1829: William Austin Burt patents the Typographer, a precursor to the typewriter.
1862: Henry W. Halleck takes command of the Union Army.
1888: Raymond Chandler, author of the Philip Marlowe novels is born.1904: The ice cream cone was invented by Charles E. Menches during the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis.
1914: Austria-Hungary issues an ultimatum to Serbia demanding they allow the Austrians to determine who assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand. When Serbia denies Austria-Hungarian demands, mobilization for World War I begins on July 28.
1923: Another golden age sci-fi titan, Cyril Kornbluth is born.
1926: Fox Film buys the patents of the Movietone sound system for recording sound onto film.1929: The fascist government in Italy bans the use of foreign words.
1933: Burt Convy is born.
1938: Ronny Cox is born.
1942: The Treblinka extermination camp is opened in Poland.1961: Woody Harrelson is born.
1962: Telstar relays the first live trans-Atlantic television signal.1966: Slash, of Guns N' Roses is born.
1967: In Detroit, Michigan, one of the worst riots in United States history begins on 12th Street in the predominantly African American inner city (43 killed, 342 injured and 1,400 buildings burned).
1968: In Cleveland, Ohio, a violent shootout between a Black Militant organization led by Ahmed Evans and the Cleveland Police Department occurred. During the shootout, a riot began that lasted for five days.
1971: Alison Kraus is born.
1972: The United States launches Landsat 1, first Earth-resources satellite.
1982: The International Whaling Commission decides to end commercial whaling by 1985-86.
1984: Vanessa Williams becomes the first Miss America to resign when she surrenders her crown after nude photos of her appeared in Penthouse magazine.
Today in History elements mostly cribbed from The History Channel, Wikipedia, The New York Times, The Jewish World Review, The Writer's Almanac and anything else I can dig up.
