July 19th

Summoned by British lawmakers to answer for a phone hacking and bribery scandal at one of his tabloids, media mogul Rupert Murdoch said he was humbled and ashamed, but accepted no responsibility for wrongdoing.

President George W. Bush announced his choice of federal appeals court judge John Roberts to replace Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.

President Clinton announced the 'Don't ask, don't tell' policy regarding gays in the military.

A United Air Lines DC-10 crashed while making an emergency landing at Sioux City, Iowa, killing 112 people; 184 survived.

Caroline Kennedy, daughter of President John F. Kennedy, married Edwin A. Schlossberg.

Congresswoman Geraldine A. Ferraro of New York won the Democratic nomination for vice president at the party's convention in San Francisco.

The Summer Olympics began in Moscow with dozens of nations boycotting because of Soviet military intervention in Afghanistan.

The Nicaraguan capital of Managua fell to Sandinista guerrillas.

Apollo 11, with Neil Armstrong, Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin and Michael Collins on board, went into orbit around the moon.

Fifty year-old singer Frank Sinatra married 21-year-old actress Mia Farrow.

Winston Churchill was the first to use the two-finger 'V is for Victory' sign.

George McGovern, a U.S. senator and the Democratic presidential candidate in 1972, was born in Avon, S.D.

Billboard publishes earliest known "Last Week's 10 Best Sellers among Popular Songs" Malinda's Wedding Day is #1.

The first Tour de France comes to an end. Maurice Garin became the first person to win the debut of the now annual bike race.

Paris Metro opens. One of the densest metros in the world and the second largest metro in Europe, the first line of the Paris Metro opened during the World's Fair.

The Franco-Prussian war, which led to the unification of the German states, began.

Tennessee is 1st to ratify 14th Amendment to the US constitution, guaranteeing civil rights.

The first women's rights convention, called by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia C. Mott, was held in Seneca Falls, New York.

Brunel's steamship the SS Great Britain is launched, becomes first ocean-going craft with an iron hull or screw propeller and the largest vessel afloat in the world.

Astronomer Johannes Kepler has an epiphany and develops his theory of the geometrical basis of the universe.

King Henry VIII's daughter Mary was proclaimed Queen of England after pretender Lady Jane Grey was deposed.