This Year in History
Our Selections From July
All year, we've been highlighting historical news events—and Foreign Affairs articles about those events—as part of our "This Day in History" series. Here are our collected selections for July.
1964: LBJ Signs Civil Rights Act
The landmark piece of legislation outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. Read more about it in the Foreign Affairs archive.
2000: Vicente Fox Quesada Elected President of Mexico
After 71 years of one-party rule by the Institutional Revolutionary Party, the Mexican people elect Vicente Fox Quesada of the National Action Party. Read more about it in the Foreign Affairs archive.
1988: The USS Vincennes Shoots Down Iran Air 655
The attack kills all 290 people on board. The United States later claimed it had mistaken the civilian airliner for an Iranian fighter aircraft. Read more about it in the Foreign Affairs archive.
1776: Independence Day
The United States adopts the Declaration of Independence. Read more about it in the Foreign Affairs archive.
1950: Battle of Osan
The United States fights North Korean forces for the first time during the Korean War. Read more about it in the Foreign Affairs archive.
1964: Malawi Declares Independence from the United Kingdom
The country came under the British Central Africa Protectorate in 1889 and was later renamed Nyasaland. After independence, it officially became known as the Republic of Malawi, derived from "Maravi," the name of the indigenous empire that ruled the area in precolonial times. Read more about it in the Foreign Affairs archive.
1936: The Marco Polo Bridge Incident
Republic of China's National Revolutionary Army clashes with Imperial Japanese forces over the landmark bridge. This incident marked the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War. Read more about it in the Foreign Affairs archive.
1994: Kim Il Sung Dies
Kim Il Sung, who had been North Korea's leader since 1948, dies at age 82. Read more about it in the Foreign Affairs archive.
2004: Justifications for Iraq War Discovered to Be Unfounded
The Senate Intelligence Committee reports that intelligence failures misled the U.S. government and the American people to falsely conclude that there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Read more about it in the Foreign Affairs archive.
1973: The Bahamas Declare Independence from Britain
The country of about 700 islands in the Caribbean gains its indpedence after 325 years as a British colony. Read more about it in the Foreign Affairs archive.
2006: Mumbai Bombings
A series of bomb blasts on a railway in Mumbai kill over 200 and injure 700. Read more about it in the Foreign Affairs archive.
2006: Second Lebanon War Begins
Hezbollah launched a crossfire attack that killed eight Israeli soldiers monitoring the border. Israel retaliated and the ensuing conflict lasted a month. Read more about it in the Foreign Affairs archive.
1973: Existence of "Nixon Tapes" Revealed
Alexander Butterfield, then deputy chief of staff, tells the Senate Watergate Committee about the tapes. Read more about it in the Foreign Affairs archive.
1789: The Storming of Bastille
The French revolution begins with the storming of the Bastille fortress and prison, which had come to represent the oppression of the Bourbon monarchs. Read more about it in the Foreign Affairs archive.
1975: End of the Space Race
The Apollo–Soyuz Test Project was the first joint U.S.-Soviet space mission. Its successful nine-day flight signaled the end of the Space Race. Read more about it in the Foreign Affairs archive.
1931: Emperor Haile Selassie Signs Ethiopia's First Constitution
Ethiopia's first modern constitution is based on the Meiji Constitution of Japan. Read more about it in the Foreign Affairs archive.
1918: Bolsheviks Execute Tsar Nicholas II of Russia
Tsar Nicholas II and his family are gunned down in Yekaterinburg, Russia. Their deaths mark the end of the Romanov dyansty, which had lasted for three centuries. Read more about it in the Foreign Affairs archive.
1940: FDR Nominated as Democratic Party Candidate
At the Democratic Party convention in Chicago, Franklin Delano Roosevelt was nominated by his party for a third term. He went on to beat Republican Wendell Wilkie in the general election. Term limits were instated in 1951. Read more about it in the Foreign Affairs archive.
1956: The United States Revokes Offer of Aid to Egypt
U.S. Sectretary of State Dulles withdraws an offer of financial aid to Egypt for the building of a dam on the Nile, driving Cairo to forge a stronger alliance with the Soviet Union. Read more about it in the Foreign Affairs archive.
1944: Hitler Is Wounded in an Assassination Attempt
Adolf Hitler survives an attempt by high German officials to kill him. Read more about it in the Foreign Affairs archive.
1944: The Second Battle of Guam Begins
U.S. troops land on Guam to recapture the island from Japan. Read more about it in the Foreign Affairs archive.
2003: Saddam Hussein's Sons Killed
Qusay and Uday Hussein are killed in a firefight with U.S. forces in Mosul. Read more about it in the Foreign Affairs archive.
1962: U.S.-Soviet Accord on Laos
The two superpowers sign an official agreement to end their roles in Lao's civil war, but both would continue covert involvement. Read more about it in the Foreign Affairs archive.
1959: The Kitchen Debate
During a televised visit to the American National Exhibition in Moscow, Vice President Richard M. Nixon fell into a debate about communism versus capitalism with Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev while in an exhibit of a model kitchen. Read more about it in the Foreign Affairs archive.
1943: Benito Mussolini Forced Out of Office
The Italian Grand Council replaces him with Pietro Badoglio. Read more about it in the Foreign Affairs archive.
1956: Egypt Nationalizes the Suez Canal
President Gamal Abdel Nasser seizes the British and French-owned waterway, precipitating the Suez Crisis. Read more about it in the Foreign Affairs archive.
1953: Signing of Korean Armistice Agreement
The treaty ended the war between North and South Korea and established the Korean Demilitarized Zone. Read more about it in the Foreign Affairs archive.
1985: Garcia Sworn In as President of Peru
Alan Garcia's first term is marked by one of the country's worst economic crises. Read more about it in the Foreign Affairs archive.
1934: Hitler Becomes Führer of Germany
After the death of President Paul von Hindenburg, 90 percent of the country votes to make Adolf Hitler, who is already chancellor, also the head of state. This gives him control of the army. Read more about it in the Foreign Affairs archive.
1980: The Jerusalem Law
The Knesset passes a law making Jerusalem the capital of Israel. But the international community continues to maintain embassies in Tel Aviv. Read more about it in the Foreign Affairs archive.
2011: The Budget Control Act
President Obama signed the Budget Control Act of 2011 in an attempt to solve the debt ceiling crisis and reduce the budget deficit. Read more about it in the Foreign Affairs archive.