History for July 2

History for July 2 - On-This-Day.com:
Hermann Hesse 1877 - German poet, novelist, painter, Thurgood Marshall 1908 - U.S. Supreme Court Justice, Ken Curtis 1916 - Actor, known for his role as Festus Haggen in the TV series "Gunsmoke"



Medgar Evers 1925 - Civil rights activist from Mississippi, Dave Thomas 1932 - Founder for Wendy's Old Fashioned Hamburgers, Richard Petty 1937 - Auto racer
 

1776 - Richard Henry Lee’s resolution that the American colonies "are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States" was adopted by the Continental Congress.

1881 - Charles J. Guiteau fatally wounded U.S. President James A. Garfield in Washington, DC.


1926 - The U.S. Congress established the Army Air Corps.


1937 - American aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart disappeared in the Central Pacific during an attempt to fly around the world at the equator.


1947 - An object crashed near Roswell, NM. The U.S. Army Air Force insisted it was a weather balloon, but eyewitness accounts led to speculation that it might have been an alien spacecraft.


1962 - Wal-Mart Discount City opened in Rogers, Arkansas. It was the first Walmart store.


1982 - Larry Walters ("Lawnchair Larry") took flight in his homeade airship that consisted of a lawnchair with 45 helium-filled weather balloons attached to it. He stayed in flight for about an hour.


1998 - Cable News Network (CNN) retracted a story that alleged that U.S. commandos had used nerve gas to kill American defectors during the Vietnam War.