Today in History

An Israeli raid at Entebbe airport in Uganda rescues 105 hostages.

The 50-star flag makes its debut in Philadelphia.

The United States grants the Philippine Islands their independence.

Boxer Joe Louis wins his first professional fight.

Novelist James Joyce and Nora Barnacle are married in London after being together for 26 years.

Neil Simon, American playwright (The Odd Couple, The Prisoner of Second Avenue).

Race riots break out all over the United States after African American Jack Johnson knocks out Jim Jeffries in a heavyweight boxing match.

Lionel Trilling, literary critic and educator.

William H. Taft becomes the American governor of the Philippines.

Gertrude Lawrence, English actress.

The poem America the Beautiful is first published.

After seizing power, Judge Stanford B. Dole declares Hawaii a republic.

Rube Goldberg, Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist.

Billy the Kid is shot dead in New Mexico.

Calvin Coolidge, 30th president of the United States (1923-1929).