John F. Kennedy, Jr.(died in a plane crash on his way to a cousin’s wedding on Martha’s Vineyard. His wife, Carolyn Bessette, and her sister, Lauren, were also aboard)β
Charles W. Sweeney(pilot of the U.S. bomber that dropped the atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan, in the last days of World War II)β
Events
Congress established the District of Columbia on the Potomac River, voting to set up the permanent seat of the government of the U.S. thereβ
Dr. Emily Howard Stowe, the first woman to practice medicine in Canada, received her medical license.β
First parking meters installed, Oklahoma City, OKβ
Apollo 11 launched from Cape Kennedy, Florida, to become the first manned space mission to land on the moonβ
135 pilot whales beached at Point au Gaul, Newfoundland and Labradorβ
In the Philippines, an earthquake measuring 7.7 on the Richter Scale killed over 1,600 peopleβ
The 6th book in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series sold 6.9 million copies in its first 24 hours β averaging better than 250,000 sales per hourβ
A 3.6-magnitude earthquake struck about 20 miles northwest of Washington, D.C., in Marylandβ
3.4 earthquake occurred near Germantown, Marylandβ
Bryan Cranston received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fameβ
To mark the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11’s launch, U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama, launched 5,000 model rockets simultaneously, breaking a Guinness world recordβ
Weather
F2 tornado in Grafton County, New Hampshireβ
15th to 16th: 22.22 inches of rain in 24 hours, Altapass, North Carolinaβ
In Churdan, Iowa, a tornado touched down and moved northwest, opposite the normal patternβ