Events of July 20 in History

In South Africa, police fire tear gas into a church service for families of those held under the government's emergency decrees. (July 20, 1986)

The head of the Physics Department at the Israel Institute of Technology, Kurt Sitte, is arrested for espionage. (July 20, 1960)

Turkish occupation of Cyprus: Forces from Turkey invade Cyprus after a "coup d' etat", organised by the dictator of Greece, against president Makarios. NATO's Council praises the United States and the United Kingdom for attempts to settle the dispute. Syria and Egypt put their militaries on alert. (July 20, 1974)

In Zimbabwe, Parliament opens its new session and seats opposition members for the first time in a decade. (July 20, 2000)

The United Nations Economic and Social Council votes to make UNICEF a permanent agency. (July 20, 1953)

The United Nations Security Council votes 14-0 that member states should not recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. (July 20, 1980)

The government of Aruba passes legislation to secede from the Netherlands Antilles. (July 20, 1985)

Palestianian terrorists hijack a Japan Airlines jet en route from Amsterdam to Japan and force it down in Dubai. (July 20, 1973)

Hyde Park and Regents Park bombings: The Provisional IRA detonates two bombs in Hyde Park and Regents Park in central London, killing eight soldiers, wounding forty-seven people, and leading to the deaths of seven horses. (July 20, 1982)

Falun Gong is banned in the People's Republic of China, and a large scale persecution of the practice is launched. (July 20, 1999)

Officials of the Miss America pageant ask Vanessa Lynn Williams to quit after Penthouse published nude photos of her. (July 20, 1984)

Burma's ruling junta puts opposition leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest. (July 20, 1989)

In Spain, an ETA bomb at an airport kills 35 (July 20, 1996)

The US Senate passes the War Powers Act. (July 20, 1973)

V?clav Havel resigns as president of Czechoslovakia. (July 20, 1992)

South America: A fire in a discotheque in Lima, Peru kills over twenty-five. (July 20, 2002)

The Polaris missile is successfully launched from a submarine, the USS George Washington, for the first time. (July 20, 1960)

The Organization for European Economic Cooperation admits Spain. (July 20, 1959)

Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9's Fragment Q1 hits Jupiter. (July 20, 1994)

The Viking 1 lander successfully lands on Mars. (July 20, 1976)

Israel's Shimon Peres visits Jordan, the highest ranking Israeli official to do so (July 20, 1994)

Cease fire announced between Honduras and El Salvador, 6 days after the beginning of the "Football War" (July 20, 1969)

Turkish prime minister Suat Hayri Urguplu returns from a visit to Moscow and announces the Soviet Union will provide aid to his country. (July 20, 1965)

Vietnam War: In testimony by Assistant Secretary of Defense Jerry Friedheim to the US Senate Committee on Armed Services, the US Defense Department admits it lied to US Congress about bombing Cambodia . (July 20, 1973)

Italy: The 27th Annual G8 summit opens in Genoa. An Italian protester in Genoa, Carlo Giuliani, is shot by police. (July 20, 2001)

Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) elects Sirimavo Bandaranaike Prime Minister, the world's first elected female head of government. (July 20, 1960)

Hank Aaron hits his 755th home run, breaking Babe Ruth's 41-year-old record. (July 20, 1976)

First coast-to-coast black-owned and operated radio network: The National Black Network (NBN) begins operations. (July 20, 1973)

France: Sixteen people are injured after two bombs explode outside a tax office in Nice. (July 20, 2003)

Germany: Otto John, head of West Germany's secret service, defects to East Germany. (July 20, 1954)

Apollo Program: Apollo 11 successfully lands the first man on the Moon. (July 20, 1969)

Special Olympics founded. (July 20, 1968)

Vietnam War: Viet Cong forces attack the capital of Dinh Tuong Province, Cai Be, killing 11 South Vietnamese military personnel and 40 civilians (30 of which are children). (July 20, 1964)

Canada becomes the fourth country in the world to legalize same-sex marriage, after the bill C-38 receives its Royal Assent. (July 20, 2005)

Photographer Robert Mapplethorpe's show opens at Washington, D.C.'s Project for the Arts after the Smithsonian Institution's Corcoran Gallery cancels it. (July 20, 1989)

India expels three reporters from The Times, The Daily Telegraph, and Newsweek because they refused to sign a pledge to abide by government censorship. (July 20, 1975)

French military forces break the Tunisian siege of Bizerte. (July 20, 1961)

At Geneva, Switzerland, an armistice is signed that ends fighting in Vietnam and divides the country along the 17th parallel. (July 20, 1954)

The London Stock Exchange goes public. (July 20, 2001)

Two hundred aid workers from CARE International, Doctors Without Borders and other aid groups leave Afghanistan on orders of the Taliban. (July 20, 1998)

Johnstown is hit by a flash flood that kills eighty and causes $350 million in damage. (July 20, 1977)

The Soviet Union says it will support the People's Republic of China's admission to the United Nations (July 20, 1971)

The Central Intelligence Agency releases documents under the Freedom of Information Act revealing it had engaged in mind control experiments. (July 20, 1977)

UN Security Council Resolution 598, condemning the Iran?Iraq War and demanding cease-fire, is unanimously adopted. (July 20, 1987)

Belgium defends its intervention in the Congo to the United Nations Security Council while the government of the Congo appeals to the Soviet Union to send troops to push back the Belgians. The governments of the United States and France and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization warn the Soviets to stay out of the dispute. (July 20, 1960)

The Israeli cabinet votes to withdraw troops from Beirut but to remain in southern Lebanon. (July 20, 1983)

Terrorist Carlos the Jackal sues France in the European Court of Human Rights for allegedly torturing him. (July 20, 2000)

Vietnam War: The U.S. military completes its troop withdrawal from Thailand. (July 20, 1976)

The leaders of Salt Lake City's bid to win the 2002 Winter Olympics are indicted by a federal grand jury for bribery, fraud, and racketeering. (July 20, 2000)

The Regents of the University of California vote to end all affirmative action in the UC system by 1997. (July 20, 1995)