On this day in History - Jul 20

0514 - Pope Hormisdas assumes the papacy.
0985 - Pope Boniface VII dies
1031 - King Robert II of France dies (b. 972)
1304 - Edward I of England takes the last rebel stronghold in the Wars of Scottish Independence.
1304 - Francesco Petrarch, was born (d. 19 Jul 1374). Italian poet.
1398 - Roger Mortimer, 4th Earl of March dies.
1454 - King John II of Castile dies (b. 1405)
1519 - Pope Innocent IX was born.
1524 - Queen Claude of France dies
1609 - Federico Zuccaro (or Zuccari) dies (b. 1542). Italian Mannerist painter , draftsman, and writer.
1620 - Nikolaes Heinsius, was born (d. 1681). Dutch scholar.
1659 - Hyacinthe Rigaud, was born (d. 1743). French painter.
1661 - Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville, was born (d. 1706). French founder of the colony of Louisiana.
1704 - Peregrine White, dies (b. 1620). First English child born in the Massachusetts Bay Colony
1738 - French explorer Pierre Gaultier de Varennes et de la Vérendrye reaches the western shore of Lake Michigan.
1752 - Johann Christoph Pepusch, dies (b. 1667). German composer.
1754 - Destutt de Tracy, was born. Philosopher.
1797 - Sir Paweł Edmund Strzelecki, was born (d. 1873). Polish explorer and geologist.
1810 - Colombia declares independence from Spain.
1838 - George Otto Trevelyan, was born (d. 1928). British statesman and biographer.
1838 - Augustin Daly, was born (d. 1899). American playwright.
1847 - Max Liebermann, was born (d. 8 Feb 1935). Germain painter and graphic artist. Self-Portrait (1934); Selbstbildnis (1910); On the Way to School in Edam (1904)
1849 - Robert Anderson Van Wyck, was born (d. 1918). Mayor of New York City.
1861 - American Civil War: The Congress of the Confederate States of America begins sitting in Richmond, Virginia.
1864 - American Civil War: Battle of Peachtree Creek - Near Atlanta, Georgia, Confederate forces led by General John Bell Hood unsuccessfully attack Union troops under General William T. Sherman.
1865 - Carlos Avril was born in Paris (d. 30 Oct 1940). French actor.
1868 - Miron Cristea, was born (d. 1939). First patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church 1870 - Charles McHugh, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (d. 21 Oct 1931). American actor.
1870 - Jules Alfred Huot de Goncourt, dies. French writer
1870 - Gerard Wolst Trenité was born in Utrech (d. 9 Oct 1946). Dutch writer.
1871 - British Columbia joins the confederation of Canada.
1872 - The United States Patent Office awards the first patent for wireless telegraphy to Mahlon Loomis.
1873 - Alberto Santos-Dumont, was born (d. 1932). Brazilian aviator.
1877 - William Colman, was born in Sligo, Ireland (d. 8 Aug 1930). American actor.
1881 - Clyde Benson in Marshalltown, Iowa. American actor (d. 15 Oct 1947)
1881 - Hugh Sothern was born in Anderson County, Kansas (d. 13 Apr 1947). American actor.
1881 - Sioux Chief Sitting Bull leads the last of his fugitive people in surrender to United States troops at Fort Buford in Montana
1884 - Hellwig F. Rimmen was born. Danish actor
1885 - The Football Association legalises professionalism in football under pressure from the British Football Association.

1889 - Nascimento de Fidelino de Figueiredo. Professor e político português.
1889 - Erich Pommer was born (d. 1966). German actor.
1889 - Ruth Weijden was born (d. 27 Jun 1956). Swedish actress.
1889 - John C. W. Reith was born Stonehaven, Grampian, Scotland (d. 1971). BBC director-general from 1922 to 1938. He was aptly designated by the New York Times as "the single most dominating influence on British broadcasting."
1890 - Gonzalo Roig was born in Havana (d. 13 Jun 1970). Cuban conductor and composer (bolero Quiereme Mucho).
1890 - Richard Billinger was born in Sankt Marienkirche ( †07 Jun 1965 in Linz). Austrian writer
1890 - Freeman H. Owens was born in Pine Bluff, Arkansas (d. 9 Dec 1979). American cinematographer
1890 - King George II of Greece was born (d. 1947)
1891 - Ralph Faukner, was born (d. 1987). American actor and fight choreographer for films
1894 - Errett Cord, was born. Automobile entrepreneur
1895 - László Moholy-Nagy was born (d. 1946). Painter, photographer, sculptor. )

1897 - Fundação da Academia Brasileira de Letras.
1897 - Clifford Braughton was born (d. 1979). American actor.
1897 - Tadeus Reichstein was born (d. 1996). Polish chemist and Nobel prize winner.
1897 - Clifford Braughton was born (d. 1979). American actor.
1897 - Jean Ingelow, dies (b. 1820). English poet.

1898 - Stepan Kayukov was born (d. 1960). Russian actor.
1899 - Melville De Lay was born (d. 1947). American actor.
1900 - Maurice Gilliams was born (d. 1979). Belgian writer.
1901 - Heinie Manush was born (d. 1971). Baseball player.
1901 - Sergei Blinnikov was born (d. 1969). Russian actor.
1901 - William Cosmo Monkhouse, dies (b. 1840). Poet and critic.
1902 - Jimmy Kennedy was born (d. 1984). Irish composer.
1903 - Maria Paudle was born (d. 1990). German actress.
1903 - Pope Leo XIII dies.
1905 - Pascual Pelliciota was born (d. 1985). Argentine actor.
1907 - Leon Pietraskiewicz was born (d. 1987). Polish actor.
1908 - Demetrius Vikelas, dies. Greek International Olympic Committee president
1909 - Clint Sharp was born (d. 1989). American stuntman in films
1910 - Louise Rousseau, was born (d. 1981). American screenwriter (d. 1981)
1910 - Henri Calef, was born (d. 1994). Belgian filmmaker (d. 1994)
1910 - Muriel Evans,was born (d. 2000). American actress (d. 2000)
1911 - Mirelle Balin, was born (d. 1968). French actress (d. 1968)
1912 - Tom McDermott, was born (d. 1996). American actor
1913 - Elmer Lahti, was born. Finish actor
1913 - Irma Cordoba, was born. Argentine actress.
1914 - Masa Niemi was born. (d. 1960) . Finish actor
1914 - Russia: Czar Nicholas II welcomes France's President Raymond Poincaré.
1916 - Claude Vernier was born (d. 1996). French actor
1917 - Paul Hubschmid, was born (d. 2001). German actor
1917 - The Corfu Declaration, which created the post-war Kingdom of Yugoslavia, was signed by the Yugoslav Committee and Kingdom of Serbia.
1917 - Alexander Kerensky becomes Prime Minister of the provisional government and survives an assassination attempt.
1917 - In the United States, the first military draft numbers are drawn for World War I.
1918 - Cindy Walker, was born. American country music singer
1919 - Sir Edmund Hillary, New Zealand mountain climber
1919 - Ernie Wilkins, was born (d. 1999). American jazz musician
1919 - Benson Ford, was born (d. 1978). Son of industrialist Henry Ford
1919 - Paolo Levi, was born (df. 1989). Italian writer
1919 - K. T. Stevens, was born (d. 1994). American actress
1920 - The funeral of Empress Eugenie of France is held in St. Michael's Abbey near Farnborough, England.
1920 - Tommy Prothro, was born. American football coach.
1920 - Elliot Richardson, was born (d. 1999). American politician.
1920 - Dick Lucas, was born (d. 1997). American animator.
1921 - Hall Daniels, was born. American composer (d. 1984)
1921 - Takanobu Hozumi, was born. Japanese actor
1921 - Air mail service begins between New York City and San Francisco.
1922 - The League of Nations awards mandates of Togoland to France and Tanganyika to the United Kingdom.
1922 - Andrey Markov, dies. Mathematician
1923 - Pancho Villa, dies. Revolutionary (assassinated)
1923 - Stanisław Albinowski, was born (d. 2005). Polish economist and journalist.
1924 - Tor Isedal, was born (d. 1990). Swedish actor.
1924 - Mort Garson was born. Canadian composer
1924 - Tatyana Lioznova, was born. Soviet director
1924 - Thomas Berger, was born. American novelist
1924 - Bob Nichols, was born. American actor

1924 - Elias Sarkis nwas born. President of Libano (1976-1982)
1925 - Jacques Delors, President of the European Commission
1925 - In Cleveland, Tennessee, Clarence Darrow questions William Jennings Bryan in the Scopes Monkey Trial during a session held out of doors about the literal truth of the Bible.
1926 - Lola Albright, was born. American actress
1926 - Ilija Ivezic, was born. Yugoslav actor
1926 - Patricia Cutts, was born. (d.1974). British actress (Coronation Street).
1926 - Felix Edmundovich Dzerzhinskiy, dies. Head of the Soviet secret police
1927 - King Ferdinand of Romania dies.
1927 - Leon Sinden, was born. British actor
1927 - Heather Chasen, was born. British actress
1927 - Paul Marin, was born. American actor
1927 - Michael I becomes King of Romania at age five upon the death of his father Ferdinand I.
1928 - Terence Feely, was born. British screenwriter
1928 - Pavel Kohout, was born. Czech writer
1929 - Mike Ilitch, was born. American businessman (Little Caesar's Pizza), sports executive, and philanthropist
1929 - Rajendra Kumar, was born (d. 1999). Indian actor.
1929 - Zlatko Sudovic, was born. Yugoslav director
1930 - Oleg Anofriyev, was born. Russian actor
1930 - James Kenney,was born (d. 1982). British actor
1932 - Otto Schily, was born. German politician
1932 - Ove Verner Hansen, was born. Danish actor
1932 - German President Paul von Hindenburg signs a decree ordering Franz von Papen to take control of the Prussian state government and declares martial law.
1932 - In Washington, D.C., police fire tear gas on World War I veterans part of the Bonus Expeditionary Force who attempt to march to the White House.
1933 - Germany's Franz von Papen and the Vatican's Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli sign a concordat on behalf of their respective nations.
1933 - In the United Kingdom, 500,000 march against anti-Semitism in London.
1933 - United States: President Franklin D. Roosevelt orders new regulations on the trading of grain in order to curb speculators.
1933 - In Germany, two-hundred Jewish merchants are arrested in Nuremberg and paraded through the streets.
1933 - Chuck Daly, was born. American basketball coach
1933 - Nelson Doubleday, was born. American book publisher and baseball executive
1933 - Cormac McCarthy, was born. American author
1933 - Rex Williams, was born. English snooker player
1934 - Uwe Johnson, was born. German writer
1934 - Aliki Vougiouklaki, was born. Greek actress
1936 - Barbara Mikulski, was biorn. U.S. Senator from Maryland
1936 - The Montreux Convention is signed in Montreux, Switzerland, authorizing Turkey to fortify the Dardanelles and Bosphorus but guaranteeing free passage to ships of all nations in peacetime.
1937 - Ken Ogata, was born. Japanese actor
1937 - Guglielmo Marconi, dies. Italian inventor.

1938 - Nascimento, em Paulo de Frontin - Rio de Janeiro, de Anna Zelma. Actriz brasileira

1938 - Natalie Wood, was born (d. 1981). American actress
1938 - Dame Diana Rigg, was born. British actress
1939 - Judy Chicago, was born. American feminist artist.

1940 - O personagem de desenho animado Pernalonga faz sua estréia na Warner Bros..
1940 - Tony Oliva, was born. Cuban-born American baseball player
1940 - Denmark leaves the League of Nations.
1940 - Billboard magazine publishes its first "Music Popularity Chart"; the first number one song is Frank Sinatra's "I'll Never Smile Again".
1940 - President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs a bill limiting political activity by Federal employees, the Hatch Act.
1941 - Joseph Stalin consolidates the Commissariats of Home Affairs and National Security to form the NKVD and names Lavrenti Beria its chief.
1941 - Kurt Raab, was born (d. 1988). German actor
1941 - Lew Fields, dies. American vaudeville performer.

1941 - Nascimento, no Rio de Janeiro, de Maria Lucia Dahl. Actriz brasileira.

1942 - World War II: Red Army troops take bridgeheads over the Don River near Voronezh.
1943 - World War II: American and Canadian troops conquer Enna on Sicily.
1943 - World War II: Axis leaders Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini confer in northern Italy
1943 - Wendy Richard, was born. British television actress
1944 - Adolf Hitler survives the July 20 Plot an assassination attempt led by Claus von Stauffenberg.
1944 - World War II: American troops land on Guam near Port Apra.
1944 - In Bombay, India, health authorities announce a cholera epidemic has killed 34,000 in three months.
1944 - The United States Democratic Party nominates Franklin D. Roosevelt for a fourth term as president.
1945 - The U.S. Congress approves the Bretton Woods Agreement.
1945 - Kim Carnes, was born in Los Angeles, California. American rock, folk and country singer and songwriter.
1945 - Larry Craig, was born. U.S. Senator from Idaho.
1945 - Paul Valéry, dies (b. 1871). French author and poet.
1946 - Peter Simons,was born. Belgian director
1946 - The U.S. Congress's Pearl Harbor Committee says Franklin D. Roosevelt was completely blaeless for the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and calls for a unified command structure in the armed forces.
1947 - Pope Pius XII canonizes a French saint, Blessed Louis-Marie Gregnon de Montort.
1947 - Gerd Binnig, was born. German-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
1947 - Carlos Santana, was born in Autlan, Jalisco. Mexican guitarist. Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998 (as a member of Santana). Became the first Hispanic to win a Grammy for "Record of the Year" in 2000 when he shared the honor with Matchbox 20 lead singer 'Rob Thomas' for the song "Smooth." His 1999 album, "Supernatural," won 9 Grammies that year.
1948 - President Harry S. Truman issues the first peacetime military draft in the United States amid increasing tensions with the Soviet Union.
1948 - In New York City, twelve leaders of the Communist Party USA are indicted under the Smith Act including William Z. Foster and Gus Hall.
1949 - Israel and Syria sign a truce to end their nineteen month war.
1950 - In Belgium, Parliament authorizes king Leopold III to return from exile in Austria.
1950 - Naseeruddin Shah, was born. Indian actor
1950 - Tantoo Cardinal, was born. Canadian actress
1951 - King Abdullah I of Jordan is assassinated while attending Friday prayers in Jerusalem.
1951 - Friedrich Wilhelm Hohenzollern, dies.Crown Prince of Germany
1951 - King Abdullah, dies. King of Jordan
1952 - The Egyptian prime minister, Hussein Sirry Pasha resigns.
1952 - The 15th Olympic Games begin in Helsinki, Finland.
1953 - The United Nations Economic and Social Council votes to make UNICEF a permanent agency.
1953 - Marcia Hines, was born. American-born Australian singer
1953 - Dumarsaid Estime, dies (b. 1900). President of Haiti.
1953 - Jan Struther, dies. British author.

1954 - Assinatura de um acordo de cessar-fogo entre as forças armadas francesas e o Exército Popular do Vietname. O Vietname é dividido em dois estados independentes. O Norte é dominado pelos comunistas, o Sul é apoiado pelos americanos. A França abandona a Indochina.

1954 - Independência do Camboja.
1954 - Moira Harris, was born. American actress.
1954 - United States Senator Joseph R. McCarthy accepts the resignation of his aide Roy Cohn.

1954 - Nascimento, em Curitiba - PR, de Fátima Freire (Maria de Fátima Naves Freire Maia). Actriz brasileira.

1955 - Willem Dafoe was born in Appleton, Wisconsin. American actor.

1955 - Calouste Sarkis Gulbenkian dies (b. 23 Mar 1869 in Istambul, Turkey). Oil pioneer. Philantropist.
1956 - Paul Cook, was born. English musician (The Sex Pistols)
1957 - The Soviet Union closes Peter the Great Bay, which provides access to Vladivostok, to foreign ships.
1957 - Dr. Alfred Einstein Cohen, dies. American cardiologist
1959 - Admiral William Leahy, dies. American naval officer
1959 - The Organization for European Economic Cooperation admits Spain.
1959 - Radney Foster, was born. American singer
1960 - The Polaris missile is successfully launched from a submarine, the USS George Washington (SSBN-598), for the first time.
1960 - In Lebanon, Saeb Salem is named Prime Minister.
1961 - The Arab League admits Kuwait to membership.
1964 - NASA successfully tests the first electric rocket engine in California.
1964 - Chris Cornell, was born. American musician
1964 - Kool G. Rap, was born. American musician
1964 - Terri Irwin, was born. American television personality
1965 - In Greece, Elias Tsirimokos becomes prime minister.

1965 - Inauguração do Planetário Calouste Gulbenkien - Portugal
1967 - Albert Lutuli, dies. South African civil rights leader, winner of the 1960 Nobel Peace Prize 1968 - Bray Hammond, dies. American historian
1968 - Michael Park, was born. American actor
1968 - Julian Rhind-Tutt, was born. English actor
1969 - Vitamin C, was born. British singer
1969 - Josh Holloway, was born. American actor
1969 - Apollo 11 lands on the Moon and Neil A. Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin become the first humans to walk on its surface. / O astronauta americano Neil Amstrong dá o primeiro passo na Lua, afirmando: «É um pequeno passo para o Homem, mas um salto gigantesco para a Humanidade.» A intenção era dizer «É um pequeno passo para UM homem ...».
1971 - Charles Johnson,was born. Baseball player
1972 - In the Netherlands, the cabinet of Prime Minister Barend Biesheuvel resigns in a dispute over the budget.
1973 - The United States Senate passes the War Powers Act.
1973 - In testimony by Assistant Secretary of Defense Jerry Friedheim to the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee, the United States Defense Department admits it lied to U.S. Congress about bombing Cambodia.
1973 - Palestianian terrorists hijack a Japan Airlines jet en route from Amsterdam to Japan and force it down in Dubai.
1973 - Indiana is found guilty of operating segregated schools by federal judge S. Hugh Dillin, who orders the state to develop a desegregation plan for Indianapolis's schools.
1973 - Haakon Magnus, was born. Crown Prince of Norway
1973 - Peter Forsberg, was born. Swedish-born hockey player
1973 - Bruce Lee, dies. Actor and martial artist
1974 - Simon Rex, was born. American actor
1974 - Forces from Turkey invade Cyprus after Greek Cypriots' attempt at enosis. NATO's Council praises the United States and the United Kingdom for attempts to settle the dispute. Syria and Egypt put their militaries on alert.
1975 - Erik Hagen, was born. Norwegian footballer
1976 - The Viking 1 lander successfully lands on Mars.

1977 - Nascimento de Susana Werner. Modelo e actriz brasileira.

1977 - The Central Intelligence Agency releases documents under the Freedom of Information Act revealing it had engaged in mind control experiments.
1979 - Diana Nyad swims the sixty miles from the Bahamas to Florida.
1980 - Takieddih Solh is named Lebanon's new prime minister.
1980 - The United Nations Security Council votes 14-0 that member states should not recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
1980 - Gisele Bundchen, was born. Brazilian model
1980 - The Air Force reveals it has a stealth plane.
1981 - The United States suspends sales of F-16 fighter jets to Israel
1984 - Officials of the Miss America pageant ask Vanessa Williams to quit after Penthouse published nude photos of her.
1987 - The United Nations Security Council demands a ceasefire in the Iran-Iraq War.
1988 - The Democrats nominate Governor Michael Dukakis of Massachusetts for President.
1990 - Iran Contra: All of Colonel Oliver North's convictions for perjury and other offenses are overturned by an appeals court.
1990 - Herbert T. Jenkins, dies. American policeman
1991 - Earl Robinson, dies. American singer and composer
1992 - John Bratby dies. British painter
1992 - In Czechoslovakia, Václav Havel resigns as president.
1994 - Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9's Fragment Q1 hits Jupiter.
1996 - Billi Bruno, was born. American actress.
1996 - Colin Mitchell, dies. British Member of Parliament
1993 - Vincent Foster Jr., dies. White House deputy counsel
1997 - John Akii-Bua, dies. Ugandan hurdler
1999 - Sandra Gould, dies. American actress.
2000 - The leaders of Salt Lake City's bid to win the 2002 Winter Olympics are indicted by a federal grand jury for bribery, fraud, and racketeering.
2001 - The London Stock Exchange goes public.
2001 - The 27th G8 summit summit opens in Genoa. An Italian protester in Genoa, Carlo Giuliani, is shot by police.
2001 - Carlo Giuliani, dies. Italian activist.
2002 - The United States Senate confirms Roger L. Gregory as the first black to sit on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.
2003 - Nicolas Freeling, dies. Crime writer
2004 - Former National Security Advisor Sandy Berger resigns as an advisor to Senator John Kerry's presidential campaign after it was revealed he stole classified documents from the National Archives.
2004 - PETA releases a video of gross cruelty to chickens taken at Pilgrim's Pride, one of KFC's suppliers in West Virginia, and the company pledged to investigate the claims.
2004 - Ahmed Qurei, Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority, agrees to withdraw his resignation, three days after tendering it.
2004 - Human Rights Watch releases a report stating that Sudanese government documents confirm support for the Arab Janjaweed militia in their campaign of ethnic cleansing against African Muslims in Darfur
2004 - Adi Lady Lala Mara, dies. Fijian chieftainess, wife of Kamisese Mara

2004 - Morte do bvailarino e coreógrafo espanhol Antonio Gades

Colombia - Independence Day
Japan - Marine Day (Umi-no-hi, currently it falls on the third Monday in July.)
Occupied North Cyprus - Peace and Freedom Day
Argentina /Brasil - Friendship Day (Dia da Amizade ou Dia do Amigo)
Feast day for at least thirteen saints in the Roman Catholic Church: Ss. Aurelius, Margaret of Antioch, Wilgefortis, Elias, Barhadbesciabas, Wulmar, Sabinus, Severa (two of this name), Flavian, John of Pulsano, Joseph of Barsabas, Margaret, and Paul of St. Zoilus.