The Statue of Liberty's crown reopens to the public after 8 years, due to security reasons following the World Trade Center attacks.

Cross-strait charter direct flight between mainland China and Taiwan started.

North Korea tests four short-range missiles, one medium-range missile, and a long-range Taepodong-2. The long-range Taepodong-2 reportedly fails in mid-air over the Sea of Japan.

Space Shuttle program: STS-121 Mission – Space Shuttle ''Discovery'' launches at 18:37:55 UTC.

The Deep Impact collider hits the comet Tempel 1.

The cornerstone of the Freedom Tower is laid on the site of the World Trade Center in New York City.

NASA's Pathfinder space probe lands on the surface of Mars.

Sumitomo Chemical's resin plant in Nihama explodes killing one worker and injuring three others.

In France, former Gestapo chief Klaus Barbie (aka the "Butcher of Lyon") is convicted of crimes against humanity and is sentenced to life imprisonment.

Iranian diplomats kidnapping (1982): four Iranian diplomats are kidnapped by Lebanese militia in Lebanon.

Israeli commandos raid Entebbe airport in Uganda, rescuing all but four of the passengers and crew of an Air France jetliner seized by Palestinian terrorists.

The Ohio Fireworks Derecho kills 18 Ohioans and destroys over 100 boats on Lake Erie.

Two teens (one male, one female) are attacked at Blue Rock Springs in California. They are the second (known) victims of the Zodiac Killer. The male survives.

President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Freedom of Information Act into United States law. The act goes into effect the next year.

Homophile activists picket at Independence Hall in Philadelphia, the first in a series of Annual Reminders of the second-class status of LGBT people in the United States.

Walt Disney is one of the two main speakers on the Independence Day in The Rebuild Hills at Skørping in Denmark.

Due to the post-Independence Day admission of Hawaii as the 50th U.S. state on August 21, 1959, the 50-star flag of the United States debuts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania almost ten and a half months later (see Flag Act).

With the admission of Alaska as the 49th U.S. state earlier in the year, the 49-star flag of the United States debuts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

The first broadcast by Radio Free Europe.

The "Indian Independence Bill" is presented before British House of Commons, suggesting bifurcation of British India into two sovereign countries – India and Pakistan.

After 381 years of near-continuous colonial rule by various powers, the Philippines attains full independence from the United States.

Nazi Germans massacre Polish scientists and writers in the captured Ukrainian city of Lviv.

Lou Gehrig, recently diagnosed with Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, tells a crowd at Yankee Stadium that he considers himself "The luckiest man on the face of the earth" as he announces his retirement from major league baseball.

Leo Szilard patents the chain-reaction design for the atomic bomb.

First flight of the Lockheed Vega.

Ottoman sultan Mehmed VI ascends to the throne.

Bolsheviks kill Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and his family (Julian calendar date).

President Woodrow Wilson addresses American Civil War veterans at the Great Reunion of 1913.

African-American boxer Jack Johnson knocks out white boxer Jim Jeffries in a heavyweight boxing match sparking race riots across the United States.

Dorothy Levitt was reported as the first woman in the world to compete in a 'motor race'.

The short-lived Republic of Hawaii is proclaimed by Sanford B. Dole.

Western Samoa changes the International Date Line, so that year there were 367 days in this country, with two occurrences of Monday, July 4.

The founder of Pakistan, Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, joins Sindh-Madrasa-tul-Islam, Karachi.

The people of France offer the Statue of Liberty to the people of the United States.

The first scheduled Canadian transcontinental train arrives in Port Moody, British Columbia.

In Alabama, the Tuskegee Institute opens.

Anglo-Zulu War: the Zululand capital of Ulundi is captured by British troops and burnt to the ground, thus, ending the war and forcing King Cetshwayo to flee.

Thoroughbred horses Ten Broeck and Mollie McCarty run a match race, immortalized in the song Molly and Tenbrooks.

''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' is published.

American Civil War: Siege of Vicksburg

Lewis Carroll tells Alice Liddell a story that would grow into ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' and its sequels.

In Brooklyn, New York, the first edition of Walt Whitman's book of poems, titled ''Leaves of Grass'', is published.

Near Concord, Massachusetts, Henry David Thoreau embarks on a two-year experiment in simple living at Walden Pond (see ''Walden'').

The Cunard Line's 700 ton wooden paddle steamer RMS ''Britannia'' departs from Liverpool bound for Halifax, Nova Scotia on the first transatlantic crossing with a scheduled end.

The Iowa Territory is organized.

Grand Junction Railway, the world's first long-distance railway, opens between Birmingham and Liverpool.

Slavery is abolished in New York State.

Thomas Jefferson, third president of the United States, dies the same day as John Adams, second president of the United States, on the fiftieth anniversary of the adoption of the United States Declaration of Independence.

At Rome, New York, United States, construction on the Erie Canal begins.

The French occupy Amsterdam.

The Louisiana Purchase is announced to the American people.

At West Point, New York the United States Military Academy opens.

American Revolutionary War: American forces under George Clark capture Kaskaskia during the Illinois campaign.

American Revolution: The United States Declaration of Independence is adopted by the Second Continental Congress.

Orangetown Resolutions adopted in the Province of New York, one of many protests against the British Parliament's Coercive Acts thumb becomes a nation in 1776]]

French and Indian War: George Washington surrenders Fort Necessity to French Capt. Louis Coulon de Villiers.

The Treaty of Lancaster, in which the Iriquois ceded lands between the Allegheny Mountains and the Ohio River to the British colonies, is signed in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

City of Providence, Rhode Island forms.

The city of Trois-Rivières is founded in New France (Quebec, Canada)

The Battle of Klushino between forces of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Russia during the Polish-Muscovite War.

The King of Poland and the Grand Duke of Lithuania, Sigismund II Augustus finally sign the document of union between Poland and Lithuania, creating new country known as Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.

Christian III is elected King of Denmark and Norway in the town of Rye.

The Siege of Nándorfehérvár (Belgrade) begins. (Part of the Ottoman wars in Europe)

Francesco II Ordelaffi of Forlì surrenders to the Papal commander Gil de Albornoz.

Battle of West-Capelle: John I of Avesnes defeats Guy of Dampierre.

Crusades|The Crusades: Battle of Hattin

Jordan II of Capua is anointed as prince after his infant nephew's death.

A supernova is observed by the Chinese, the Arabs and possibly Amerindians near the star Tauri. For several months it remains bright enough to be seen during the day. Its remnants form the Crab Nebula.

Saint Ulrich of Augsburg is canonized.

''Pactum Sicardi'', peace between the Principality of Benevento and the Duchy of Naples