1900 - In Italy, King Umberto I of Italy is assassinated by Italian-born anarchist Gaetano Bresci.
1907 - Sir Robert Baden-Powell sets up the Brownsea Island Scout camp in Poole Harbour on the south coast of England. The camp ran from August 1-9, 1907, and is regarded as the founding of the Scouting movement.
1920 - Construction of the Link River Dam begins as part of the Klamath Reclamation Project.
1921 - Adolf Hitler becomes leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party.
1932 - Great Depression: in Washington, DC, U.S. troops disperse the last of the "Bonus Army" of World War I veterans.
1945 - The BBC Light Programme radio station was launched for mainstream light entertainment and music.
1948 - Olympic Games: The Games of the XIV Olympiad
1957 - The International Atomic Energy Agency is established.
1958 - U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs into law the National Aeronautics and Space Act, which creates the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
1959 - First United States Congress elections in Hawaii as a state of the Union.
1965 - Vietnam War: the first 4,000 101st Airborne Division paratroopers arrive in Vietnam, landing at Cam Ranh Bay.
1966 - Bob Dylan is injured in a motorcycle accident near Woodstock, New York.
1967 - Vietnam War: off the coast of North Vietnam the USS Forrestal catches on fire in the worst U.S. naval disaster since World War II, killing 134.
1967 - At the fourth day of celebrating its 400th anniversary, the city of Caracas, Venezuela was shaken by an earthquake, leaving approximately 500 dead.
1976 - In New York City, the "Son of Sam" kills one person and seriously wounds another in the first of a series of attacks.
1981 - Marriage of Prince Charles to Lady Diana Spencer.
1987 - British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and President of France François Mitterrand sign the agreement to build the tunnel under the English Channel (Eurotunnel).
1987 - Prime Minister of India Rajiv Gandhi and Sri Lankan President J. R. Jayawardene sign the Indo-Lankan Pact on ethnic issues.
1993 - The Israeli Supreme Court acquits alleged Nazi death camp guard John Demjanjuk of all charges and he is set free.
1996 - The controversial child protection portion of the Communications Decency Act (1996) is struck down as too broad by a U.S. federal court.
2005 - Astronomers announce their discovery of Eris.
2010 - Heavy monsoon rains begin to cause widespread flooding in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. Over 1,600 are killed, and more than one million are displaced by the floods.
