Today in history

On July 2, 1937, aviator Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan disappeared over the Pacific Ocean while attempting to make the first round-theworld flight along the equator.

In 1776, the Continental Congress passed a resolution saying that “these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States.”

In 1867, New York’s first elevated rail line, a single track between Battery Place and Greenwich Street, went into operation.

In 1881, President James A. Garfield was shot by Charles J. Guiteau at the Washington railroad station; Garfield died the following September. (Guiteau was hanged in June 1882.)

In 1892, the Populist Party (also known as the People’s Party) opened its first national convention in Omaha, Nebraska.

In 1917, rioting erupted in East St. Louis, Illinois, as white mobs attacked black residents; nearly 50 people, mostly blacks, are believed to have died in the violence.

In 1926, the United States Army Air Corps was created.

In 1955, “The Lawrence Welk Show” premiered on ABC-TV under its original title, “The Dodge Dancing Party.”

In 1961, author Ernest Hemingway shot himself to death at his home in Ketchum, Idaho.

In 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed into law a sweeping civil rights bill passed by Congress.

In 1977, Russian-American author Vladimir Nabokov, 78, died in Montreux, Switzerland.

In 1987, 18 Mexican immigrants were found dead inside a locked boxcar near Sierra Blanca, Texas, in what authorities called a botched smuggling attempt; a 19th man survived.

In 1997, Academy Award-winning actor James Stewart died in Beverly Hills, California, at age 89.

Ten years ago: President George W. Bush commuted the sentence of former aide I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, sparing him a 2-1/2-year prison term in the CIA leak case. Russian President Vladimir Putin concluded his visit to Kennebunkport, Maine, where he’d held talks with President Bush. Opera singer Beverly Sills died in New York at age 78.

Five years ago: Jim Yong Kim began his new job as president of the World Bank, promising to immediately focus on helping poor countries navigate a fragile global economy. The U.S. Justice Department said British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline would pay $3 billion in fines for criminal and civil violations involving 10 drugs taken by millions of people. Former NBC president Julian Goodman, 90, died in Juno Beach, Florida.

“Let all of life be an unfettered howl. Like the crowd greeting the gladiator. Don’t stop to think, don’t interrupt the scream, exhale, release life’s rapture.” — Vladimir Nabokov (1899-1977).