Today is Thursday, July 2, the 184th day of 2020. There are 182 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On July 2, 1881, President James A. Garfield was shot by Charles J. Guiteau (gee-TOH’) at the Washington railroad station; Garfield died the following September. (Guiteau was hanged in June 1882.)
On this date:
In 1776, the Continental Congress passed a resolution saying that “these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States.”
In 1917, rioting erupted in East St. Louis, Illinois, as white mobs attacked Black residents; nearly 50 people, mostly Blacks, are believed to have died in the violence.
In 1937, aviator Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan disappeared over the Pacific Ocean while attempting to make the first round-the-world flight along the equator.
In 1961, author Ernest Hemingway shot himself to death at his home in Ketchum, Idaho.
In 1963, President John F. Kennedy met Pope Paul VI at the Vatican, the first meeting between a Catholic U.S. chief executive and the head of the Roman Catholic Church.
In 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed into law a sweeping civil rights bill passed by Congress.
In 1987, 18 Mexican immigrants were found dead inside a locked boxcar near Sierra Blanca, Texas, in what authorities called a botched smuggling attempt; a 19th man survived.
In 2009, federal marshals took possession of disgraced financier Bernard Madoff’s $7 million Manhattan penthouse, forcing Madoff’s wife, Ruth, to move elsewhere.
In 2018, rescue divers in Thailand found 12 boys and their soccer coach, who had been trapped by flooding as they explored a cave more than a week earlier.
Today’s Birthdays: Former Philippine first lady Imelda Marcos is 91. Jazz musician Ahmad Jamal is 90. Actor Robert Ito is 89. Actress Polly Holliday is 83. Racing Hall of Famer Richard Petty is 83. Former White House chief of staff John H. Sununu is 81. Former Mexican President Vicente Fox is 78. Writer-director-comedian Larry David is 73. Luci Baines Johnson, daughter of President Lyndon B. Johnson, is 73. Actor Saul Rubinek is 72. Rock musician Roy Bittan (Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band) is 71. Rock musician Gene Taylor is 68. Actress Wendy Schaal is 66. Actress-model Jerry Hall is 64. Actor Jimmy McNichol is 59. Actress Vanessa Lee Chester is 36. Figure skater Johnny Weir is 36. Actress Lindsay Lohan is 34.
