This Day in History
1690: In the Battle of the Boyne, William III, recently named king of England and Ireland in the Glorious Revolution, defeats the exiled former king James II.
1862: Congress authorizes the Medal of Honor.
1871: Rioting between Irish Catholics and Protestants in New York City leaves more than 50 dead.
1967: Riots by blacks begin in Newark, NJ; by July 17, 26 are killed, 1,500 injured, and more than 1,000 left homeless.
1974: John D. Ehrlichmann and 3 White House "plumbers" are found guilty of conspiracy to violate the civil rights of Pentagon Papers leaker Daniel Ellsberg's psychiatrist by breaking into his office in 1971.
1975: São Tomé and Príncipe, formerly an overseas province of Portugal, attains independence.
1984: Walter Mondale, the expected Democratic presidential nominee, announces the choice of New York Rep. Geraldine Ferraro as his running mate—the first woman chosen as a vice presidential candidate on a major party ticket.
1996: Britain 's Charles and Diana, the prince and princess of Wales, announce that they have reached an agreement on getting divorced, after 15 years of marriage.
Today's Birthdays
100 BC: Julius Caesar, Roman general and statesman (Rome, Italy; died 44 BC)
1730: Josiah Wedgwood, pottery designer/manufacturer (Burslem, Staffordshire, England; died 1795)
1817: Henry David Thoreau, author/philosopher (Concord, MA; died 1862)
1884: Amedeo Modigliani, painter and sculptor (Livorno, Italy; died 1920)
1895: Buckminster Fuller, architect/inventor/engineer (Milton, MA; died 1983). Oscar Hammerstein II, lyricist and collaborator with Richard Rodgers (New York, NY; died 1960)
1904: Pablo Neruda, Chilean poet (Parral, Chile; died 1973)
1908: Milton Berle, comedian (New York, NY; died 2002)
1909: "Curly" Joe DeRita, comedian and member of the Three Stooges (Philadelphia, PA; died 1993)
1934: Van Cliburn, pianist (Shreveport, LA)
1937: Bill Cosby, comedian/actor and writer (Philadelphia, PA)
1943: Christine McVie, singer/musician and member of Fleetwood Mac (Birmingham, England)
1944: Denise Nicholas, actor (Detroit, MI)
1948: Richard Simmons, TV personality/author/weight loss guru (New Orleans, LA). Jay Thomas, actor (New Orleans, LA)
1951: Cheryl Ladd, actress (Huron, SD)
1957: Mel Harris, actress (Bethlehem, PA)
1969: Lisa Nicole Carson, actress (Brooklyn, NY)
1971: Kristi Yamaguchi, Olympic champion figure skater (Hayward, CA)
1991: Erik Per Sullivan, actor (Worcester, MA)
