2004 Go F*** Yourself Vice Pres. Dick Cheney gives Sen. Patrick J. Leahy some advice on the Senate floor. Leahy had criticized Cheney about his connections to Halliburton and its sole-source contracts in Iraq.

1991 Chief of Staff Sununu's travel is restricted by the White House after criticism for travel abuse.

1983 First satellite retrieved from orbit Accomplished by the space shuttle Challenger.

1980 First Native American Beatified by the Catholic Church Kateri Tekakwith, daughter of a Mohawk chief.

1978 Charon The moon of the dwarf planet Pluto is discovered.

1977 Youngest player to win a Wimbledon match Traci Austin (age 14) beats Elly Vessies-Appel of the Netherlands.

1977 Watergate John Mitchell begins serving his 30-month sentence for his involvement, making him the first U.S. attorney general to serve time.

1976 Flight 139 The PLO hijacks an Air France flight to Uganda. The hostages were rescued by Israeli commandos on July 4th.

1954 Studabaker and Packard merge The last two independent U.S. automakers agree to combine forces.

1953 Hollow Nickel Spy Case A newspaper delivery boy drops a nickel he was given as change and it breaks open revealing microfilm from a Soviet Spy.  See Hollow Nickel Case

1944 GI Bill The Serviceman's Readjustment Act, known as the GI Bill, is signed providing veterans benefits.

1940 World War II France surrenders to Germany and is divided into German and Italian occupation zones.

1937 Joe Louis wins the world heavyweight boxing championship by knocking out James J. Braddock in the 8th round. He remained the champ until his retirement in 1949.

1870 U.S. Department of Justice is established. It is headed by the attorney general.

1868 Arkansas is readmitted to the Union after the Civil War over Pres. Johnson's veto.

1807 Chesapeake-Leopard Affair The U.S. frigate Chesapeake is fired upon and surrenders to the British ship Leopard about 40 miles east of Chesapeake Bay. This is one of the events leading to the War of 1812.

1775 First paper money authorized by the Continental Congress is issued. Source: Famous First Facts

1633 Galileo Galilei is sentenced to prison by the Inquisition for teaching that the Earth revolves around the Sun. The sentence was reduced the following day to house arrest for life.

1611 Henry Hudson The famed explorer's crew mutinies.  He and eight others are put off his ship by Henry Greene during his voyage to find a North-West passage. He was never heard from again.

1954 Freddie Prinze d. 1977 American actor. TV: Chico and the Man (Chico).

1949 Meryl Streep (Mary Louise Streep), American Oscar-winning actress. Film: The Deer Hunter (1978), Kramer vs. Kramer (1979, Oscar), Sophie's Choice (1982, Oscar), and Postcards From the Edge (1990).

1949 Lindsay Wagner American Emmy-winning actress. TV: The Bionic Woman (title role).

1949 Alan Osmond American singer. Music: One Bad Apple (1971, #1) and Go Away Little Girl (1971, #1).

1948 Todd Rundgren American singer, producer. Music: Hello It's Me (1972) and Can We Still Be Friends (1978).

1947 "Pistol" Pete Maravich d. 1988 American basketball player, NBA Hall of Famer (1986).

1941 Ed Bradley American Emmy-winning news correspondent. TV: 60 Minutes.

1936 Kris Kristofferson (Kris Carson), American singer, actor. Music: Me and Bobby McGee. Film: A Star Is Born (1976).

1928 Ralph Waite American actor. TV: The Waltons (patriarch John Walton).

1922 Bill Blass American fashion designer.

1921 Joseph Papp American Pulitzer-winning Shakespearian theatrical producer, director.

1907 Mike Todd d. 1958 (Avram Goldenbogen), American producer. Film: Oklahoma! (1955) and Around the World in 80 Days (1956). He died in a plane crash, in which his wife, Liz Taylor, would have also been a passenger had she not stayed home with a cold.

1906 Billy Wilder d. 2002 (Samuel Wilder), Austrian-born Oscar-winning author, director. Once directed a cameraman, "Shoot a few scenes out of focus, I want to win the foreign film award." Film: The Lost Weekend (1945, Oscar and U.S. winner of the first Cannes Film Festival), Sunset Boulevard (1950), Stalag 17 (1953), Some Like It Hot (1959), and The Apartment (1960, Oscar).

1898 Erich Maria Remarque d. 1970 German-born American author, All Quiet on the Western Front (1929), the first non-American/English book to top the best seller list.

1864 Hermann Minkowski d. 1909 Russian mathematician. In 1907, he laid the mathematical foundation for Einstein's general theory of relativity.

1844 Margaret Sidney d. 1924 (Harriet Lothrop), American children's author. Writings: Five Little Peppers and How They Grew (1881).

1837 Paul Charles Morphy d. 1884 American chess player. He won the first American Masters tournament (1857) and went on to defeat every European master who would play him.

1757 George Vancouver d. 1798 British explorer for whom Vancouver Island is named.

2008 George Carlin b. 1937 American Grammy-winning comedian. Albums: Class Clown (1972, which contained the classic George Carlin: Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television). TV: George Carlin.

2002 Ann Landers b. 1918 (Esther Pauline Friedman), American advice columnist. She is the twin sister of the original "Dear Abby" columnist.

1993 Pat Nixon b. 1912 (Thelma Catherine Ryan), American first lady.

1987 Fred Astaire b. 1899 (Frederick Austerlitz), American dancer whose career spanned six decades.

1969 Judy Garland b. 1922 (Frances Gumm), American Oscar-Grammy-winning actress. She performed the song Over the Rainbow over 12,000 times. Film: The Wizard of Oz (1939, Dorothy).

1965 David O. Selznick b. 1902 American Oscar-winning producer. Film: King Kong (1933), Gone With the Wind (1939, Oscar), and Rebecca (1940, Oscar).

1535 Saint John Fisher b. circa 1459 English scholar, was beheaded for opposing the ascension of King Henry VIII to the head of the church in England.

1276 Innocent V b. 1225 religious leader, 185th Pope (Jan. - June 1276). He was the first of the Dominican Order to become Pope.

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