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French revolutionaries storm the Bastille

Born on This Day

Ingmar Bergman

1918 - 2007

Swedish director whose films such as "The Seventh Seal" and "Cries and Whispers" explore human loneliness and pain.

Gertrude Bell

1868 - 1926

British writer and archaeologist known for her influence in the Middle East and her role in shaping modern Iraq.

Jane Lynch

1960 -

Actress known for her acerbic comedic work on "Glee," "Best in Show" and "A Mighty Wind."

Ingmar BergmanGetty Images

Gertrude BellCorbis via Getty Images

Jane LynchGetty Images

1953

JUL14

The George Washington Carver National Monument is dedicated in Missouri. It becomes the first such site to honor a Black American.

Timeline

Also on This Day in History

Discover more of the major events, famous births, notable deaths and everything else history-making that happened on July 14th

Sedition Act becomes federal law

One of the worst constitutional breaches becomes law.

Billy the Kid is shot to death

Sheriff Pat Garrett shoots Henry McCarty at the Maxwell Ranch.

Gunfighter John Ringo found dead

John Ringo, the famous gun-fighting gentleman, is found dead in Turkey Creek Canyon, Arizona. Romanticized in both life and death, John Ringo was supposedly a Shakespeare-quoting gentleman whose wit was as quick as his gun. Some believed he was college educated, and his sense of honor and courage was sometimes compared to that of a […]

Future president Gerald R. Ford is born

On July 14, 1913, Gerald R. Ford is born Leslie Lynch King, Jr. in Omaha, Nebraska. His biological father left the family when Ford was three years old. His mother’s second husband, Gerald Ford, adopted the young boy and gave him his name. The young Ford went on to become the first vice president to […]

Quentin Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt’s youngest son, is killed

On July 14, 1918, Quentin Roosevelt, a pilot in the United States Air Service and the fourth son of former U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt, is shot down and killed by a German Fokker plane over the Marne River in France. The young Roosevelt was engaged to Flora Payne Whitney, the granddaughter of Cornelius Vanderbilt, one […]

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South Dakota governor begs for federal assistance over grasshopper plague

On July 14, 1931, Governor Warren Green of South Dakota makes an urgent plea to President Herbert Hoover for assistance for his state’s farmers, whose lives and livelihoods were being threatened by a catastrophic insect invasion. “Grasshoppers have utterly destroyed all crops in 11,000 square miles of South Dakota,” the governor wrote in his emergency […]

Dr. Spock publishes “The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care”

On July 14th, 1946, at the dawn of the post-World War II baby boom, Dr. Benjamin Spock published The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care. It would become a foundational work on the topic of parenting, transforming how generations of children were raised. The book, which has sold more than 50 million copies […]

Rupture between USSR and China grows worse

Relations between the Soviet Union and China reach the breaking point as the two governments engage in an angry ideological debate about the future of communism. The United States, for its part, was delighted to see a wedge being driven between the two communist superpowers. In mid-1963, officials from the Soviet Union and the People’s […]

Hank Aaron hits 500th homer

On July 14, 1968, Atlanta Braves slugger Henry “Hank” Aaron hits the 500th home run of his career in a 4-2 win over the San Francisco Giants. Henry Aaron was born February 5, 1934, in Mobile, Alabama. The third of eight children, Aaron was a star football player, third baseman and outfielder in high school, […]

Young Lords occupy Lincoln Hospital in the Bronx

Early on the morning of July 14, 1970, the Young Lords, a predominantly Puerto Rican group of community activists in New York City, storm Lincoln Hospital in the South Bronx and barricade themselves inside. The Young Lords claimed the hospital as their own, placing a Puerto Rican flag on the roof and flying signs from […]

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Terrorist drives truck through a Bastille Day celebration

On July 14, 2016, thousands gathered along the seafront of Nice, France to celebrate Bastille Day—the country’s independence holiday. The mood turned from joy to horror, when a white truck barreled through a pedestrian-filled closed street. In the end, 86 were dead, including 10 children, and over 400 spectators were left injured. While fireworks shot […]

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