July 2nd

Incident at Xuanwu Gate: in fear of assassination, Li Shimin ambushes and kills his rival brothers Li Yuanji and Li Jiancheng.

American businessman, Steve Fossett completes the first solo around-the-world Balloon Flight. This was Fossett's 6th attempt to circumnavigate the world. It took him 13 days in a balloon called Spirit of Freedom to cover 20,000 miles.

World's First Self-Contained Artificial Heart Transplant. 59-year old American Robert L. Tools became the first person to receive the a self-contained artificial heart transplant called the AbioCor at the Jewish Hospital in Louisville, Kentucky. The AbioCor is an artificial heart that is not connected to wires or an external pump.

Actor James Stewart died in Beverly Hills, Calif.

Panic in tunnel of Mecca: 1,426 pilgrims trampled to death.

In Gregg v. Georgia, the Supreme Court ruled that the death penalty was not inherently cruel or unusual.

US President Lyndon B. Johnson signs Civil Rights Act & Voting Rights Act into law.

Hitler orders invasion of Britain (Operation Sealion).

Amelia Earhart and her co-pilot Fred Noonan disappeared over the Pacific Ocean while attempting to fly around the world.

The Zeppelin Takes Off for the First Time. The rigid aircraft named after Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, the inventor of the dirigible and founder of the Zeppelin Airship Construction Company, made its first flight over Lake Constance in Germany. Unlike blimps or balloons, Zeppelins are built by stretching material over a rigid framework, usually made of metal. Zeppelins can be steered and they were used by the German Air Force to conduct aerial attacks during the First World War.

Congress passed the Sherman Antitrust Act.

President James Garfield was shot by Charles Guiteau. He died on Sept. 19.

Alligator Falls Out of the Sky in Charleston, South Carolina during a thunderstorm. It is believed that the strange incident happened when a waterspout carried an alligator from a body of water and dropped in on the city.

Bahia Independence Day: the end of Portuguese rule in Brazil, with the final defeat of the Portuguese crown loyalists in the province of Bahia.

Continental Congress resolves "these United Colonies are & of right ought to be Free & Independent States".

French astrologer, physician, and prophet Nostradamus died.