July 2
July 2 is the 183rd day of the year (184th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 182 days remaining.
It is the middle day of a non-leap year, because there are 182 days before and 182 days after. It falls on the same day of the week as New Year's Day (of non-leap years) and New Year's Eve.
Events
- 1578 - Martin Frobisher sights Baffin Island.
- 1613 - First English expedition from Massachusetts against Acadia - led by Samuel Argall.
- 1644 - Battle of Marston Moor in the English Civil War.
- 1679 - Europeans first visit Minnesota and see headwaters of Mississippi - led by Daniel Greysolon de Du Luth.
- 1776 - The Continental Congress adopts a resolution severing ties with Great Britain, though a formal Declaration of Independence is not adopted until July 4.
- 1777 - Vermont becomes the first state to abolish slavery.
- 1808 - Simon Fraser reaches Pacific near New Westminster.
- 1819 - The Factory Act is passed in Britain, creating restrictions on child labor.
- 1839 - Twenty miles off the coast of Cuba, 53 rebelling African slaves led by Joseph Cinque take over the slave ship Amistad.
- 1850 - The self-contained gas mask is patented by Benjamin J. Lane.
- 1853 - The Russian Army invades Turkey, beginning the Crimean War.
- 1863 - Second day of the Battle of Gettysburg.
- 1865 - The Salvation Army is founded in London, England.
- 1881 - Charles J. Guiteau shoots and fatally wounds U.S. President James Garfield, who eventually dies from infection on September 19.
- 1890 - The United States Congress passes the Sherman Anti-Trust Act.
- 1900 - First zeppelin flight on Lake Constance near Friedrichshafen, Germany.
- 1917 - 48 die in rioting in East St. Louis, Illinois, as lower-paid black laborers clash with whites.
- 1937 - Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan disappear over the Pacific Ocean while attempting to make the first round-the-world flight at the equator.
- 1940 - The Battle of Britain begins.
- 1947 - An object speculated to be a UFO crashes near Roswell, New Mexico, though the United States Air Force claims it is a weather balloon.
- 1950 - Henri Queuille becomes Prime Minister of France.
- 1964 - U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act into law.
- 1973 - James R. Schlesinger is sworn in as the 12th United States Secretary of Defense.
- 1976 - North and South Vietnam, divided since 1954, reunite to form the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
- 1978 - Charon, a satellite of the planet Pluto, is discovered.
- 1979 - The first U.S. coin to honor a woman, the Susan B. Anthony dollar, is introduced.
- 1982 - Larry Walters uses 45 helium balloons and a lawnchair to propel himself to 16,000 feet.
- 1985 - Andrei Gromyko is appointed President of the Soviet Union.
- 2002 - Steve Fossett becomes the first person to fly solo around the world nonstop in a balloon.
Births
- 419 - Valentinian III, Roman Emperor (d. 455)
- 1644 - Abraham a Santa Clara, court vicar (d. 1709)
- 1714 - Christoph Willibald Gluck, composer (d. 1787)
- 1724 - Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock, poet (d. 1803)
- 1821 - Sir Charles Tupper, Father of Canadian Confederation, sixth Prime Minister of Canada (d. 1915)
- 1862 - William Henry Bragg, physicist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in physics 1915 (d. 1942)
- 1865 - Lily Braun, writer (d. 1916)
- 1877 - Hermann Hesse, writer, recipient of the Nobel Prize in literature 1946 (d. 1962)
- 1884 - Alfons Maria Jakob, neurologist (d. 1931)
- 1900 - Tyrone Guthrie, actor, Artistic Director of Canada's Stratford Festival, (d. 1971)
- 1903 - Olav V, King of Norway (d. 1991)
- 1903 - Sir Alec Douglas-Home, Prime Minister of the UK (d. 1995)
- 1906 - Hans Bethe, Nobel-winning nuclear physicist
- 1908 - Thurgood Marshall, US Supreme Court Justice (d. 1993)
- 1925 - Patrice Lumumba, Prime Minister of Congo (Leopoldville) (d. 1961)
- 1925 - Medgar Evers, civil rights activist (d. 1963)
- 1927 - Ruth Berghaus, choreographer/film director (d. 1996)
- 1929 - Imelda Marcos, former First Lady of the Philippines
- 1930 - Carlos Menem, former President of Argentina
- 1931 - Robert Ito, actor, ballet dancer
- 1932 - Dave Thomas, founder of Wendy's International (d. 2002)
- 1937 - Richard Petty, NASCAR driver
- 1942 - Vicente Fox, president of Mexico
- 1947 - Larry David, co-creator of Seinfeld
- 1956 - Jerry Hall, actress/model, ex-wife of Mick Jagger
- 1959 - Mike Hallett, English snooker player
- 1964 - Jose Canseco, baseball player
- 1964 - Andrea Pia Yates, mother who drowned her five children
- 1970 - Yancy Butler, actress
- 1971 - Evelyn Lau, pop author
- 1974 - Matthew Reilly, Australian author
- 1976 - Tomas Vokoun, NHL hockey player
- 1981 - Alex Koroknay-Palicz, youth rights activist
- 1983 - Michelle Branch, popular musician
- 1986 - Lindsay Lohan, actress
Deaths
- 1566 - Michel de Nostradame (AKA Nostradamus), seer
- 1833 - Gervasio Antonio de Posadas, Argentine leader
- 1932 - King Manuel II of Portugal
- 1937 - Amelia Earhart, aviator, disappears
- 1961 - Ernest Hemingway, author, winner of the Nobel Prize for literature (1954)
- 1966 - Jan Brzechwa, Polish poet (b. 1900)
- 1973 - Betty Grable, actress
- 1977 - Vladimir Nabokov, writer
- 1989 - Andrei Gromyko, Soviet foreign minister
- 1991 - Lee Remick, actress
- 1997 - James Stewart, actor
- 1999 - Mario Puzo, author
- 2004 - Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen, Portuguese writer and poet
Holidays and observances
July 1 - July 3 - June 2 - August 2 -- listing of all days
