Associated Press
On July 3, 1863, the Civil War Battle of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania ended after three days in a major victory for the North.
1608 The city of Quebec was founded by Samuel de Champlain.
1775 Gen. George Washington took command of the Continental Army at Cambridge, Mass.
1878 Broadway song-and-dance man George M. Cohan was born in Providence, R.I. (Cohan claimed to have been – as he wrote in one of his patriotic songs – “born on the Fourth of July.”)
1890 Idaho became the 43rd state.
1898 The U.S. Navy defeated a Spanish fleet in the harbor at Santiago, Cuba, during the Spanish-American War.
1930 Congress created the Veterans Administration.
1962 Algeria became independent after 132 years of French rule.
1971 Rock singer Jim Morrison of The Doors died in Paris at age 27.
1985 The time-travel comedy “Back to the Future,” starring Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd, was released in movie theaters.
1986 President Ronald Reagan presided over a ceremony in New York Harbor that saw the relighting of the renovated Statue of Liberty.
1988 The USS Vincennes shot down an Iran Air jetliner over the Persian Gulf, killing all 290 people aboard.
2001 Former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic refused to enter a plea on war crimes charges in his first appearance before a U.N. tribunal at The Hague.
2005 A NASA space probe, Deep Impact, hit its comet target as planned in a mission to learn how the solar system formed.
2009 Sarah Palin announced she would resign as Alaska governor with 16 months left in her term.
Today’s Birthdays:
Actor Tom Cruise turns 53 years old today.
Pete Fountain, Jazz clarinetist, 85
Tom Stoppard, Playwright, 78
Jay Tarses, Writer, producer, 76
Lamar Alexander, U.S. senator, R-Tenn., 75
Kurtwood Smith, Actor (“That 70s Show”), 72
Michael Cole, Actor (“The Mod Squad”), 70
Dave Barry, Humor writer, 68
Betty Buckley, Actress (“Eight is Enough,” “Cats”), 68
Jan Smithers, Actress (“WKRP In Cincinnati”), 66
Montel Williams, Talk show host, 59
Thomas Gibson, Actor (“Dharma and Greg”), 53
Hunter Tylo, Actress (“The Bold and the Beautiful”), 53
Yeardley Smith, Actress (“The Simpsons”), 51
Audra McDonald, Singer, actress, 45
Olivia Munn, Actress (“The Newsroom”), 35
Shoshannah Stern, Actress, 35
Actor Patrick Wilson turns 42 years old today.