1789 – Bastille Day – the French Revolution begins with the storming of the Bastille Prison in Paris (now celebrated as France’s national day)
1798 – US Sedition Act prohibits “false, scandalous & malicious” writing against government
1850 – 1st public demonstration of ice made by refrigeration by Florida physician John Gorrie
1933 – All non-Nazi parties are banned in Germany
1941 – 6,000 Lithuanian Jews are exterminated at Viszalsyan Camp
1976 – Democratic Convention in NYC nominates former Georgia governor Jimmy Carter for president and US Senator Walter Mondale, from Minnesota, for vice president
1984 – New Zealand snap election, David Lange’s Labour Party defeats Robert Muldoon’s National Party
1992 – 386BSD is released by Lynne Jolitz and William Jolitz, starting the open source operating system revolution. Linus Torvalds release “Linux” soon afterwards
2002 – French President Jacques Chirac escapes an assassination attempt unscathed during Bastille Day celebrations
2014 – The Egyptian government propose a cease fire in the Israel–Gaza conflict
2018 – More than 300 people now reported killed in protests against government of President Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua
2019 – US President Donald Trump ignites racial controversy by tweeting four Democrat women of color “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came”
2020 – New study shows Andean condor, world’s heaviest bird, can fly for 5 hours without flapping its wings (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences)
Film & TV:
1969 – “Easy Rider”, directed by Dennis Hopper, starring himself, Peter Fonda and Jack Nicholson, is released
Music:
1795 – The French National Convention decrees “La Marseillaise” by Claude-Joseph Rouget de Lisle France’s national anthem
Sport:
1964 – 51st Tour de France: Jacques Anquetil of France wins 4th consecutive Tour and is first to claim 5 titles
