July 20/Events1

This page is to list events of July 20 before 1950.

To 1300

• 514 - Roman Catholic Church: Pope Hormisdas assumes the papacy.

1300-1899

• 1304 - Great Britain: Edward I of England takes the last rebel stronghold in the Wars of Scottish Independence, Stirling Castle.
• 1712 - United Kingdom: The Riot Act takes effect.
• 1738 - North America: French explorer Pierre Gaultier de Varennes et de la Vérendrye reaches the western shore of Lake Michigan.
• 1810 - South America: Colombia declares independence from Spain.
• 1833 - United States: An Anti-Mormon mob in Independence, Missouri, destroys the printing press for the Book of Commandments, now among the most valuable 19th century books.
• 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.
• 1866 - Europe: Battle of Lissa - The Austrian navy, led by Admiral Wilhelm von Tegetthoff, defeats the Italian navy near the island of Vis.
• 1871 - North America: British Columbia joins the confederation of Canada.
• 1872 - Technology: The United States Patent Office awards the first patent for wireless telegraphy to Mahlon Loomis.
• 1877 - United States: rioting in Baltimore, Maryland by Baltimore and Ohio Railroad workers is put down by the state militia, resulting in nine deaths.
• 1881 - Indian Wars: Sioux Chief Sitting Bull leads the last of his fugitive people in surrender to United States troops at Fort Buford in Montana.

1930-1939

• 1930 - Soviet Union: Maxim Litvinov is named the Soviet Union's Commissar of Foreign Affairs.
• 1930 - New York State: Alfred E. Smith, president of the company building the Empire State Building, announces the structure will have an observation deck 1,288 feet above Fifth Avenue.
• 1930 - New York State: Five die in the 92°F heat New York City from the heat wave gripping the east coast.
• 1931 - United States: Former Interior Secretary Albert Fall enters state prison in Santa Fe, New Mexico on his bribery conviction from the Teapot Dome scandal.
• 1931 - Connecticut: Two United States Army Air Corps planes collide over Newington, [...] two.
• 1931 - Spain: Three are dead in rioting in Seville after police clash with marchers in a funeral parade for a syndicalist killed by the police days earlier.
• 1932 - Germany: President Paul von Hindenburg signs a decree ordering Franz von Papen to take control of the Prussian state government and declares martial law.
• 1932 - South America: Crowds in the capitals of Bolivia and Paraguay demand their governments declare war on the other after fighting on their border.
• 1932 - United States: 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.
• 1932 - United States: The AFL votes to ask President Herbert Hoover to help it secure a five-day work week.
• 1933 - Europe: Germany's Franz von Papen and the Vatican's Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli sign a concordat on behalf of their respective nations.
• 1933 - United Kingdom: In London, 500,000 march against anti-Semitism.
• 1933 - United States: President Franklin D. Roosevelt orders new regulations on the trading of grain in order to curb speculators.
• 1933 - Tennessee: The state becomes the nineteenth to approve the Twenty-first Amendment to repeal Prohibition.
• 1933 - Germany: The Nazis arrest two-hundred Jewish merchants in Nuremberg and parade them through the streets.
• 1933 - Aviation: Aviator Wiley Post damages his plane as he lands in Flat, Alaska, on his first round-the-world flight.
• 1934 - Minnesota: Police in Minneaspolis fire upon striking truck drivers, wounding fifty.
• 1934 - Washington: In Seattle, Mayor Charles L. Smith leads police in firing tear gas on and clubbing 2,000 striking longshoremen.
• 1934 - Oregon: Governor Julius Meier calls out the National Guard to break a strike on the Portland docks.
• 1934 - Maine: Three murderers serving life sentences escape from the state prison in Thomaston.
• 1934 - Iowa: The state experiences its hottest day on record as the temperature hits 118°F in Keokuk.
• 1934 - United States: Postmaster General James A. Farley announces that the United States Post Office Department turned a $5 million profit in the fiscal year ended June 30, the first annual profit since 1919.
• 1934 - United States: President Franklin D. Roosevelt heads to Hawaii aboard the cruiser USS Houston (CA-30).
• 1934 - Andorra: Spain arrests a man who proclaimed himself the ruler of the tiny principality under the name "Boris I".
• 1935 - New York State: Lightning kills four on the shore at Brighton Beach.
• 1935 - Switzerland: A Royal Dutch Airlines plane en route from Milan to Frankfurt crashes into a Swiss mountain, [...] thirteen.
• 1935 - Ethiopia: Emperor Haile Selassie demands Italy cease its demands on his country.
• 1935 - Turkey: A munitions dump near Istanbul explodes [...] many.
• 1935 - India: Riots between Muslims and Sikhs over a mosque in Lahore leave eleven dead.
• 1936 - Freedom of the seas: 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.
• 1936 - Aviation: Aviator Wiley Post nears Alaska aboard the Winnie Mae on his second round the world flight. His trip makes him the first person to fly around the world twice.
• 1937 - Michigan: A judge rules the Ford Motor Company, as well as eight individuals, must stand trial on criminal charges of assault for attacks on strikers in May.
• 1937 - Florida: Two black men accused of stabbing a policeman are taken by a mob from the Leon County jail in Tallahassee and killed.
• 1938 - United States: The Justice Department files suit in New York City against the motion picture industry charging violations of anti-trust law. The case would eventually result in a break-up of the industry in 1948.
• 1938 - Aviation: Ireland's President Douglas Hyde receives Douglas "Wrongway" Corrigan in Dublin after his transatlantic flight.
• 1939 - United States: The keel of the battleship USS Massachusetts (BB-59) is laid at the Bethlehem Steel shipyard in Quincy, Massachusetts.

1940-1949

• 1940 - Denmark leaves the League of Nations.
• 1940 - Pop culture: Billboard magazine publishes its first "Music Popularity Chart"; the first number one song is Frank Sinatra's "I'll Never Smile Again".
• 1940 - Southeast Asia: Admiral Jean Decoux named governor of French Indochina by Marshal Philippe Pétain.
• 1940 - United States: President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs a bill limiting political activity by Federal employees, the Hatch Act.
• 1941 - Soviet Union: Joseph Stalin consolidates the Commissariats of Home Affairs and National Security to form the NKVD and names Lavrenti Beria its chief.
• 1941 - South America: In Bolivia, the government makes arrests, including the former finance minister Victor Paz Estenssoro, and shuts down newspapers, claiming a [...] coup is in the works.
• 1941 - Baseball: In Detroit, Michigan, the New York Yankees beat the Tigers 12-6 in a marathon seventeen inning game.
• 1942 - World War II: The first unit of the Women's Army Corps begins training in Des Moines, Iowa.
• 1942 - World War II: Red Army troops take bridgeheads over the Don River near Voronezh.
• 1942 - World War II: The Royal Air Force attacks Fuka
• 1942 - United States: The House of Representatives by a vote of 392-2 passes the largest tax increase in American history, $6.3 billion, and raises corporate tax rates to 90 percent.
• 1943 - World War II: Red Army forces launch an attack on a 450 mile front from Taganrog to Orel.
• 1943 - World War II: American and Canadian troops conquer Enna on Sicily.
• 1943 - World War II: Three Japanese Navy ships are sunk by American planes near Vila in the Solomon Islands.
• 1943 - World War II: In Washington, D.C., Admiral Frederick Horne, Vice Chief of Naval Operations says the U.S. Navy is planning for the war to last until 1949.
• 1943 - World War II: Axis leaders Adolf [...] and Benito Mussolini confer in northern Italy
• 1944 - Germany: Adolf [...] 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 - World War II: On Sicily, fighting continues between German and American forces near Catania.
• 1944 - India: In Bombay, health authorities announce a cholera epidemic has killed 34,000 in three months.
• 1944 - United States: The United States Democratic Party nominates Franklin D. Roosevelt for a fourth term as president.
• 1944 - Mexico: Fifty are hurt in rioting in front of the presidential palace in Mexico City.
• 1945 - United States: The U.S. Congress approves the Bretton Woods Agreement Act.
• 1945 - World War II: Talks continue on the fourth day of the Potsdam Conference outside Berlin.
• 1946 - World War II: The U.S. Congress's Pearl Harbor Committee says Franklin D. Roosevelt was completely blameless for the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and calls for a unified command structure in the armed forces.
• 1946 - United States: The United States House of Representatives votes 265-79 to put control of atomic energy in the hands of a civilian body, the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, rather than leave the military in control.
• 1946 - United States: Congressional conferees agree to extend the Office of Price Administration and its wage and price controls to June 30, 1947.
• 1946 - United States: Congress sends President Harry S. Truman the GI Bill.
• 1946 - Michigan: A grand jury indicts nineteen members of the state legislature for bribery for obstructing a banking reform bill.
• 1946 - Roman Catholic Church: Pope Pius XII denounces nationalization of industries.
• 1946 - World War II: The Soviet Union informed the United States Army that Lord Hee Haw, the Iowa-born propaganda broadcaster, had died in a Soviet camp in October 1945.
• 1946 - United Kingdom: Prime Minister Clement Atlee denounces leader of the opposition Winston Churchill's "stunts" and says the Tories have no plan.
• 1947 - Southeast Asia: Police in Burma arrest former Prime Minister U Saw and 19 others on charges of assassinating Prime Minister U Aung San and seven members of his cabinet.
• 1947 - South Asia: The viceroy of India says the people of the Northwest Frontier Province overwhelmingly voted the previous day to join Pakistan rather than India.
• 1947 - Roman Catholic Church: Pope Pius XII canonizes a French saint, Blessed Louis-Marie Gregnon de Montort.
• 1948 - Cold War: President Harry S. Truman issues the first peacetime military draft in the United States amid increasing tensions with the Soviet Union.
• 1948 - Far East: Syngman Rhee is elected president of South Korea by parliament.
• 1948 - United States: 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 - Middle East: Israel and Syria sign a truce to end their nineteen month war.
• 1949 - Bulgaria: Parliament elects Vassil Kolarov prime minister, replacing Georgi Dimitrov.
• 1949 - United States: Carmine DeSapio becomes leader of Tammany Hall, the Democratic organization in New York City.
• 1949 - Journalism: Colonel Robert R. McCormick announces the purchase of the Washington Times-Herald by his paper, the Chicago Tribune.
• 1949 - United States: President Harry S. Truman signs a bill to enable urban renewal and slum clearance.

Births

1300-1899

• 1304 - Francesco Petrarch, Italian poet (d. 1374)
• 1519 - Pope Innocent IX
• 1754 - Destutt de Tracy, philosopher
• 1797 - Sir Paweł Edmund Strzelecki, Polish explorer and geologist (d. 1873)
• 1838 - George Otto Trevelyan, British statesman and biographer (d. 1928)
• 1838- Augustin Daly, American playwright (d. 1899)
• 1847 - Max Liebermann, painter and graphic artist (d. 1935)
• 1849 - Robert Anderson Van Wyck, Mayor of New York City (d. 1918)
• 1865 - Carlos Avril, French actor (d. 1940)
• 1868 - Miron Cristea, First patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church (d. 1939)
• 1870 - Charles McHugh, American actor (d. 1931)
• 1870 - Gerard Wolst Trenité, Dutch writer
• 1873 - Alberto Santos-Dumont, Brazilian aviator (d. 1932)
• 1877 - William Colman, American actor (d. 1930)
• 1881 - Clyde Benson, American actor (d. 1947)
• 1881 - Hugh Sothern, American actor (d. 1947)
• 1884 - Hellwig F. Rimmen, Danish actor
• 1889 - Erich Pommer, German actor (d. 1966)
• 1889 - Ruth Weijden (d. 1956)
• 1889 - John Reith, BBC director-general
• 1890 - Theda Bara (Theodosia Burr Goodman), American actress (d. 1955)
• 1890 - Gonzalo Roig, Cuban composer (d. 1970)
• 1890 - Richard Billinger, Austrian writer (d. 1965)
• 1890 - Freeman H. Owens, American cinematographer
• 1890 - King George II of Greece (d. 1947)
• 1891 - Ralph Faukner, American actor and fight choreographer for films (d. 1987)
• 1894 - Errett Cord, automobile entrepreneur
• 1895 - László Moholy-Nagy, painter, photographer, sculptor (d. 1946)
• 1897 - Clifford Braughton, American actor (d. 1979)
• 1898 - Stepan Kayukov, Russian actor (d. 1960)
• 1899 - Melville De Lay, American actor (d. 1947)

1900-1909

• 1900 - Maurice Gilliams, Belgian writer (d. 1979)
• 1901 - Heinie Manush, Baseball Hall of Famer (d. 1971)
• 1901 - Sergei Blinnikov, Russian actor (d. 1969)
• 1902 - Jimmy Kennedy, Irish composer (d. 1984)
• 1903 - Maria Paudle, German actress (d. 1990)
• 1905 - Pascual Pelliciota, Argentine actor (d. 1985)
• 1907 - Leon Pietraskiewicz, Polish actor (d. 1987)
• 1909 - Clint Sharp, American stuntman in films (d. 1989)

1910-1919

• 1910 - Louise Rousseau, American screenwriter (d. 1981)
• 1910 - Henri Calef, Belgian filmmaker (d. 1994)
• 1910 - Muriel Evans, American actress (d. 2000)
• 1911 - Mirelle Balin, French actress (d. 1968)
• 1912 - Tom McDermott, American actor (d. 1996)
• 1913 - Elmer Lahti, Finnish actor
• 1913 - Irma Cordoba, Argentine actress
• 1914 - Masa Niemi, Finnish actor (d. 1960)
• 1916 - Claude Vernier, French actor (d. 1996)
• 1917 - Paul Hubschmid, German actor (d. 2001)
• 1918 - Cindy Walker, American country music singer
• 1919 - Sir Edmund Hillary, New Zealand mountain climber
• 1919 - Ernie Wilkins, American jazz musician (d. 1999)
• 1919 - Benson Ford, son of industrialist Henry Ford (d. 1978)
• 1919 - Paolo Levi, Italian writer (d. 1989)
• 1919 - K. T. Stevens, American actress (d. 1994)

1920-1929

• 1920 - Tommy Prothro, American football coach
• 1920 - Elliot Richardson, American politician (d. 1999)
• 1920 - [...] Lucas, American animator (d. 1997)
• 1921 - Hall Daniels, American composer (d. 1984)
• 1921 - Takanobu Hozumi, Japanese actor
• 1923 - Stanisław Albinowski, Polish economist and journalist (d.2005)
• 1924 - Tor Isedal, Swedish actor (d. 1990)
• 1924 - Mort Garson, Canadian composer
• 1924 - Tatyana Lioznova, Soviet director
• 1924 - Thomas Berger, American novelist
• 1924 - Bob Nichols, American actor
• 1925 - Jacques Delors, former President of the European Commission
• 1926 - Lola Albright, American actress (Peter Gunn)
• 1926 - Ilija Ivezic, Yugoslav actor
• 1926 - Patricia Cutts, British actress (Coronation Street)(d. 1974)
• 1927 - Leon Sinden, British actor
• 1927 - Heather Chasen, British actress
• 1927 - Paul Marin, American actor
• 1928 - Terence Feely, British screenwriter
• 1928 - Pavel Kohout, Czech writer
• 1929 - Mike Ilitch, American businessman (Little Caesar's Pizza), sports executive, and philanthropist
• 1929 - Rajendra Kumar, Indian actor (d. 1999)
• 1929 - Zlatko Sudovic, Yugoslav director

1930-1939

• 1930 - Oleg Anofriyev, Russian actor
• 1930 - Sally Ann Howes, British actress
• 1930 - James Kenney, British actor (d. 1982)
• 1932 - Otto Schily, German politician
• 1932 - Ove Verner Hansen, Danish actor
• 1933 - Chuck Daly, American basketball coach
• 1933 - Nelson Doubleday, American book publisher and baseball executive
• 1933 - Cormac McCarthy, American author
• 1933 - Rex Williams, English snooker player
• 1934 - Uwe Johnson, German writer
• 1934 - Adriano Reys, Brazilian actor
• 1934 - Aliki Vougiouklaki, Greek actress
• 1935 - Henson Cargill, American country music singer
• 1935 - Sleepy LaBeef, American country music singer
• 1935 - Raleigh Bond, American actor (d. 1989)
• 1936 - Barbara Mikulski, U.S. Senator from Maryland
• 1936 - Ken Johnson, American sound editor in motion pictures
• 1936 - Christian Rode, German actor
• 1936 - Andrzej Kondratiuk, Polish filmmaker
• 1937 - Ken Ogata, Japanese actor
• 1938 - Natalie Wood, American actress: (Rebel Without a Cause, West Side Story (d. 1981)
• 1938 - Dame Diana Rigg, British actress
• 1938 - Timothy Scott, American actor (d. 1995)
• 1939 - Judy Chicago, American feminist artist

1940-1949

• 1940 - Tony Oliva, Cuban-born American baseball player
• 1940 - David Tukhmanov, Russian composer
• 1941 - Kurt Raab, German actor (d. 1988)
• 1941 - Lyudmila Chursina, Russian actress
• 1941 - Koji Ishizaka, Japanese actor
• 1942 - Pete Hamilton, American race car driver
• 1942 - Yves Mourousi, French television news anchor (d. 1998)
• 1943 - Wendy Richard, British television actress (Are You Being Served?, EastEnders)
• 1943 - John Lodge, American singer (The Moody Blues)
• 1943 - Ernie Gehr, American film director
• 1943 - Chris Murney, American actor
• 1943 - Chris Aman, New Zealand race car driver
• 1944 - T. G. Sheppard, American country music singer
• 1945 - Kim Carnes, American singer and songwriter ("Bette Davis Eyes")
• 1945 - Harrison Ellenshaw, American special effects artist in motion pictures
• 1945 - Larry Craig, U.S. Senator from Idaho
• 1946 - Randal Kleiser, American film director (Grease)
• 1946 - Peter Simons, Belgian director
• 1947 - Carlos Santana, Mexican guitarist
• 1947 - Judi Connelli, Australian opera singer
• 1948 - Niki Harris, American dancer
• 1948 - Muse Watson, American actor

Deaths

To 1899

• 985 - Pope Boniface VII
• 1031 - King Robert II of France (b. 972)
• 1398 - Roger Mortimer, 4th Earl of March
• 1524 - Queen Claude of France
• 1870 - Jules Alfred Huot de Goncourt, French writer and founder of the Prix Goncourt
• 1897 - Jean Ingelow, English poet (b. 1820)

1900-1949

• 1901 - William Cosmo Monkhouse, poet, critic (b. 1840)
• 1903 - Pope Leo XIII
• 1908 - Demetrius Vikelas, Greek International Olympic Committee president
• 1922 - Andrey Markov, mathematician
• 1923 - Pancho Villa, revolutionary (assassinated)
• 1926 - Felix Edmundovich Dzerzhinskiy, head of the Soviet secret police
• 1927 - King Ferdinand of Romania
• 1937 - Guglielmo Marconi, Italian radio inventor
• 1941 - Lew Fields, American vaudeville performer
• 1945 - Paul Valéry, French author and poet (b. 1871)

References

• Facts on File Yearbook, various years
• Facts on File's Day by Day series
• Encyclopaedia Britannica Yearbook, various years
• Internet Movie Database July 20 in Movie History page
• The New York Times, July 21 issues of various years