History Events on July 08

The United States Air Force accepts its first female recruits into a program called Women in the Air Force (WAF).
#United_States_Air_Force

Richard Nixon delivers a special congressional message enunciating Native American self-determination as official US Indian policy, leading to the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act of 1975.
#Richard_Nixon

The Olive Branch Petition is signed by the Continental Congress of the Thirteen Colonies of North America.
#Olive_Branch_Petition

An estimated magnitude 8.7 earthquake causes a tsunami that damages more than 1,000 km (620 mi) of Chile's coastline.
#1730_Valparaíso_earthquake

British forces defeat French forces in the last naval battle in New France.
#Battle_of_Restigouche

Francis Gary Powers is charged with espionage resulting from his flight over the Soviet Union.
#Francis_Gary_Powers

Kim Jong-il begins to assume supreme leadership of North Korea upon the death of his father, Kim Il-sung.
#Kim_Jong-il

Reports are broadcast that a UFO crash landed in Roswell, New Mexico in what became known as the Roswell UFO incident.
#Unidentified_flying_object

The Mounties begin their March West.
#Royal_Canadian_Mounted_Police

The Dow Jones Industrial Average reaches its lowest level of the Great Depression, closing at 41.22.
#Dow_Jones_Industrial_Average

Israeli Mossad assassinate Palestinian writer Ghassan Kanafani.
#Mossad

Space Shuttle Atlantis is launched in the final mission of the U.S. Space Shuttle program.
#Space_Shuttle_Atlantis

Sailing ship USS Jeannette departs San Francisco carrying an ill-fated expedition to the North Pole.
#USS_Jeannette_(1878)

The death of crime boss Soapy Smith, killed in the Shootout on Juneau Wharf, releases Skagway, Alaska from his iron grip.
#Soapy_Smith

French forces hold Fort Carillon against the British at Ticonderoga, New York.
#Fort_Carillon

Ne Win besieges and dynamites the Rangoon University Student Union building to crush the Student Movement.
#Ne_Win

Joseph Bonaparte approves the Bayonne Statute, a royal charter intended as the basis for his rule as king of Spain.
#Joseph_Bonaparte
The first rugby union test match between the Wallabies of Australia and the Springboks of South Africa is played at Newlands Stadium in Cape Town.
#Rugby_union

Vasco da Gama sets sail on the first direct European voyage to India.
#Vasco_da_Gama

Charles II of England grants John Clarke a Royal charter to Rhode Island.
#Charles_II_of_England

Roger of Lauria, commanding the Aragonese fleet defeats an Angevin fleet sent to put down a rebellion on Malta.
#Roger_of_Lauria

Israel launches an offensive on Gaza amid rising tensions following the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenagers.
#Israel

Some 15,000 starving Christian soldiers begin the siege of Jerusalem by marching in a religious procession around the city as its Muslim defenders watch.
#Siege_of_Jerusalem_(1099)

Henrique Mitchell de Paiva Couceiro leads an unsuccessful royalist attack against the First Portuguese Republic in Chaves.
#Henrique_Mitchell_de_Paiva_Couceiro

Assassination attempt against Iraqi president Saddam Hussein in Dujail.
#Iraq

The Perry Expedition arrives in Edo Bay with a treaty requesting trade.
#Perry_Expedition

The Battle of Dynekilen forces Sweden to abandon its invasion of Norway.
#Battle_of_Dynekilen

Sudan Airways Flight 139 crashes near Port Sudan Airport during an emergency landing attempt, killing all 117 people on board.
#Sudan_Airways_Flight_139

Peter I of Russia defeats Charles XII of Sweden at the Battle of Poltava, thus effectively ending Sweden's status as a major power in Europe.
#Peter_the_Great

Church bells (possibly including the Liberty Bell) are rung after John Nixon delivers the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence of the United States.
#Liberty_Bell

Our Lady of Kazan, a holy icon of the Russian Orthodox Church, is discovered underground in the city of Kazan, Tatarstan.
#Our_Lady_of_Kazan

St. John's, Newfoundland is devastated in the Great Fire of 1892.
#St._John's,_Newfoundland_and_Labrador