What Happened On
USS VINCENNES launching a missile from its deck
USS VINCENNES launching a missile from its deck
Iranian Passenger Jet Shot Down by U.S. Navy
July 3, 1988
Iran Air Flight 655, a scheduled civilian passenger flight from Tehran to Dubai, was shot down by a surface-to-air missile fired from USS Vincennes (CG 49) of the U.S. Navy. The aircraft was destroyed killing all 290 people on board including 66 children. The Vincennes had mistaken the aircraft for an Iranian F-14 jet fighter. The jet was flying over Iran's territorial waters in the Persian Gulf along its scheduled route. While the U.S. did not admit legal liability or formally apologize to Iran, it agreed to pay US$61.8 million ($213,103.45 per passenger) in compensation to the families of the Iranian victims.
Jim Morrison Dies of Overdose
July 3, 1971
Jim Morrison, the lead singer with The Doors, dies of a drug-induced heart attack. Although various stories are given, it is believed he snorted heroin, believing it was cocaine, and immediately suffered a heart attack. His long-term girlfriend, Pamela Courson, helped put him in a bathtub of warm water in an effort to revive him, but it was too late. Pamela would die of a heroin overdose three years later. Like Morrison, she was also 27 when she died.
John Logie Baird
John Logie Baird
First Public Demonstration of Color TV
July 3, 1928
Inventor John Logie Baird demonstrates his mechanical color television in London. His system used scanning discs at the transmitting and receiving ends with three spirals of apertures, each spiral with a filter of a different primary color. It used three light sources at the receiving end. The demonstration was of Noele Gordon wearing different colored hats. She went on to become a successful TV actress, famous for the soap opera Crossroads.
First African-American Admitted to the Bar
July 3, 1844
Macon B. Allen passes the bar in Maine. Finding it difficult to work as a lawyer in Maine, he moved to Massachusetts and passed the bar there opening the first African-American law office. He would also go on to become the first black justice of the peace in the U.S.
First Transatlantic Hot-Air Balloon Crossing
July 3, 1987
British billionaire and Virgin Records co-founder Richard Branson and Per Lindstrand arrive at the Scottish coast in their hot-air balloon the Virgin Atlantic Flyer. They had departed from Sugarloaf Mountain, Maine, 33 hours earlier and traveled a distance of 2,900 miles.
Veterans Administration
July 3, 1930
The Veterans Administration (VA) is established, to consolidate and administer a system of benefits for veterans and their dependents. It was changed to the Department of Veterans Affairs in 1988.
Pope Condemns the Intellectual Movement
July 3, 1906
Pope St. Pius X formally condemns the intellectual movement within the Roman Catholic Church.
Idaho
July 3, 1890
Idaho becomes the 43rd state.
First Linotype Machine
July 3, 1886
The first linotype machine begins operation by the New York Times.
First Automobile
July 3, 1886
Karl Benz takes his creation for its first drive in Mannheim, Germany, reaching a top speed of 10 mph.
Narrow Gauge Railroad
July 3, 1871
The first U.S. made narrow-gauge locomotive for mountain use goes into service on the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railway Company.
Civil War - Battle of Gettysburg Ends
July 3, 1863
The Confederate Army led by General George Pickett sounds the retreat, marking the beginning of the end for the South. Each side had lost more than 3,000 men in this two-day battle.
U.S. Mint in San Francisco
July 3, 1852
U.S. Mint in San Francisco is established by the U.S. Congress.
French and Indian War
July 3, 1754
George Washington is forced to surrender Fort Necessity at Great Meadows to the numerically superior French.
Quebec
July 3, 1608
Quebec is founded, by French explorer Samuel de Champlain.
Birthdays
Tom Cruise (Thomas Cruise Mapother IV)
Born July 3, 1962
American Golden Globe-winning actor, couch jumper, Scientologist. Film: Risky Business (1983), Top Gun (1986), Rain Man (1988), The Firm (1993), Interview with the Vampire (1994, Lestat), and Mission Impossible (1996).
Edith La Sylphe (Edith Lambelle Langerfeld)
Born July 3, 1883 d. 1968
American exotic dancer. Unable to perform in the U.S. because of her age, she began dancing in Europe at the age of six where she did two world tours. She returned to the U.S. at age 14, where she introduced her rendition of "The Vision of Salome" dance. Her flexibility was described as, "a young woman who was seemingly made up of muscle but without bones, and who would make an ordinary contortionist turn green with envy at his talk of suppleness."
Yeardley Smith
Born July 3, 1964
American actress. TV: The Simpsons (voice of Lisa) and Herman's Head (Louise).
Laura Branigan
Born July 3, 1952 d. 2004
American singer. Music: Gloria (1982, #2). She died of a brain aneurism, which also killed her father and paternal grandfather.
Jan Smithers
Born July 3, 1949
American actress. TV: WKRP in Cincinnati (1978-82, Bailey Quarters - that other girl on WKRP). Film: Where the Lilies Bloom (1974). Smithers was discovered while playing hooky on the beach. Two men from Newsweek approached her about doing an article on teenagers in America. She was featured on the cover and the publicity helped her start a modeling career.
Dave Barry
Born July 3, 1947
American Pulitzer-winning humorist.
Betty Buckley
Born July 3, 1947
American actress. TV: Eight is Enough (Abby Bradford).
Pete Fountain (Pierre Dewey LaFontaine, Jr.)
Born July 3, 1930 d. 2016
American jazz clarinetist, New Orleans French Quarter musician. As a member of the Lawrence Welk orchestra (1957-59), he was one of the most famous musicians on TV. However, left the show in early 1959 after Welk got angry with Fountain for "jazzing up" the Christmas song Silver Bells.
Director of Altered States
Ken Russell
Born July 3, 1927 d. 2011
British director. Film: Women In Love (1969), The Music Lover (1971), and Altered States (1979).
Elizabeth Taylor
Born July 3, 1912 d. 1975
British novelist (not the actress). Quote: "People with no vices usually have annoying virtues." Writings: The Devastating Boys.
George Sanders
Born July 3, 1906 d. 1972
British Oscar-winning Actor. Film: Starred in The Saint and The Falcon movies. He was married to both Zsa Zsa Gabor and her sister Magda. He committed suicide.
Alfred Korzybski
Born July 3, 1879 d. 1950
American scientist, pioneer in the study of semantics, founded the Institute of General Semantics (1938) in Chicago.
George M. Cohan
Born July 3, 1878 d. 1942
American playwright, songwriter. Music: Over There, You're a Grand Old Flag, and I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandy. Note: He told people his birthday was July 4.
Louis XI
Born July 3, 1423 d. 1483
King of France (1461-83).
Deaths
Andy Griffith
Died July 3, 2012 b. 1926
American actor, Grammy-winning Southern-gospel singer. Griffith's comedy career was launched with his hit comedy recording What It Was, Was Football (1954). TV: The Andy Griffith Show (1960-68, Sheriff Andy Taylor) and Matlock (1986-95, title role).
Curly Joe (left) with fellow stooges Moe Howard and Larry Fine
Curly Joe (left) with fellow stooges Moe Howard and Larry Fine
"Curly Joe" DeRita (Joseph Wardell)
Died July 3, 1993 b. 1909
American comic, one of the Three Stooges. He joined with Moe Howard and Larry Fine, replacing Joe Besser. Film: Have Rocket Will Travel (1959), Snow White and the Three Stooges (1961), and The Three Stooges Meet Hercules (1962).
Note: Not to be confused with previous stooge Curly Howard, who died in 1952.
Jim Backus (James Gilmore Backus)
Died July 3, 1989 b. 1913
American actor. TV: Gilligan's Island (1964-92, Thurston Howell III) and Mr. Magoo (1964-65, voice of Magoo). Film: Rebel Without a Cause (1955, James Dean's character's father).
One of his grade school teachers was Margaret Hamilton, who would later play the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz (1939).
Jim Morrison (James Douglas Morrison)
Died July 3, 1971 b. 1943
American singer, with The Doors. Known as "The Lizard King." Raised a military brat, his father commanded U.S. naval forces during the 1964 Gulf of Tonkin incident, which provided the pretext for U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War.
Shortly after earning his bachelor's degree in 1965 from the UCLA film school, he and fellow UCLA student Ray Manzarek formed The Doors, taking the name from Aldous Huxley's book The Doors of Perception, which was a reference to the unlocking of doors of perception through psychedelic drug use.
When The Doors appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show, Sullivan's censors requested they change the lyrics of Light My Fire from "Girl we couldn't get much higher" to "Girl we couldn't get much better", due to its perceived reference to drugs. The band agreed, but sang the song with the original lyrics anyway, to which Sullivan banned them from ever again appearing on his show, to which Morrison replied, "Hey, that's okay - we just did the Ed Sullivan show."
Morrison was convicted of indecent exposure for supposedly exposing himself on stage in 1969. He was released on bond, but died eight months later of a drug-induced heart attack while the conviction was being appealed.
Music: Light My Fire (1967, #1) and L.A. Woman (1971).
Founder of the Rolling Stones
Brian Jones (Lewis Brian Hopkin Jones)
Died July 3, 1969 b. 1942
British Hall of Fame singer, guitarist. He was the founder, rhythm/lead guitarist, and original leader of The Rolling Stones. In 1962, he placed an advertisement in the May 2nd edition of Jazz News inviting musicians to audition for a new R&B group. The first to join was pianist Ian Stewart, soon followed by Mick Jagger and Jagger's childhood friend Keith Richards.
Jones drowned in the swimming pool at his home. He had left the band less than a month earlier after drug and alcohol problems had made him increasingly less reliable in the studio.
The Father of Electric Razors
Colonel Jacob Schick
Died July 3, 1937 b. 1877
American-born Canadian inventor. Known as "The Father of Electric Razors," he patented his electric razor (1928) and formed the Schick Dry Shaver, Inc. razor company.
The patent application stated, "The invention is designed to provide a shaving implement that does not require the usual prior application of lather, or its equivalent to the face as the cutting of the hair can be done while the face and hairs are comparatively dry."
Schick became a Canadian citizen in 1935 to avoid an investigation for tax evasion after he moved most of his wealth to a series of holding companies in the Bahamas.
World's Greatest Miser
Hetty Green (Henrietta Howland Green)
Died July 3, 1916 b. 1834
American financial wizard and miser, called the Witch of Wall Street and the World's Greatest Miser. She wore the same black dress for years (eventually it turned green and then brown), used old newspapers for lingerie and lived in an unheated apartment. Her estate was valued at $100,000,000.
Arte Johnson (Arthur Stanton Eric Johnson)
Died July 3, 2019 b. 1929
American Emmy-winning comedian. TV: Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In (1968-73, the German soldier - "Verrrry interesting, but stupid" and the dirty old man).
Don Drysdale
Died July 3, 1993 b. 1936
American Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher, sportscaster. TV: Monday Night Baseball.
Rudy Vallee (Hubert Prior Vallee)
Died July 3, 1986 b. 1901
American singer, actor. Known as "The Vagabond Lover." He learned the saxophone through a mail-order course. He was also the recipient of the world's first singing telegram.
Ross Martin (Martin Rosenblatt)
Died July 3, 1981 b. 1920
Polish-born American actor. TV: The Wild, Wild West (Artemus Gordon).
Trigger (Golden Cloud)
Died July 3, 1965 b. 1932
American horse star, "Smartest Horse in the Movies." Starred with Roy Rogers and Dale Evans in movies and TV.
Trigger made an early movie appearance as Maid Marian's mount in the movie The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938). Soon after, he was chosen by Roy Rogers for use in the movie Man from Cheyenne (1942), with Rogers eventually buying him. Trigger could do 150 tricks, including walking 50 feet (15 meters) on his hind legs, sit in a chair, sign his name with an "X" with a pencil, and lie down for a nap and cover himself with a blanket.
After Trigger's death, he was stuffed and displayed at the Roy Rogers museum.
1919 Citroën A 8CV Torpedo
Photo Credit: Lars-Göran Lindgren Sweden
1919 Citroën A 8CV TorpedoPhoto Credit: Lars-Göran Lindgren Sweden
Andre Gustave Citroën
Died July 3, 1935 b. 1878
French automaker, industrialist. He brought Henry Ford's mass production of the automobile ideas to the European auto industry. In 1915, during the lead up to WWI, he built a munitions plant that had a capacity of 55,000 shells a day. After the war he converted his munitions plant to produce the small, inexpensive Citroën automobile (1919).
First ship to transit the canal, the SS Ancon (1914)
First ship to transit the canal, the SS Ancon (1914)
William Crawford Gorgas
Died July 3, 1920 b. 1854
American sanitarian. He controlled malaria and yellow fever outbreaks during the construction of the Panama Canal.
Joel Chandler Harris
Died July 3, 1908 b. 1848
American author, creator of Uncle Remus.
Father of the State of Israel
Theodor Herzl
Died July 3, 1904 b. 1860
Hungarian journalist. Founder of modern Zionism and known as "Father of the State of Israel", his efforts led to the establishment of the state of Israel (1948).
Harriet Lane (Harriet Rebecca Lane Johnston)
Died July 3, 1903 b. 1830
Acting American First Lady (1857-61). She was U.S. President James Buchanan's niece. As he was a bachelor and had no wife, she filled in for the duties of First Lady. Lane is among eleven women who have served as First Lady but were not married to the President, with most of the other women being relatives of widowed presidents. Buchanan took 11-year-old Harriet and her sister in when they were orphaned.