2nd July

It is the middle day of a non-leap year, because there are 182 days before and 182 days after. It has the same day of week as new year's day (of non-leap year) and new year's eve.

Events

• 1578 - Martin Frobisher sights Baffin Island.
• 1613 - First English expedition from Massachusetts against Acadia - led by Samuel Argall.
• 1679 - Europeans first visit Minnesota and see headwaters of Mississippi - led by Daniel Greysolon de Du Luth.
• 1808 - Simon Fraser reaches Pacific near New Westminster.
• 1839 - Twenty miles off the coast of Cuba, 53 rebelling African slaves led by Joseph Cinqué take over the slave ship Amistad.
• 1863 - Second day of the Battle of Gettysburg.
• 1881 - Charles J. Guiteau shoots and fatally wounds U.S. President James Garfield, who eventually dies from infection on September 19, 1881.
• 1900 - First zeppelin flight on Lake Constance near Friedrichshafen, Germany
• 1937 - Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan disappeared over the Pacific Ocean while attempting to make the first round-the-world flight at the equator
• 1950 - Henri Queuille becomes Prime Minister of France
• 1973 - James R. Schlesinger was sworn in as the 12th United States Secretary of Defense.
• 1976 - North and South Vietnam united to form the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
• 1982 - Larry Walters uses 45 helium balloons and a lawnchair to propel himself to 16,000 feet.
• 1992 - Canadian Government closes Cdn$700m northern cod fishery for two years, to conserve stocks.

Births

• 419 - Valentinian III, Roman Emperor († 455)
• 1644 - Abraham a Santa Clara, court vicar († 1709)
• 1714 - Christoph Willibald Gluck, composer († 1787)
• 1724 - Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock, poet († 1803)
• 1821 - Sir Charles Tupper, Father of Canadian Confederation, sixth Prime Minister of Canada († 1915)
• 1862 - William Henry Bragg, physicist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in physics 1915 († 1942)
• 1865 - Lily Braun, writer († 1916)
• 1877 - Hermann Hesse, writer, recipient of the Nobel Prize in literature 1946 († 1962)
• 1884 - Alfons Maria Jakob, neurologist († 1931)
• 1900 - Tyrone Guthrie, actor, Artistic Director of Canada's Stratford Festival, († 1971)
• 1903 - Olav V, King of Norway († 1991)
• 1903 - Sir Alec Douglas-Home, Prime Minister of the UK († 1995)
• 1906 - Hans Bethe, Nobel-winning nuclear physicist
• 1908 - Thurgood Marshall, US Supreme Court Justice († 1993)
• 1925 - Patrice Lumumba, Prime Minister of Congo (Leopoldville) († 1961)
• 1925 - Medgar Evers, civil rights activist († 1963)
• 1927 - Ruth Berghaus, choreographer, film director († 1996)
• 1929 - Imelda Marcos, former first lady of the Philippines
• 1930 - Carlos Menem, former President of Argentina
• 1931 - Robert Ito, actor, ballet dancer
• 1932 - Dave Thomas, founder of Wendy's International († 2002)
• 1937 - Richard Petty, NASCAR driver
• 1942 - Vicente Fox, president of Mexico
• 1947 - Larry David, co-creator of Seinfeld
• 1956 - Jerry Hall, actress, wife of Mick Jagger
• 1963 - Jose Canseco, baseball player
• 1964 - Andrea Pia Yates, mother who drowned her five children
• 1970 - Yancy Butler, actress
• 1971 - Evelyn Lau, pop author
• 1981 - Alex Koroknay-Palicz, youth rights activist
• 1983 - Michelle Branch, popular musician

Deaths

• 1566 - Michel de Nostradame (AKA Nostradamus), seer
• 1833 - Gervasio Antonio de Posadas, Argentine leader
• 1932 - King Manuel II of Portugal
• 1937 - Amelia Earhart, aviator, disappears
• 1961 - Ernest Hemingway, author, winner of the Nobel Prize for literature (1954)
• 1973 - Betty Grable, actress
• 1977 - Vladimir Nabokov, writer
• 1989 - Andrei Gromyko, Soviet foreign minister
• 1991 - Lee Remick, actress
• 1997 - James Stewart, actor
• 1999 - Mario Puzo, author

Holidays and observances

July 1 - July 3 - June 2 - August 2 -- listing of all days

January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December