28 July

Events

• 1540 - One of the most important political figures of the reign of Henry VIII of England, Thomas Cromwell, is executed on order from the king on charges of treason. Henry marries his fifth wife, Catherine Howard, on the same day.
• 1794 - Maximilien Robespierre is guillotined in front of a cheering crowd, for sending thousands of others to a similar fate during the French Revolution.
• 1821 - Peru declares independence from Spain.
• 1864 - American Civil War: Battle of Ezra Church begins - Confederate troops led by General John Bell Hood make a third unsuccessful attempt to drive Union forces under General William T. Sherman from Atlanta, Georgia.
• 1866 - The Metric Act of 1866 becomes law and legalizes the standardization of weights and measures in the United States.
• 1868 - The 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution is adopted guaranteeing African Americans full citizenship and all persons in the United States due process of law.
• 1914 - World War I begins: Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia after it failed to meet the conditions of an ultimatum it set on July 23 following the killing of Archduke Francis Ferdinand by a Serbian assassin. This event leads to the outbreak of war.
• 1932 - US President Herbert Hoover orders the United States Army to forcibly evict the "Bonus Army" of World War I veterans gathered in Washington, DC.
• 1943 - World War II: Operation Gomorrah - The British bomb Hamburg causing a firestorm that kills 42,000 German civilians.
• 1945 - A US Army bomber accidentally crashes into the 79th floor of the Empire State Building killing 14 injuring 26.
• 1965 - Vietnam War: US President Lyndon B. Johnson announces his order to increase the number of United States troops in South Vietnam from 75,000 to 125,000.
• 1973 - Watkins Glen concert attended by 600,000 to see The Band, The Allman Brothers Band, and The Grateful Dead.
• 1976 - An earthquake measuring between 7.8 and 8.2 magnitude on the Richter scale flattens Tangshan, China, killing 242,769 and injuring 164,851.
• 1990 - Alberto Fujimori becomes president of Peru
• 1992 - Mary J. Blige releases her album What's the 411?. It is considered the album that started the new subgenre, hip-hop soul (also see 1992 in music).
• 1995 - Network Solutions announces a new policy to help companies protect their trademarks on the Internet.
• 1998 - Monica Lewinsky scandal: Ex-White House intern, Monica Lewinsky receives transactional immunity in exchange for her grand jury testimony concerning her relationship with US President Bill Clinton.
• 2003 - NPR broadcasts the first episode of Day to Day, a one-hour radio newsmagazine

Births

• 1804 - Ludwig Feuerbach, philosopher († 1872)
• 1866 - Beatrix Potter, author († 1943)
• 1887 - Marcel Duchamp, painter († 1968)
• 1902 - Karl Popper, philosopher of science († 1994)
• 1907 - Dolf Sternberger, publicist († 1989)
• 1909 - Malcolm Lowry, novelist († 1957)
• 1914 - Carmen Dragon, composer († 1984)
• 1915 - Frankie Yankovic, musician († 1998)
• 1922 - Jacques Piccard, undersea explorer
• 1927 - John Ashbery, poet
• 1929 - Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, editor and wife of John F. Kennedy († 1994)
• 1934 - Jacques d'Amboise, dancer, choreographer
• 1936 - Garfield Sobers, cricketer
• 1937 - Peter Duchin, pianist, bandleader
• 1940 - Phil Proctor, comedian
• 1943 - Bill Bradley, basketball player, former United States Senator
• 1945 - Jim Davis, cartoonist
• 1958 - Terry Fox, cancer activist († 1981)
• 1962 - Rachel Sweet, singer

Deaths

• 1741 - Antonio Vivaldi, composer (* 1678)
• 1750 - Johann Sebastian Bach, composer
• 1794 - Maximilien Robespierre, French Revolutionary leader
• 1817 - Jane Austen, author, at Winchester, England
• 1934 - Marie Dressler, Academy Award-winning actress
• 1969 - Frank Loesser, composer

Holidays and observances

• Faroe Islands - Õlavsøka Eve
• Peru - Independence Day
• San Marino - Fall of the Fascist Government
• Canada - Commemoration of the deportation of the Acadians

July 27 - July 29 - June 28 - August 28 -- listing of all days

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Referenced By