The First Battle Of Bull Run

The First Battle of Bull Run

Born on This Day

"One Hour Photo" Press Conference with Robin Williams and Michael Vartan

Robin Williams

1951 - 2014

Comedic actor whose versatile range included "Aladdin's" Genie, an alien named Mork and Scottish nanny "Mrs. Doubtfire."

Ernest Hemingway On Safari

Ernest Hemingway

1899 - 1961

Nobel Prize-winning writer famed for his concise style and themes of war, love and loss in works like "For Whom the Bell Tolls."

Janet Reno

Janet Reno

1938 - 2016

Politician and lawyer who became the first female U.S. Attorney General under President Bill Clinton.

Robin WilliamsWireImage

Ernest HemingwayGetty Images

Janet RenoGetty Images

1972

JUL21

Comedian George Carlin is arrested for his infamous "seven dirty words" routine. Charges were dropped, but a later complaint about a broadcast of his act would propel the issue of indecent speech to the Supreme Court.

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 21st

Tsunami hits Alexandria, Egypt

A powerful earthquake off the coast of Greece caused a tsunami.

1:16m read read

Wild Bill Hickok fights in first quick-draw western shootout

In what may be the first true western showdown, Wild Bill Hickok shoots Dave Tutt dead in the market square of Springfield, Missouri. Hollywood movies and dime novels notwithstanding, the classic western showdown—also called a walkdown—happened only rarely in the American West. Rather than coolly confronting each other on a dusty street in a deadly […]

2:22m read read

Wild Bill Hickok, The Original Wild West Showdown

Ernest Hemingway is born

On July 21, 1899, Ernest Miller Hemingway, author of such novels as “For Whom the Bell Tolls” and “The Old Man and the Sea,” is born in Oak Park, Illinois. The influential American literary icon became known for his straightforward prose and use of understatement. Hemingway, who tackled topics such as bullfighting and war in […]

3:20m read read

Ernest Hemingway On Safari

“Trial of the Century” reaches final day, draws unprecedented attention

On the final day of the so-called “Trial of the Century,” July 21, 1925, schoolteacher John T. Scopes is convicted of violating Tennessee’s law against teaching evolution in public schools. The case debated was never really in doubt; the jury only conferred for a few moments in the hallway before returning to the courtroom with […]

3:16m read read

Hitler to Germany: “I am unhurt”

On July 21, 1944, Adolf Hitler takes to the airwaves to announce that the attempt on his life—code-named Operation Valkyrie—has failed and that “accounts will be settled.” Hitler had survived the bomb blast that was meant to take his life. He had suffered punctured eardrums, some burns and minor wounds, but nothing that would keep […]

2:04m read read

President Eisenhower presents his “Open Skies” plan

President Dwight D. Eisenhower presents his “Open Skies” plan at the 1955 Geneva summit meeting with representatives of France, Great Britain and the Soviet Union. The plan, though never accepted, laid the foundation for President Ronald Reagan’s later policy of “trust, but verify” in relation to arms agreements with the Soviet Union. Eisenhower met with […]

Germany passes controversial “Volkswagen Law”

On July 21, 1960, the German government passes the “Law Concerning the Transfer of the Share Rights in Volkswagenwerk Limited Liability Company into Private Hands,” known informally as the “Volkswagen Law.” Founded in 1937 and originally under the control of Adolf Hitler’s National Socialist (Nazi) Party, Volkswagen would eventually grow into Europe’s largest car manufacturer […]

1:54m read read

Aswan High Dam completed

After 11 years of construction, the Aswan High Dam across the Nile River in Egypt is completed on July 21, 1970. More than two miles long at its crest, the massive $1 billion dam ended the cycle of flood and drought in the Nile River region, and exploited a tremendous source of renewable energy, but […]

3:14m read read

Bombers attempt to attack London transit system

On July 21, 2005, terrorists attempt to attack the London transit system by planting bombs on three subways and on one bus; none of the bombs detonate completely. The attempted attack came exactly two weeks after terrorists killed 56 people, including themselves, and wounded 700 others in the largest attack on Great Britain since World […]

Final Harry Potter book released

On July 21, 2007, the seventh and final Harry Potter novel, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, is released, with an initial print run of 12 million copies in the United States alone. Like each of the previous Harry Potter novels, Deathly Hallows was slated to be made into a major Hollywood film. The bespectacled […]

1:30m read read

NASA’s final space shuttle mission comes to an end

On July 21, 2011, NASA’s space shuttle program completes its final, and 135th, mission, when the shuttle Atlantis lands at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. During the program’s 30-year history, its five orbiters—Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis and Endeavour—carried more than 350 people into space and flew more than 500 million miles, and shuttle crews conducted […]

2:58m read read

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