1775 – Founding of the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps: George Washington appoints William Tudor as Judge Advocate of the Continental Army.
1858 – The United States and Japan sign the Harris Treaty. Negotiated by Townshend Harris, the first U.S. consul to Japan, the treaty provided for the opening of five ports to U.S. trade. It also exempted U.S. citizens living in the port from Japanese laws, guaranteed them religious freedom, and arranged for diplomatic representation and a tariff (a tax to be paid on a particular class of imports and exports) agreement between the United States and Japan.
1914 – The Cape Cod Canal opened.
1921 – Adolf Hitler becomes the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party.
1948 – Olympic Games: The Games of the XIV Olympiad: After a hiatus of 12 years caused by World War II, the first Summer Olympics to be held since the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, open in London.
1957 – The International Atomic Energy Agency is established.
1958 – Dwight D. Eisenhower signs into law the National Aeronautics and Space Act, which creates the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
1959 – First United States Congressional elections in Hawaii
Births
1817 – Ivan Aivazovsky, Armenian-Russian painter, and illustrator (d. 1900)
1817 – Martin Körber, Baltic German pastor, composer, and conductor
1888 – Vladimir K. Zworykin, a Russian-American engineer, invented the Iconoscope (d. 1982) The Iconoscope (from the Greek: “image” and “to look, to see”) was the first practical video camera tube to be used in early television cameras.
Deaths
1108 – Philip I of France (b. 1052)
1890 – Vincent van Gogh, Dutch painter and illustrator (b. 1853)
1981 – Robert Moses, urban planner (b. 1888)
2003 – Foday Sankoh, Sierra Leonean soldier, founded the Revolutionary United Front (b. 1937)