American musician, Barry White, died at the age of 59. He was an influential figure of the soul and disco musical movements.

Israeli commandos conducted a raid on Entebbe airport in Uganda in an effort to rescue the passengers and crew of a hijacked Air France passenger jet which had been seized by Palestinian terrorists. The raid was successful.

In the United States the Freedom of Information Act was passed into law.

The Philippines were granted full independence by the United States, after 381 years of colonial rule.

The island state of Western Samoa changed the International Date Line, as a result, that year there were 367 days in this country, with two occurrences of Monday, July 4.

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland was published.

The first transatlantic passenger cruiser, MS Britannia, departs from Liverpool, England, bound for Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Slavery was abolished in the US state of New York.

John Adams, the 2nd President of the United States, died at the age of 91. He was an influential figure in the American revolutionary war and is considered as one of the founding fathers of the United States.

Thomas Jefferson, the 3rd President of the United States, died at the age of 84. He was the principal author of the Declaration of Independence in 1776 and was also one of the founding fathers of the United States.

Italian, Giuseppe Garibaldi, was born in the city of Nizza. He is considered as the most influential figure of the struggle to unify Italy into a single republic.

American writer , Nathaniel Hawthorne, was born in Salem, Massachusetts. He is seen as one of the most influential figures of American literature.