Today in History

The Associated Press

Today is Thursday, July 2, the 183rd day of 2015. There are 182 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On July 2, 1776, the Continental Congress passed a resolution saying that "these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States."

On this date:

In 1881, President James A. Garfield was shot by Charles J. Guiteau at the Washington railroad station; Garfield died the following September. (Guiteau was hanged in June 1882.)

In 1890, President Benjamin Harrison signed into law the Sherman Antitrust Act.

In 1915, a time bomb planted in a reception room of the U.S. Senate exploded shortly before midnight, causing considerable damage but hurting no one. Former Mexican President Porfirio Diaz died in exile in Paris.

In 1926, the United States Army Air Corps was created.

In 1937, aviator Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan disappeared over the Pacific Ocean while attempting to make the first round-the-world flight along the equator.

In 1943, Bing Crosby and the Ken Darby Singers recorded "Sunday, Monday or Always" for Decca Records.

In 1955, "The Lawrence Welk Show" premiered on ABC-TV under its original title, "The Dodge Dancing Party."

In 1961, author Ernest Hemingway shot himself to death at his home in Ketchum, Idaho.

In 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed into law a sweeping civil rights bill passed by Congress.

In 1979, the Susan B. Anthony dollar coin was released to the public.

In 1982, Larry Walters of San Pedro, California, used a lawn chair equipped with 45 helium-filled weather balloons to rise to an altitude of 16,000 feet; he landed eight miles away in Long Beach.

In 1990, more than 1,400 Muslim pilgrims were killed in a stampede inside a pedestrian tunnel near Mecca, Saudi Arabia.

Ten years ago: Shasta Groene (GROH'-nee), an 8-year-old girl kidnapped six weeks earlier, was rescued at a restaurant in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho; the man with her, Joseph Edward Duncan III, was arrested and accused of kidnapping Shasta as well as killing members of her family. (Duncan later received three death sentences and multiple life sentences.) Egypt's top envoy to post-Saddam Hussein Iraq (Ihab al-Sherif) was kidnapped in Baghdad (al-Qaida later announced it had killed him). The marathon Live 8 concert rocked the globe and the Internet, focusing attention on African poverty. Venus Williams beat top-ranked Lindsay Davenport at Wimbledon 4-6, 7-6 (4), 9-7 for her fifth major title and her first in nearly four years. Hollywood screenwriter Ernest Lehman (LEE'-muhn) died in Los Angeles at age 89.

Today's Birthdays: Former Philippine first lady Imelda Marcos is 86. Jazz musician Ahmad Jamal is 85. Actor Robert Ito is 84. Actress Polly Holliday is 78. Racing Hall of Famer Richard Petty is 78.

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