July 20
July 20 is the 201st day (202nd in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 164 days remaining.
Events
View more extensive lists of events: July 20 events before 1950 and July 20 events after 1950.
- 514 - Pope Hormisdas assumes the papacy.
- 1304 - Edward I of England takes the last rebel stronghold in the Wars of Scottish Independence.
- 1738 - French explorer Pierre Gaultier de Varennes et de la Vérendrye reaches the western shore of Lake Michigan.
- 1810 - History of Colombia: Citizens of Bogotá, New Granada declare independence from Spain.
- 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 - Austro-Prussian War: Battle of Lissa - The Austrian navy, led by Admiral Wilhelm von Tegetthoff, defeats the Italian navy near the island of Vis.
- 1871 - British Columbia joins the confederation of Canada.
- 1872 - The United States Patent Office awards the first patent for wireless telegraphy to Mahlon Loomis.
- 1881 - Sioux Chief Sitting Bull leads the last of his fugitive people in surrender to United States troops at Fort Buford in Montana
- 1885 - The Football Association legalises professionalism in football under pressure from the British Football Association.
- 1898 - Felipe Agoncillo in Hong Kong writes a letter to Apolinario Mabini expressing his apprehension regarding the supposed "alliance" between the Americans and the Filipinos.
- 1914 - Russia: Czar Nicholas II welcomes France's President Raymond Poincaré.
- 1917 - The Corfu Declaration, which led to the creation of the post-war Kingdom of Yugoslavia, was signed by the Yugoslav Committee and Kingdom of Serbia.
- 1917 - Alexander Kerensky becomes Prime Minister and President of the Russian provisional government and survives an assassination attempt.
- 1917 - In the United States, the first military draft numbers are drawn for World War I.
- 1920 - The funeral of Empress Eugenie of France is held in St. Michael's Abbey near Farnborough, England.
- 1921 - Air mail service begins between New York City and San Francisco.
- 1922 - The League of Nations awards mandates of Togoland to France and Tanganyika to the United Kingdom.
- 1925 - In Cleveland, Tennessee, Clarence Darrow questions William Jennings Bryan in the Scopes Monkey Trial during a session held out of doors about the literal truth of the Bible.
- 1927 - Michael I becomes King of Romania at age five upon the death of his grandfather Ferdinand I.
- 1932 - German President Paul von Hindenburg signs a decree ordering Franz von Papen to take control of the Prussian state government and declares martial law.
- 1932 - 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.
- 1933 - Vice-Chancellor of Germany Franz von Papen and Vatican Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli sign a concordat on behalf of their respective nations.
- 1933 - In the United Kingdom, 500,000 march against anti-Semitism in London.
- 1933 - United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt orders new regulations on the trading of grain in order to curb speculators.
- 1933 - In Germany, two-hundred Jewish merchants are arrested in Nuremberg and paraded through the streets.
- 1936 - 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.
- 1940 - Denmark leaves the League of Nations.
- 1940 - Billboard magazine publishes its first "Music Popularity Chart"; the first number one song is Frank Sinatra's "I'll Never Smile Again".
- 1940 - President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs a bill limiting political activity by Federal employees, the Hatch Act.
- 1941 - Joseph Stalin consolidates the Commissariats of Home Affairs and National Security to form the NKVD and names Lavrenti Beria its chief.
- 1942 - World War II: Red Army troops take bridgeheads over the Don River near Voronezh.
- 1943 - World War II: American and Canadian troops conquer Enna on Sicily.
- 1943 - World War II: Axis leaders Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini confer in northern Italy
- 1944 - World War II: July 20 Plot - German Führer Adolf Hitler survives an assassination attempt led by German Army Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg.
- 1944 - World War II: American troops land on Guam near Port Apra.
- 1944 - In Bombay, India, health authorities announce a cholera epidemic has killed 34,000 in three months.
- 1944 - The United States Democratic Party nominates Franklin D. Roosevelt for a fourth term as president.
- 1945 - The U.S. Congress approves the Bretton Woods Agreement.
- 1946 - 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.
- 1947 - Pope Pius XII canonizes a French saint, Blessed Louis-Marie Gregnon de Montort.
- 1948 - President Harry S. Truman issues the first peacetime military draft in the United States amid increasing tensions with the Soviet Union.
- 1948 - 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 - Israel and Syria sign a truce to end their nineteen month war.
- 1950 - In Belgium, Parliament authorizes king Léopold III to return from exile in Austria.
- 1951 - King Abdullah I of Jordan is assassinated while attending Friday prayers in Jerusalem.
- 1952 - The Egyptian prime minister, Hussein Sirry Pasha resigns.
- 1952 - The 15th Olympic Games begin in Helsinki, Finland.
- 1953 - The United Nations Economic and Social Council votes to make UNICEF a permanent agency.
- 1954 - United States Senator Joseph R. McCarthy accepts the resignation of his aide Roy Cohn.
- 1957 - The Soviet Union closes Peter the Great Bay, which provides access to Vladivostok, to foreign ships.
- 1959 - The Organization for European Economic Cooperation admits Spain.
- 1960 - The Polaris missile is successfully launched from a submarine, the USS George Washington (SSBN-598), for the first time.
- 1960 - In Lebanon, Saeb Salem is named Prime Minister.
- 1961 - The Arab League admits Kuwait to membership.
- 1964 - NASA successfully tests the first electric rocket engine in California.
- 1965 - Elias Tsirimokos becomes Prime Minister of Greece.
- 1969 - Project Apollo: Apollo 11 lands on the Moon and Neil A. Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin become the first humans to walk on its surface.
- 1972 - The cabinet of Prime Minister of the Netherlands Barend Biesheuvel resign in a dispute over the budget.
- 1973 - The United States Senate passes the War Powers Act.
- 1973 - United States Assistant Secretary of Defense Jerry Friedheim admits in testimony to the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee that the United States Defense Department lied to U.S. Congress about bombing Cambodia.
- 1973 - Palestianian terrorists hijack a Japan Airlines jet en route from Amsterdam to Japan and force it down in Dubai.
- 1973 - Indiana is found guilty of operating segregated schools by federal judge S. Hugh Dillin, who orders the state to develop a desegregation plan for Indianapolis's schools.
- 1974 - Forces from Turkey invade Cyprus after Greek Cypriots' attempt at enosis. NATO's Council praises the United States and the United Kingdom for attempts to settle the dispute. Syria and Egypt put their militaries on alert.
- 1976 - The Viking 1 lander successfully lands on Mars.
- 1977 - The Central Intelligence Agency releases documents under the Freedom of Information Act revealing it had engaged in mind control experiments.
- 1979 - Diana Nyad swims the sixty miles from the Bahamas to Florida.
- 1980 - Takieddih Solh is named Lebanon's new prime minister.
- 1980 - The United Nations Security Council votes 14-0 that member states should not recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
- 1980 - The United States Air Force reveals it has a stealth plane.
- 1981 - The United States suspends sales of F-16 fighter jets to Israel.
- 1984 - Officials of the Miss America pageant ask Vanessa Williams to quit after Penthouse published nude photos of her.
- 1987 - The United Nations Security Council demands a ceasefire in the Iran-Iraq War.
- 1988 - The Democrats nominate Governor Michael Dukakis of Massachusetts for President.
- 1990 - Iran Contra: All of Colonel Oliver North's convictions for perjury and other offenses are overturned by an appeals court.
- 1992 - Václav Havel resigns as President of Czechoslovakia.
- 1994 - Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9's Fragment Q1 hits Jupiter.
- 2000 - The leaders of Salt Lake City's bid to win the 2002 Winter Olympics are indicted by a federal grand jury for bribery, fraud, and racketeering.
- 2001 - The London Stock Exchange goes public.
- 2001 - The 27th G8 summit summit opens in Genoa. An Italian protester in Genoa, Carlo Giuliani, is shot by police.
- 2002 - The United States Senate confirms Roger L. Gregory as the first black to sit on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.
- 2004 - Former United States National Security Advisor Sandy Berger resigns as an advisor to Senator John Kerry's presidential campaign after it was revealed he removed classified documents from the National Archives.
- 2004 - PETA releases a video of gross cruelty to chickens taken at Pilgrim's Pride, one of KFC's suppliers in West Virginia, and the company pledges to investigate the claims.
- 2004 - Ahmed Qurei, Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority, agrees to withdraw his resignation, three days after tendering it.
- 2004 - Human Rights Watch releases a report stating that Sudanese government documents confirm support for the Arab Janjaweed militia in their campaign of ethnic cleansing against African Muslims in Darfur.
- 2005 - Canada becomes the fourth country in the world to legalized same-sex marriage, after the bill C-38 received its Royal Assent. See Same-sex marriage in Canada
Births
See also: More extensive list of July 20 births
- 1304 - Francesco Petrarch, Italian poet (d. 1374)
- 1519 - Pope Innocent IX
- 1537 - Arnaud d'Ossat, French diplomat and writer (d. 1604)
- 1620 - Nikolaes Heinsius, Dutch scholar (d. 1681)
- 1659 - Hyacinthe Rigaud, French painter (d. 1743)
- 1661 - Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville, French founder of the colony of Louisiana (d. 1706)
- 1673 - John Dalrymple, 2nd Earl of Stair, Scottish soldier and diplomat (d. 1747)
- 1754 - Destutt de Tracy, French philosopher (d. 1836)
- 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, German painter and graphic artist (d. 1935)
- 1849 - Robert Anderson Van Wyck, Mayor of New York City (d. 1918)
- 1858 - Ivan Vucetic, Croatian anthropologist (d. 1925)
- 1868 - Miron Cristea, first patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church (d. 1939)
- 1873 - Alberto Santos-Dumont, Brazilian aviator (d. 1932)
- 1889 - John Reith, British broadcast executive (d. 1971)
- 1890 - Theda Bara, American actress (d. 1955)
- 1890 - King George II of Greece (d. 1947)
- 1895 - László Moholy-Nagy, Hungarian painter, photographer, and sculptor (d. 1946)
- 1897 - Tadeus Reichstein, Polish chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1996)
- 1901 - Heinie Manush, baseball player (d. 1971)
- 1902 - Jimmy Kennedy, Irish composer (d. 1984)
- 1918 - Cindy Walker, American singer
- 1919 - Sir Edmund Hillary, New Zealand mountain climber
- 1920 - Elliot Richardson, American politician (d. 1999)
- 1923 - Stanisław Albinowski, Polish economist and journalist (d. 2005)
- 1924 - Mort Garson, Canadian composer
- 1924 - Thomas Berger, American novelist
- 1925 - Jacques Delors, French President of the European Commission
- 1926 - Lola Albright, American actress
- 1932 - Otto Schily, German politician
- 1933 - Chuck Daly, American basketball coach
- 1933 - Nelson Doubleday, American publisher and baseball executive
- 1933 - Cormac McCarthy, American author
- 1933 - Rex Williams, English snooker player
- 1934 - Uwe Johnson, German writer
- 1934 - Aliki Vougiouklaki, Greek actress
- 1936 - Barbara Mikulski, U.S. Senator from Maryland
- 1937 - Ken Ogata, Japanese actor
- 1938 - Natalie Wood, American actress (d. 1981))
- 1938 - Dame Diana Rigg, British actress
- 1939 - Judy Chicago, American artist
- 1940 - Tony Oliva, Cuban-born Major League Baseball player
- 1941 - Kurt Raab, German actor (d. 1988)
- 1943 - Wendy Richard, British television actress
- 1945 - Kim Carnes, American singer and songwriter
- 1945 - Larry Craig, U.S. Senator from Idaho
- 1946 - Peter Simons, Belgian director
- 1947 - Gerd Binnig, German-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1947 - Carlos Santana, Mexican guitarist
- 1950 - Naseeruddin Shah, Indian actor
- 1950 - Tantoo Cardinal, Canadian actress
- 1953 - Marcia Hines, American-born Australian singer
- 1954 - Moira Harris, American actress
- 1956 - Paul Cook, English musician (The Sex Pistols)
- 1959 - Radney Foster, American singer
- 1964 - Chris Cornell, American musician
- 1964 - Kool G. Rap, American musician
- 1964 - Terri Irwin, American television personality
- 1968 - Michael Park, American actor
- 1968 - Julian Rhind-Tutt, English actor
- 1969 - Vitamin C, American singer
- 1969 - Josh Holloway, American actor
- 1971 - Charles Johnson, baseball player
- 1973 - Haakon Magnus, Crown Prince of Norway
- 1973 - Peter Forsberg, Swedish-born hockey player
- 1974 - Simon Rex, American actor
- 1975 - Erik Hagen, Norwegian footballer
- 1980 - Mike Kennerty, American guitarist (The All-American Rejects)
- 1985 - John Francis Daley, American actor (Freaks and Geeks)
- 1996 - Billi Bruno, American actress
Deaths
For more deaths, see: July 20 deaths
- 985 - Pope Boniface VII
- 1031 - King Robert II of France (b. 972)
- 1156 - Toba, Emperor of Japan (1103)
- 1398 - Roger Mortimer, 4th Earl of March (b. 1374)
- 1454 - King John II of Castile (b. 1405)
- 1524 - Queen Claude of France (b. 1499)
- 1616 - Hugh O'Neill, 3rd Earl of Tyrone, English soldier
- 1704 - Peregrine White, first English child born in the Massachusetts Bay Colony (b. 1620)
- 1752 - Johann Christoph Pepusch, German composer (b. 1667)
- 1866 - Bernhard Riemann, German mathematician (b. 1826)
- 1870 - Jules de Goncourt, French writer (b. 1830)
- 1897 - Jean Ingelow, English poet (b. 1820)
- 1901 - William Cosmo Monkhouse, English poet and critic (b. 1840)
- 1903 - Pope Leo XIII (b. 1810)
- 1908 - Demetrius Vikelas, Greek International Olympic Committee president (b. 1835)
- 1922 - Andrey Markov, Russian mathematician (b. 1856)
- 1923 - Pancho Villa, Mexican revolutionary (assassinated) (b. 1878)
- 1926 - Felix Edmundovich Dzerzhinskiy, head of the Soviet secret police (b. 1877)
- 1927 - King Ferdinand of Romania (b. 1865)
- 1937 - Guglielmo Marconi, Italian inventor, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics (b. 1874)
- 1941 - Lew Fields, American vaudeville performer (b. 1867)
- 1944 - Mildred Harris, American actress (b. 1901)
- 1945 - Paul Valéry, French author and poet (b. 1871)
- 1951 - Friedrich Wilhelm Hohenzollern, Crown Prince of Germany (b. 1882)
- 1951 - King Abdullah I of Jordan (b. 1882)
- 1953 - Dumarsaid Estime, President of Haiti (b. 1900)
- 1953 - Jan Struther, British author (b. 1901)
- 1959 - William D. Leahy, American admiral (b. 1875)
- 1967 - Albert Lutuli, South African civil rights leader, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize
- 1973 - Bruce Lee, American actor and martial artist (b. 1940)
- 1982 - Okot p'Bitek, Ugandan poet (b. 1931)
- 1983 - ABC News World News Tonight anchor Frank Reynolds (b. 1923)
- 1993 - Vincent Foster Jr., White House deputy counsel (suicide) (b. 1945)
- 1997 - John Akii-Bua, Ugandan hurdler (b. 1949)
- 1999 - Sandra Gould, American actress (b. 1916)
- 2003 - Nicolas Freeling, English writer (b. 1927)
- 2004 - Adi Lady Lala Mara, Fiji chieftainess, wife of Kamisese Mara (b. 1931)
- 2005 - James Doohan, Canadian-born actor (b. 1920)
Holidays and observances
- International chess day
- Colombia - Independence Day
- Japan - Marine Day (Umi-no-hi, currently it falls on the third Monday in July.)
- Northern Cyprus - Peace and Freedom Day
- Argentina - Friendship Day
- Feast day for at least thirteen saints in the Roman Catholic Church: Ss. Aurelius, Margaret of Antioch, Wilgefortis, Elias, Barhadbesciabas, Wulmar, Sabinus, Severa (two of this name), Flavian, John of Pulsano, Joseph of Barsabas, Margaret, and Paul of St. Zoilus.
External links
July 19 - July 21 - June 20 - August 20 -- listing of all days