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THE AMERICAN CALENDAR
EACH DATE IS THE ANNIVERSARY
OF A PERSON OR EVENT. IT SIGNIFIES THE DATE OF BIRTH OR IN SOME CASES THE
DATE OF DEATH AS SPECIFIED. |
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July |
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The
Battle of Gettysburg. It was the greatest battle in the Civil War
and the greatest battle ever fought on the American continent. A
small town in Pennsylvania where the Confederate forces under General
Robert E. Lee opposed the Union forces under General George
Meade. The decisive Union
victory together with the loss of Vicksburg at the same time was
critical to the South. |
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Anthony
C. McAuliffe, American army officer, defender of Bastogne during
the battle of the Bulge. He was artillery commander of the 101st
Airborne Division and parachuted into Normandy on D-Day. The Germans
gave him an ultimatum to surrender but he defiantly replied, "Nuts!"
which gave him wide fame. |
July 2, 1908 Thurgood
Marshall, the first African-American justice of the U.S. Supreme
Court and a powerful civil rights advocate who, prior to his appointment
to the court, developed
a successful legal strategy to end the era of official segregation
in the United States. |
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George
M. Cohan, American playwright, actor, producer, director and songwriter,
was one of the most versatile figures in the American theater. He
is considered the father of American musical comedy. He wrote the
lyrics for his own Broadway shows. One of his greatest hits was
Give My Regards To Broadway. For his patriotic World War I song,
Over There, he was awarded a congressional medal in 1941. He died
in New York City on November 5, 1942. |
Raymond A. Spruance, American
admiral who was one of the ablest com- manders of aircraft carrier
task forces in the Pacific Ocean during World War II. He was a cool,
calculating leader who was criticized at times for his caution but
he led his forces to several of the major
victories of the war.
He was responsible for the victories at Makin, Tawara, Iwo Jima,
Okinawa, Marshall Islands and Truk and the Philippine Sea. |
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Next
to the federal Constitution of 1787, the Declaration of Independence
has been the single most important state paper in American history.
Written largely by Thomas Jefferson, it was adopted by the Second
Continental Congress meeting in Philadelphia. It has served the
United States as a standard against which Americans could measure
the gap between their achievements and their professions of basic
political belief. |
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Nathaniel
Hawthorne, American novelist whose most famous works, The Scarlet
Letter and The House of Seven Gables, present a blend of romance
and Puritan morality expressed through an elaborate figurative method
akin to allegory. Hawthorne died on May 19, 1864 in Plymouth, NH. |
Stephen
Foster, American songwriter who was the most significant composer
in the United States in the pre-Civil War period and remains one
of America's leading creators of popular songs. Foster was attracted
to Negro plantation songs early in life and imitated them in many
of his compositions. In 1848 he wrote, Oh, Susanna, which became
a favorite of the Forty-niners on their way to California and the
gold rush. |
Louis
Armstrong was born in New Orleans and was a street singer as a child.
As jazz trumpeter, singer, and ensemble leader, he became a major
force in shaping jazz during the 1920s. He was an exceptionally
important solo virtuoso on the trumpet.
His
performances fused
warmth, humor and sheer joy in the act of creationan
artistry filled with exultant and
sweepingly personal
eloquence. |
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Phineas T. Barnum, American
showman with Yankee wit, shrewdness and imagination, transformed
the amusement business. He lifted the circus from a rather drab
affair to the Greatest Show On Earth. He was one of the great entrepreneurs
to realize the importance of publicity. He was regarded as the world's
greatest showman. Later in his career he joined with James Bailey
to make this circus as
the greatest on earth. Barnum died on April 7, 1891. |
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John
Paul Jones, American Revolutionary naval hero, often called the
"Father of the U.S. Navy." He was famous for his defeat
of the British ships, the Serapis and the Countess of Scarborough
in a grim struggle on September 23, 1779. Moral courage inspired
by love of his country
and zeal for perfection in his profession made Jones an international
hero. |
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Satchel
Paige, Afro-American baseball player whose pitching feats, showmanship
and athletic longevity are legendary. Leroy Robert Paige was born
in Mobile, Alabama.
Standing over 6' 3"
and weighing 180 pounds, Paige a righthander was said to throw the
fastest ball of any pitcher. |
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John
D. Rockefeller, American industrialist and philanthropist who ac-
quired a near monopoly of oil refining in the U.S. He endowed an
institute for medical research with $500 million. He also gave generously
to educational, scientific and religious funds. |
Nelson A. Rockefeller,
U.S. statesman, vice president, governor of New York, grandson of
John D. Rockefeller. He was special assistant to President Eisenhower.
He was appointed vice
president when Gerald Ford became president following the resignation
of Richard M. Nixon. |
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July
9, 1819 Elias Howe, American inventor of a lockstitching sewing
machine. After many failures, he had a machine patented in 1846;
it could sew 250 stitches in a minute. After a patented dispute
with Isaac Singer, the Howe machine received royalties on all sewing
machines sold in the United States. |
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Daniel
Guggenheim, American financier who developed mining and smelting
industries throughout the world. His foresight and imagination led
to many innovations in ingineering and mining techniques such as
the copper mines in Chile, tin mines in Bolivia, gold mines in Canada
and diamond fields in Belgian Congo and Angola in Africa. |
Albert
Wedemeyer, American army officer whose service included duty in
the Philippines and China. In World War II he replaced General Joseph
Stilwell and to serve as chief of staff to Chiang
Kai-shek against the Japanese.
In 1951 he became an executive in an aircraft manufacturing company. |
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Finley
Peter Dunne, political satirist best known for his "Mr. Dooley"
essays in newspapers and periodicals. Mr. Dooley was a skeptical
Chicago Irish bartender, often delivered his political, social and
philosophical comments to his gullible friend Mr. Hennessey. Through
Mr. Dooley, Dunne attacked corruption in government, big business
and American imperialism. |
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The
Scopes Trial, a celebrated case that was brought against a high
school biology teacher, John T. Scopes, by the state of Tennessee.
Clarence Darrow conducted the defense and William Jennings Bryan
the prosecution. Darrow won the case which concerned the teaching
of evolution as a theory. |
Arthur
Ashe, American tennis player, the first Afro-American to win the
U.S. Open, the Australian Open and the Wimbledon. He was famous
for his blazing serve, masterly backhand and clever net game. He
fought against racism with a quiet dignity that also marked his
struggle with AIDS in the final year of his
life. After a heart attack
in 1979, Ashe retired from competition. He died in New York City
on February 6, 1993. |
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John
Quincy Adams was the 6th president of the United States from 1825
to 1829. A Democratic Republican, he was the son of former president
John Adams. As Secretary of State under president James Monroe,
he drew up the Monroe Doctrine. He was unjustly accused by the Jacksonians
of corruption in his appointment of Henry Clay who had given him
key support in the disputed presidential contest, as his Secretary
of State. He was an ardent abolitionist and died in the House of
Representatives on February 23, 1848 while giving a speech against
slavery. |
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John
Wanamaker, American merchant who was a pioneer in men's clothing
in Philadelphia. He used the newspaper for advertising and also
in the application of employee welfare and training systems. He
was made postmaster general by President Benjamin Harrison in 1889. |
George
W. Norris, American political leader who supported Franklin D. Roosevelt's
New Deal program. He is best known for his sponsorship of the Tennessee
Valley Authority (TVA); the first TVA dam was named in his honor.
He also sponsored the
20th Amendment to the
Constitution which moved the presidential inauguration from March
back to January. |
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Henry
David Thoreau, American author, naturalist who is best known for
Walden, an account of his living alone at Walden Pond, to observe
the life of the woods. He was a friend of Ralph Emerson and the
transcendentalists. A powerful social critic, he was disturbed by
the trend of Western civilization toward a fully urban industrial
society dominated by the profit motive. |
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George
Eastman, American industrialist who popularized photography. He
began photography as a hobby while working as a bookkeeper in Rochester,
New York. Aware of a simple procedure for taking pictures, Eastman
introduced flexible film and a simple box camera, the Kodak, in
1889. Kodak became a household word. By the turn of the century
his company employed over 3,000 persons throughout the world. He
gave more than $75 million to various universities. |
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George
Washington Carver, American botanist and chemurgist was born near
Diamond Grove, Missouri. He made significant contributions through
his research in agriculture. He developed more than 300 by-products
from the peanut and sweet potato including plastics, dyes, medicines,
flour, wood stains and fertilizer. Through his extensive methods
in soil preservation, he helped to revolutionize the economy of
the South. He died on January 5, 1943. |
Oscar Hammerstein II,
American lyricist who collaborated with Richard Rodgers and others
in such musical comedies as Show Boat, Oklahoma, and South Pacific.
Both received Pulitzer
Prizes. Both were successful in The King And I, Flower Drum Song,
Carousel, and The Sound of Music. |
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Nathan
B. Forrest, Confederate cavalry leader, recognized as the great-
est cavalry leader in American military history. He became wealthy
as a trader and cotton planter. During the Civil War, Forrest led
many expeditions against Union armies with success. He was exonerated
concerning the Fort Pillow Massacre of Negro troops. |
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John
Jacob Astor, the great grandson of John Jacob Astor, the fur merchant.
Astor was an American capitalist and inventor who built the Waldorf
Astoria Hotel in New York City. He actively directed the family
fortune and was a director of Western Union, Equitable Life Assurance,
the Illinois Central Railroad and the Mercantile Trust Company. |
Edward Joseph Flanagan,
American Roman Catholic priest who founded Boys Town near Omaha,
Nebraska. Father Flanagan aimed at developing character by furnishing
religious and social education as well as vocational training. He
developed a worldwide reputation as an authority on the training
and reclamation of boys
who get into trouble because of lack of proper background. |
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Gerald
R. Ford, 38th president of the United States, was born in Omaha,
Nebraska. He had a long career in the U.S. House of Representatives.
He became president without being elected following the resignation
of vice president Spiro T. Agnew and the resignation of President
Richard M. Nixon during the Watergate scandal. In 1976, he was the
first president in 44 years to be turned out of office by the voters.
Ford's pardon of Richard Nixon in the Watergate
Affair was overwhelming
negative by the members of Congress, newspapers and the general
public. |
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Saint
Frances Xavier Cabrini, Italian-American religious foundress was
born near Milan, Italy. Because of frail health early in her life,
she was not accepted by the Daughters of the Sacred Heart. She worked
in an orphanage for seven years until it was closed. In 1877 she
took religious vows and gathered around her seven sisters and founded
the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart on November 14, 1880.
Mother Cabrini composed the rules and constitutions of the order
which Rome approved in 1907. Urged by Pope Leo XIII she devoted
her apostolate to the poor Italian immigrants in America. She founded
67 houses of over 1,500 sisters. She died
in Chicago on December
22, 1917. She was the first American citizen to be canonized in
1946. |
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Mary
Baker Eddy, American religious leader, founder of the Church of
Christ Scientist, was born in Concord, NH. The subject of strong
controversy in her own day, she is now recognized as a pioneer of
modern spiritual t healing, but her position of a Christian thinker
is still variously estimated. Mary Baker Eddy
wrote in 1903, "What
I am remains to be proved by the good I do." |
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Elbridge
Gerry, American patriot and political leader who was a signer of
the Declaration of Independence and a delegate to the Constitutional
Convention. While governor of Massachusetts, the political practice
of gerrymandering was created of election districts of absurd or
contorted boundaries in order to insure the election of candidates
of the party in power. |
John Jacob Astor, American
fur merchant and capitalist who cornered the nation's fur trade.
He created the first American trust and built the largest fortune
of his day. In 1834 Astor withdrew from the fur trade to deal in
New York City real estate and other investments. |
The
Potsdam Conference, a meeting of the leaders of the major Allied
nations after the defeat of Germany in World War II. It was held
near Berlin, Germany for 15 days. It was attended by President Truman,
Joseph Stalin
and Winston Churchill.
While at Potsdam, Truman learned that the atomic bomb had been tested
successfully. |
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Simon
Bolivar Buckner, American general who commanded the invasion of
Okinawa in 1945. At the beginning of the war he was assigned to
drive out the Japanese forces in Alaska on the island of Attu and
occupied Kiska. He commanded the Tenth Army as the last invasion
of Okinawa when he was killed by a Japanese shell. |
John H. Glenn, the first
U.S. astronaut to orbit the earth, was elected to the U.S. Senate
from Ohio in 1974. He was selected on April 9, 1959 as one of the
first seven astronauts and on February 20, 1962, he made his historic
spaceflight, orbiting the earth three
times in Friendship 7.
He was reelected to the U.S. Senate in 1986 and again in 1992. |
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Samuel
Colt, American inventor of the Colt revolver. While on a voyage
to Singapore, he constructed a wood model of his famous revolver.
He made other models and obtained his first U.S. patent in 1836.
When the Mexican War began, the U.S. Army ordered 1,000 of Colt's
revolvers. Colt also invented a submarine battery and experimented
with a submarine telegraph cable. |
July 19, 1922 George McGovern,
American political figure who as a senator from South Dakota, was
the Democratic candidate for president in 1972.
He lost the presidential
election to Richard M. Nixon. He failed to win the 1984 Democratic
presidential nomination. |
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The
Donner Party, a group of pioneers travelling to California by wagon
train led by George Donner. They encountered snowstorms in the eastern
Sierras. Donner led 20 wagons that delayed their desert crossing
at Truckee Lake on October 31. They were forced to build cabins.
Faced with starvation, 40 of the 87 emigrants survived by cannibalism. |
First Men On The Moon.
The crew of Apollo 11 were three astronauts: Neil A. Armstrong,
Edwin E. Aldrin and Michael Collins. "That's one small step
for a man, one giant leap for mankind." With these words Neil
Armstrong stepped down from the ladder of Eagle, the
lunar module of Apollo
ll and set foot on the surface of the moon. |
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The
First Battle of Bull Run in the Civil War was fought about 30 miles
west of Washington, D.C. Immediately after the event, the battle
became a symbol of disastrous defeat in the North. Seeking optimistic
results in the first major battle, the Union forces were routed
under General Irvin McDowell. The Confederates under General P.G.T.
Beauregard surprised the Federal troops into a retreat back to the
defenses around Washington, D.C. |
Ernest
Hemingway, American novelist and short story writer who is widely
recognized as one of the great authors of the 20th century. He received
the Nobel Prize for literature in 1954.
He is famous for his novels,
Farewell To Arms and For Whom The Bell Tolls. |
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John
Dillinger, desperado, was gunned down in front of a Chicago movie
theater. Dillinger was Public Enemy #1, wanted for daring bank holdups,
spectacular prison breaks and 16 murders.
Federal agents surrounded
the theater and when he walked out, the show was over. |
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Ford
Company sells its first automobile. Its internal combustion engine,
Which is powered by two cylinders was designed by Henry Ford, a
native of
Dearborn, Michigan. He
had been experimenting with power-driven vehicles for more than
20 years. |
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Amelia
Earhart, American aviator who was the first woman to make a solo
flight across the Atlantic ocean. She took up aviation as a hobby
and made a career of flying. Along with Frederick Noonan as navigator,
they attempted the first around the world
flight. They vanished
over the Pacific and were captured by the Japanese on the island
of Saipan. |
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Henry
Knox, American Revolutionary general who was Washington's first
Secretary of War. He participated in nearly every major battle throughout
the Revolution. As commander of artillery forces he was responsible
for victories at Trenton, Brandywine,
Germantown and Monmouth.
He was at Yorktown when the British surrendered in October, 1781.
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Estes
Kefauver, American political leader who rose to national prominence
in 1950-51 as chairman of the Senate Crime Investigation Committee
whose televised hearings
on national crime syndicates and their political ties caused a sensation. |
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Big
Three at Potsdam. Joseph Stalin, Harry Truman and Clement Attlee
met to discuss tensions between Russia and the Western Allies. Seemingly
irreconcilable differences at the conference table divided East
from West and disrupted the talks as soon as they began. It demanded
Japan's unconditional surrender and the dropping of two atomic bombs. |
The
end of the Korean War. When the final casualty report for the thirty-seven
months of fighting ceased, 550,000 including over 95,0OO dead, 77,596
wounded and 4,658 missing or captured. The bulk of these casualties
occurred in the first year of the fighting. The estimate
of enemy casualties exceeded
1,500,000 of which 900,000 were Chinese. |
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John
Peter Zenger, American printer who died on this date. He was born
in Germany in 1697. The Zenger case was the most important trial
for seditious libel during the colonial period in America. The Zenger
trial in New York City in 1735 helped set the precedent for freedom
of the press. |
Jacqueline
Kennedy Onassis, was a widow twice when President John Kennedy was
assassinated and her second marriage to Aristotle Onassis, a wealthy
Greek businessman. As First Lady, she
made the White House a
place of culture and art. Her second marriage foundered but the
couple never divorced. |
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Clement
Vallandigham, American political leader during the Civil War who
supported compromise measures to preserve the Union but opposed
the use of force by the North. As leader of the Peace Democrats
or Copperheads, he supported those who had grown weary by the war.
He denounced military action and President Lincoln banished him
to the Confederacy. He fled to Canada but returned later to the
United States. |
Booth
Tarkington, American novelist and playwright who is known for his
studies of middle-class life in small midwestern cities. His Indiana
boyhood was a rich source for his fiction. Two of
his novels won Pulitzer
Prizes. His stories of boyhood, Penrod, and Seventeen, became young
peoples' classics. |
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Henry
Ford, American engineer who founded the Ford Motor Company at Detroit
in 1903. He was the pioneer of standardization, mass production
and the assembly line. By adopting these techniques he was able
to produce reliable, low-cost cars, and other vehicles. He made
his first 'gasoline buggy' in 1893 and produced farm tractors in
1915. |
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Casey
Stengel, American baseball player and manager and one of the game's
most colorful and popular figures for half a century. Garralous
in manner and known for his pranks as a player, Stengel achieved
distinction by managing the New York Yankees to ten pennants and
seven World Series championships. |
James Hoffa, American
labor leader who headed the International Brotherhood of Teamsters,
disappeared on this date and most likely was murdered. He was born
in Brazil, Indiana on February 14, 1913. Hoffa was connected with
the underworld and the Teamsters were subsequently expelled from
the AFL-CIO.
Hoffa attempted to regain
his Teamsters' position when he disappeared. |
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George
H. Thomas, American major general who became famous during the Civil
War as the "Rock of Chickamauga." He distinguished himself
in the war with Mexico. When the Civil War came, albeit a Southerner,
he remained loyal to the Union. He was responsible for the
Confederate defeats in
southern Tennessee and General Sherman's march to Atlanta. He defeated
General John B. Hood's army at Nashville, Tennessee. |
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