Important Events From This day in History July 3rd

 

1998 UK Rolls Royce Sold To Volkswagen

1998 : After many months of negotiations, together with a bidding war with BMW and high court battles Rolls Royce is sold to Volkswagen for £479m. Volkswagen has stated that the manufacture of Rolls Royce cars will continue at Rolls-Royce's Crewe headquarters in England. The Saga of who owned the rights to produce cars with the famous Rolls Royce emblem continued for the next few years as unknown to Volkswagen they had not bought the rights to use the RR Logo. Over the next few years BMW and Volkswagen did come to an arrangement where Volkswagen own and build Bentleys with Volkswagen Engines at the old Rolls Royce factory in Crewe in England and BMW own and produce Rolls Royce Cars with BMW engines at Goodwood in England.

1968 Vietnam Heavy U.S. Casualties

1968 : Figures released show that more Americans were killed during the first six months of 1968 than in all of 1967 and were a direct result of the communist Tet Offensive. Combined with heavy U.S. casualties and disillusionment with President Johnson's conduct of the Vietnam war his popularity with the people continued to decrease causing him to decide he would neither seek nor accept the nomination of his party for re-election.

1922 U.S.A. Forest Fires Olympia and Seattle

1922 : Forest fires in the state of Washington blaze through cities like Olympia and Seattle. The lumber companies throughout the state were in danger of significant losses to their industry unless heavy rains became a part of the forecast.

1939 Japan China Conflict

1939 : Dispatches report that Japanese and Soviet sponsored Outer Mongolian troops clash in the Manchoukuoan territory. Reports also disclosed that the Japanese offensive was in an effort to drive out Outer Mongolian troops back past the Khalka River.

1940 British Destroy French Fleet

1940 : Following the German invasion and occupation of France, French warships fled to the port of Mers-el-Kebir in Algeria. Britain gave the french Vichy government the options of the following for it's French Navy.

1. Join British naval forces in the fight against Germany

2. Hand the ships over to British crews

3. Disarm the French Navy Ships

4. Scuttle the ships

The French refused, so Britain fearing the French Ships would be used by the Germans to help with an invasion of England circled the port with British Warships and opened fire on the French fleet, killing 1,250 French sailors, damaging the battleship Dunkerque and destroying the Bretagne and the Provence.

1957 Nikita Khrushchev Purges Opposition

1957 : Nikita Khrushchev takes control in the Soviet Union by purging his most serious opponents from positions of authority in government.

1958 U.S.A. Hurricanes Connie and Diane

1958 : Following deadly floods caused by Hurricanes Connie and Diane in August 1955 President Eisenhower signs the Rivers and Harbors Flood Control Bill, allocating funds for improvement of flood-control and water-storage systems including specific provisions for hurricane flood protection.

1962 Algeria Independence

1962 : Following a referendum for independence on July 1st with a nearly unanimous decision. President De Gaulle of France pronounced Algeria an independent country on 3rd July (but the official date for celebration of independence is 5th July).

1966 England Vietnam Anti War Protests

1966 : The Vietnam Anti-War Protesters demonstration outside the US Embassy turns violent and 30 protesters are arrested.

1970 Spain Plane Crash

1970 : A British Dan Air charter flight heading for Spain's Costa Brava resort crashed into a mountain near Barcelona, Spain, killing 112 people.

1971 France Jim Morrison

1971 : The lead singer of "The Doors" Jim Morrison is found dead in a bathtub in his apartment in Paris with heart failure aggravated by excessive drinking.

1986 U.S.A. Statue of Liberty

1986 : After appointing a commission to save, restore and preserve the 150 feet tall Statue of Liberty in 1984, President Ronald Reagan led ceremonies to unveil the newly restored Statue of Liberty.

1987 France Butcher of Lyon

1987 : The Nazi war criminal Klaus Barbie / Butcher of Lyon and the former head of Gestapo who was extradited from Bolivia to face charges is found guilty of crimes against humanity and sentenced to life imprisonment.

1988 US Shoots Down Iranian Passenger Jet

1988 : The U.S. Navy cruiser Vincennes shoots down an Iranian passenger jet that it mistakes for a hostile Iranian fighter aircraft in the Persian Gulf.

2000 UK Ken Livingstone

2000 : Ken Livingstone has taken up full powers as London's first directly elected mayor and told his supporters "The first duty of the mayor is to London."

2006 Mexico Elections

2006 : As results came in from Mexico’s federal elections conducted on July 2nd, the winner was unclear, with both the National Action Party and the Democratic Revolution Party claiming a win in the presidency. By September of 2006 the election results were confirmed with Felipe Calderon, the National Action Party’s candidate, as the new president of Mexico. This election also marked the first time the Institutional Revolutionary Party was third place in Congressional elections, the party was the ruling party for 71 years.

2006 Spain Valencia Train Crash

2006 : An underground train in Valencia, Spain crashed killing 41 people. The train derailed just as it approached Jesus Station. The crash is believed to have been caused by a broken wheel and excess speeds.

2008 U.S.A. Latest Jobless Figures

2008 : The latest US employment figures show US companies have cut workers for the sixth month in a row (June 62,000 jobs cut) fueling fears that the world's largest economy is heading towards a recession.

2008 U.S.A. Man Gives Birth

2008 : Thomas Beatie has given birth to a baby girl on this day. Beatie, born a female, was legally a male when he became pregnant. Despite going through the gender reassignment process, Beatie chose to keep his female reproductive organs in order to still be able to give birth to children.

2009 Sarah Palin Resigns as Governor of Alaska

2009 : Sarah Palin, former running-mate for John McCain, announced that she will resign from her office of governor of Alaska. The announcement was unexpected and it was suspected that the announcement came in time for Palin to prepare herself to run in the 2012 presidential election.

2011 US Oil Pipeline Ruptures in Montana

2011 : An ExxonMobil pipeline in Montana ruptured and has spilled up to one thousand barrels of crude oil into the Yellowstone river. The pipe was shut down and the leak was isolated while clean-up crews tried to manage the spill.

2012 US Actor Andy Griffith Dies

2012 : Television actor Andy Griffith died at the age of eighty-six. Griffith was best known for playing Sheriff Andy Taylor on The Andy Griffith Show during the 1960s as well as lawyer Ben Matlock in Matlock during the 1980s and 1990s.

2013 Chrysler Announces Recall

2013 : US car manufacturer Chrysler has announced the recall of 840,000 vehicles. One of the issues addressed in the recall is a faulty headrest and another is in minivans that have a software issue with airbag deployment.

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