Today:
1357 – Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor began laying the foundation stone for the Charles Bridge in Prague.
1755 – French and Indian War: British General Edward Braddock was mortally wounded at the Battle of the Monongahela after his force was defeated by French and Native American troops.
1776 – United States Declaration of Independence was read publicly to General George Washington and his troops in New York City.
1816 – Argentina declared its independence from Spain at the Congress of Tucumán.
1850 – Millard Fillmore became the 13th President of the United States following the death of Zachary Taylor.
1896 – William Jennings Bryan delivered his famous Cross of Gold speech at the 1896 Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
1955 – Bill Haley and Bill Haley & His Comets reached No. 1 on the U.S. charts with Rock Around the Clock, helping launch rock and roll into the mainstream.
1962 – The first successful transatlantic television broadcast was transmitted via the Telstar 1 communications satellite.
1995 – Srebrenica Massacre began when Bosnian Serb forces captured the U.N.-declared safe area of Srebrenica during the Bosnian War.
2011 – South Sudan officially became the world’s newest independent nation after separating from Sudan.