356 Alexander The Great, Macedonian king and military leader, born in Pella, Macedonia (modern Greece)
1793 Scottish explorer Alexander Mackenzie completes the first European east-to-west crossing of America north of Mexico
1801 Elisha Brown Jr presses a 1,235-pound cheese ball at his farm
1822 Gregor Mendel,Austrian monk and geneticist (discoverer of laws of heredity), born in Heinzendorf, Austria
1861 Confederate states' congress began holding sessions in Richmond, Virginia
1890 Snow and hail in Calais, Maine
1917 Pact of Corfu signed: Serbs, Croats & Slovenes form Yugoslavia
1919 Edmund Hillary,New Zealand explorer and mountaineer who was 1st to scale Mount Everest with Tenzing Norgay, born in Auckland, New Zealand
1923 Pancho Villa Mexican revolutionary general and guerrilla leader, murdered at 45
1933 Vatican state secretary Pacelli (Pius XII) signs the Reichskonkordat accord with Hitler's Nazi Germany
1934 118°F (48°C), Keokuk, Iowa (state record)
1938 Natalie Wood,American actress (Miracle on 34th Street; Gypsy; Rebel Without A Cause; West Side Story), born in San Francisco, California
1944 Adolf Hitler survives an assassination attempt led by German army officer Claus Von Stauffenberg
1944 Claus von Stauffenberg, German antifascist colonel, dies by firing squad at 36
1944 Ludwig Beck, German general (July 20th plot), executed
1944 Mertz, German colonel (July 20th plotter), executed
1944 Werner von Haeffen, German lieutenant (July 20th plotter), executed
1944 Browns Nelson Potter is first pitcher suspended for throwing spitballs
1944 US President FDR nominated for an unprecedented fourth term at Democratic convention
1947 Carlos Santana,1947 Mexican-American rock guitarist born in Autlán de Navarro, Mexico
1956 US performs atmospheric nuclear Test at Bikini Island
1964 1st surfin' record to go #1-Jan & Dean's "Surf City", Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys wrote this song in collaboration with Jan Berry from Jan & Dean.
1965 Columbia records release Bob Dylan single "Like a Rolling Stone"
1965 18.18 inches (46.18 cm) of rainfall in Edgarton, Missouri (state 24-hour record)
1965 NY Yankee pitcher Mel Stottlemyre hits an inside-the-park grand slam at Yankee Stadium in 6-3 win over the Boston Red Sox
1973 White Sox Wilbur Wood starts and loses both games of a doubleheader with NY Yankees, 12-2, & 7-0
1973 Bruce Lee Hong Kong-American martial artist and actor, dies of a cerebral edema at 32
1975 Bruce Springteen and the E Street Band kick off the Born to Run Tour at the Palace Theatre in Providence, Rhode Island; Steven Van Zandt debuts as a full-fledged member of the group
1976 Hank Aaron hits his 755th and last home run off Angels pitcher Dick Drago
1980 Gisele Bündchen Brazilian supermodel, born in Horizontina, Brazil
1985 Divers find wreck of Spanish galleon Atocha
1994 Former NFL running back, broadcaster and actor O.J. Simpson offers $500,000 reward for evidence of ex-wife's klller
1995 The Regents of the University of California vote to end all affirmative action in the UC system by 1997.
2019 115°F (46.1°C), John Martin Dam, Colorado (state record)