657 – Battle of Siffin during the first Muslim civil war between Ali ibn Abi Talib and Muawiyah I beside Euphrates River
1519 – Francisco Pizarro receives royal charter for the west coast of South America
1533 – Francisco Pizarro orders the death of the last Sapa Inca Emperor, Atahualpa
1803 – The Surrey Iron Railway, arguably the world’s first public railway, opens in south London
1908 – United States Attorney General Charles Joseph Bonaparte issues an order to immediately staff the Office of the Chief Examiner (later renamed the Federal Bureau of Investigation)
1945 - Declaration of Potsdam: US, Britain and China demand the unconditional surrender of Japan during WWII
1953 – Fidel Castro leads a failed attack on the Moncada Barracks, intended to spark a revolution in Cuba
1956 – Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser seized control of the Suez Canal and nationalized it, sparking a crisis that later resulted in French, British, and Israeli forces briefly occupying parts of Egypt.
1990 – The Americans with Disabilities Act was signed into law by President George H.W. Bush; the legislation provided civil rights protections to individuals with physical and mental disabilities and guaranteed them equal opportunity in public accommodations, employment, transportation, state and local government services, and telecommunications.
2016 – At the Democratic National Convention, Hillary Clinton was officially nominated for president, becoming the first woman to top the presidential ticket of a major party in the United States.
Film & TV:
1896 – Vitascope Hall, 1st permanent for-profit movie theatre, opens in New Orleans
Music:
1882 – Richard Wagner’s opera “Parsifal” premieres in Bayreuth, Germany
Via Britannica / On This Day
