July 2nd
1566
French astrologer, physician, and prophet Nostradamus died.
1698
Thomas Savery patents the first steam engine
1850
The self-contained gas mask is patented by Benjamin J. Lane.
1881
President James Garfield was shot by Charles Guiteau; he died on Sept. 19.
1926
The U.S. Army Air Corps was created.
1937
Amelia Earhart and her co-pilot Fred Noonan disappeared over the Pacific Ocean while attempting to fly around the world.
1947
An object that the Army Air Force later said was a weather balloon crashed near Roswell, N.M. Eyewitness accounts gave rise to speculation it might have been an alien spacecraft.
1955
ABC Television premiered "The Lawrence Welk Show."
1961
Author Ernest Hemingway, 61, shot himself to death at his home in Ketchum, Idaho.
1962
The first Wal-Mart store opens for business in Rogers, Arkansas.
1964
President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 into law.
1997
Actor James Stewart died in Beverly Hills, Calif., he was 89.
2002
Steve Fossett became the first to circumnavigate the globe solo in a balloon.
Birthdays
78 Robert Ito Actor ("Quincy")
72 Polly Holliday Actress ("Alice")
72 Richard Petty Auto racer
62 Larry David Writer,director & actor ("Curb Your Enthusiasm," "Seinfeld")
61 Saul Rubinek Actor
60 Roy Bittan Rock musician (The E Street Band)
57 Gene Taylor Rock musician
53 Jerry Hall Actress, model
52 Bret "Hitman" Hart Professional wrestler
48 Jimmy McNichol Actor, singer
45 José Canseco Baseball player
45 Ozzie Canseco Baseball player
44 Dave Parsons Rock musician (Bush)
44 Lt. Skills Cigar Asylum Inmate
39 Yancy Butler Actress
31 Owain Yeoman Actor
26 Michelle Branch Rock singer
25 Vanessa Lee Chester Actress
24 Ashley Tisdale Actress ("High School Musical" movies)
23 Lindsay Lohan Actress
?? IamLoki Cigar Asylum Inmate
87 Thurgood Marshall 7/2/1908 - 1/24/1993 American civil rights lawyer and first African-American Supreme Court justice
69 Dave Thomas 7/2/1932 - 1/8/2002 founder and chief executive officer of Wendy's Old Fashioned Hamburgers