2024-07-15 08:20:02
July 14 (UPI) — On this date in history:
In 1789, French peasants stormed the Bastille prison in Paris, beginning the French Revolution. The event is commemorated as “Bastille Day,” a national holiday in France.
In 1793, Jean Paul Marat, one of the most outspoken leaders of the French Revolution, was stabbed to death in his bath by Charlotte Corday, a Royalist sympathizer. The murder was immortalized in a painting by Jacques-Louis David.
In 1881, outlaw Billy the Kid was shot to death at a ranch in New Mexico.
In 1914, Robert Goddard, father of the space age, was granted the first patent for a liquid-fueled rocket design. His first rocket soared for about 2 seconds, flew as fast as 60 mph and landed 174 feet from the lift-off pad.
File Photo courtesy of NASA
In 1933, all political parties except the Nazis were officially suppressed in Germany.
In 1966, eight student nurses were found killed in Chicago. Drifter Richard Speck, later convicted of the slayings, died in prison in 1991.
In 1968, future Baseball Hall of Fame slugger Hank Aaron became the eighth person to hit 500 home runs for the Atlanta Braves in a win over the San Francisco Giants.
In 2007, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that his country would suspend its participation in the Conventional Forces in Europe treaty, a Cold War agreement that limited deployment of heavy weaponry.
File Photo by Anatoli Zhdanov/UPI
In 2009, within months after repaying bailout money supplied by the U.S. government, New York banking giant Goldman Sachs reported a profit of $3.44 billion for the first quarter of the year. JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America and Citigroup also reported big profits.
In 2014, the Church of England’s governing body voted to allow women to become bishops for first time in the church’s history.
In 2015, the New Horizons space probe came within 7,800 miles of Pluto, providing NASA scientists with the clearest photographs and most detailed measurements they’ve ever seen of the dwarf planet.
In 2016, 86 people celebrating Bastille Day in Nice, France, were killed when a truck drove into a crowd. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack.
In 2019, Novak Djokovic defeated Roger Federer to win his fifth Wimbledon title in a marathon five-set match that lasted nearly 5 hours.
File Photo by Hugo Philpott/UPI
