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On this Day July 2

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Celebrity Birthdays

1908 – Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall (d. 1993)

1922 – Fashion designer Pierre Cardin 

1925 – Civil rights leader Medgar Evers (d. 1963)

1937 – Champion race car driver Richard Petty, nicknamed “The King” for winning the Daytona 500 and the NASCAR national championship each seven times 

1946 – Tony-winning actor Ron Silver  (“Reversal of Fortune,” “Ali,” “The West Wing,” “Speed-the-Plow”) (d. 2009)

1947 – Comedian-actor-writer Larry David (“Seinfeld,” “Curb Your Enthusiasm”)

1956 – Supermodel-actress Jerry Hall, who was once married to The Rolling Stones’ Mick Jagger

1985 – Actress-singer Ashley Tisdale (“The Suite Life of Zack & Cody,” “Hellcats,” ”High School Musical”)

1986 – Actress Lindsay Lohan (“The Parent Trap,” “Freaky Friday,” “Mean Girls,” “Herbie: Fully Loaded,” “Just My Luck,” “A Prairie Home Companion,” “Bobby,” “Chapter 27”)

History Highlights

1776 – Convening in Philadelphia, the Second Continental Congress formally adopts Richard Henry Lee’s resolution for independence from Great Britain. The vote is unanimous, with only New York abstaining.

1881 – President James A. Garfield is shot while walking through a Washington, D.C. railroad station. Vice President Chester Arthur steps in as acting president while Garfield recuperates, but 80 days later, Garfield dies of blood poisoning and Arthur is inaugurated as 21st president. The assassin, 40-year-old Charles Guiteau, had stalked the president for weeks.

1937 – Aviator Amelia Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, disappear over the Pacific Ocean while attempting to fly around the world. They were believed to be headed for Howland Island — about halfway between Hawaii and Australia —  after taking off from Lae, New Guinea.

1964 – President Lyndon Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1964 into law. The historic measure prohibits discrimination on the basis of race in public places as well as in employment, union membership and voter registration. 

1979 – The Susan B. Anthony dollar coin is introduced, but fails to catch on because many consumers are unable to distinguish it from a quarter.

1994 – While attempting to land, US Air Flight 1016 crashes near Charlotte-Douglas Airport in North Carolina, killing 37 people and seriously injuring 16 others. Investigators determine that wind shear resulting from a thunderstorm caused the plane to plummet to the ground and strike a home.

1997 – “Men in Black,” starring Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones, opens in U.S. theaters. The sci-fi-comedy action movie grosses more than $250 million domestically and helps establish Smith as one of Hollywood’s most bankable leading men.

Musical Milestones

1956 – Elvis Presley and his new band, The Jordanaires, record “Hound Dog” at RCA Studios in New York. It requires 31 takes to get the version Elvis likes, and the song becomes a No. 1 smash. The track was originally recorded four years earlier by Big Mama Thornton, whose version enjoyed seven weeks on top of the R&B chart.

1966 – Ol’ Blue Eyes — Frank Sinatra — sits on top of the Billboard Hot 100 with “Strangers in the Night.”

1977 – Bill Conti soars to the top of the Billboard pop chart with “Gonna Fly Now,” the theme from the movie “Rocky,” starring Sylvester Stallone.

1988 – “Dirty Diana,” by Michael Jackson, reaches No. 1 on the Billboard singles chart, where it holds for a week. The track is among five chart-topping hits from Jackson’s “Bad” album.

1994 – All-4-One is in the middle of an 11-week domination of the Billboard Hot 100 with “I Swear.”

2005 – “Inside Your Heaven” sends “American Idol” winner Carrie Underwood to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 for a week.

2011 – Adele enters her seventh and final week at No. 1 on the Billboard singles chart with “Rolling in the Deep.” The track, off her second album, “21,” goes on to capture Grammy Awards for Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best Short Form Music Video. Many music critics ranked it as the best song of 2011.

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