Today is Tuesday, July 5, the 187th day of 2016. There are 179 days left in the year.
On this date:
In 1687, Isaac Newton first published his Principia Mathematica, a three-volume work setting out his mathematical principles of natural philosophy.
In 1811, Venezuela became the first South American country to declare independence from Spain.
In 1865, the Secret Service Division of the U.S. Treasury Department was founded in Washington, D.C. with the mission of suppressing counterfeit currency.
In 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the National Labor Relations Act.
In 1940, during World War II, Britain and the Vichy government in France broke off diplomatic relations.
In 1948, Britain’s National Health Service Act went into effect, providing publicly-financed medical and dental care.
In 1954, Elvis Presley’s first commercial recording session took place at Sun Records in Memphis, Tennessee; the song he recorded was “That’s All Right.”
In 1975, Arthur Ashe became the first black man to win a Wimbledon singles title as he defeated Jimmy Connors, 6-1, 6-1, 5-7, 6-4. The Cape Verde Islands officially became independent after five centuries of Portuguese rule.
In 1984, the Supreme Court weakened the 70-year-old “exclusionary rule,” deciding that evidence seized in good faith with defective court warrants could be used against defendants in criminal trials.
In 1991, a worldwide financial scandal erupted as regulators in eight countries shut down the Bank of Credit and Commerce International.
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