History of 7 July
1917 – Aleksandr Kerensky formed a provisional government in Russia.
1920 – A device known as the radio compass was used for the first time on a U.S. Navy airplane near Norfolk, VA.
1930 – Construction began on Boulder Dam, later Hoover Dam, on the Colorado River.
1937 – Japanese forces invaded China.
1946 – Mother Frances Xavier Cabrini was canonized as the first American saint.
1949 – “Dragnet” was first heard on NBC radio.
1950 – The U.N. Security Council authorized military aid for South Korea.
1969 – Canada’s House of Commons gave final approval to a measure that made the French language equal to English throughout the national government.
1981 – U.S. President Reagan announced he was nominating Arizona Judge Sandra Day O’Connor to become the first female justice on the U.S. Supreme Court.
1983 – Eleven-year-old Samantha Smith of Manchester, Maine, left for a visit to the Soviet Union at the personal invitation of Soviet leader Yuri V. Andropov.
1987 – Public testimony at the Iran-Contra hearing began.
1994 – Amazon.com, Inc. was founded in Seattle, Washington under the name “Cadabra.”
1998 – A jury in Santa Monica, CA, convicted Mikail Markhasev of murdering Ennis Cosby, Bill Cosby’s only son, during a roadside robbery.
1999 – In Sierra Leone, President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah and rebel leader Foday Sankoh signed a pact to end the nation’s civil war.
2000 – Cisco Systems Inc. announced that it would buy Netiverse Inc. for $210 million in stock. It was the 13th time Cisco had purchased a company in 2000.
2000 – Amazon.com announced that they had sold almost 400,000 copies of “Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire,” making it the biggest selling book in e-tailing history.
2003 – In Liberia, a team of U.S. military experts arrived at the U.S. embassy compound to assess whether to deploy troops as part of a peacekeeping force in the country.
2005 – A series of four explosions occurs on London’s transport system, killing 56 people, including four suicide bombers, and injuring over 700 others.
2007 – The first Live Earth benefit concert was held in 11 locations around the world.
2012 – At least 172 people are killed in a flash flood in the Krasnodar Krai region of Russia.
2013 – A De Havilland Otter air taxi crashes in Soldotna, Alaska, killing ten people.
2016 – Former U.S. Army soldier Micah Xavier Johnson shoots fourteen policemen during an anti-police protest in downtown Dallas, Texas, killing five of them. He is subsequently killed by a robot-delivered bomb.
Celebrating Birthday’s Today
- 1981 – Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Indian cricketer
- 1982 – Jan Laštůvka, Czech footballer
- 1982 – George Owu, Ghanaian footballer
- 1983 – Justin Davies, Australian footballer
- 1984 – Minas Alozidis, Greek hurdler
- 1984 – Alberto Aquilani, Italian footballer
- 1984 – Mohammad Ashraful, Bangladeshi cricketer
- 1985 – Marc Stein, German footballer
- 1986 – Ana Kasparian, American journalist, and producer
- 1986 – Udo Schwarz, German rugby player
- 1986 – Sevyn Streeter, American singer-songwriter
- 1988 – Kaci Brown, American singer-songwriter
- 1988 – Lukas Rosenthal, German rugby player
- 1988 – Netsanet Mekonnen, Ethiopian-Israeli film, television and theater actor
- 1989 – Landon Cassill, American race car driver
- 1989 – Miina Kallas, Estonian footballer
- 1989 – Karl-August Tiirmaa, Estonian skier
- 1990 – Lee Addy, Ghanaian footballer
- 1990 – Pascal Stöger, Austrian footballer
- 1991 – Alesso, Swedish DJ, record producer, and musician
- 1992 – Ellina Anissimova, Estonian hammer thrower
- 1992 – Dominik Furman, Polish footballer
- 1994 – Timothy Cathcart, Northern Irish racing driver (d. 2014)