornish Jr. Is 42 years old. Joe Thornton of the NHL Center is 42 years old. Singer Michelle Branch is 38 years old. Actor Vanessa Lee Chester is 37 years old. Figure skater Johnny Weir is 37 years old. Actor Nelson Franklin is 36 years old. Actor and singer Ashley Tisdale is 36 years old. Actor Lindsay Lohan is 35 years old. Actor Margot Robbie is 31 years old.
