YouTube download / AP video / Highlights of this day in history: America normalizes diplomatic ties with Vietnam; Aaron Burr mortally wounds Alexander Hamilton in a duel; Skylab makes a fiery return to Earth; Babe Ruth's major league debut; Laurence Olivier dies. (July 11)
July 11 is the 192nd day of the year (193rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 173 days remaining until the end of the year.
Events:
- 1914 – Babe Ruth makes his debut in Major League Baseball.
- 1921 – Former President of the United States William Howard Taft is sworn in as 10th Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, becoming the only person ever to hold both offices.
- 1960 – To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is first published, in the United States.
- 1977 – Martin Luther King, Jr. is posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
- 1979 – America's first space station, Skylab, is destroyed as it re-enters the Earth's atmosphere over the Indian Ocean.
- 1995 – Srebrenica massacre begins; lasts until 22 July.
- 2006 – Mumbai train bombings: Two hundred nine people are killed in a series of bomb attacks in Mumbai, India.
- 2010 – July 2010 Kampala attacks: At least 74 people are killed in twin suicide bombings at two locations in Kampala, Uganda
- 2011 – Evangelos Florakis Naval Base explosion: Ninety-eight containers of explosives self-detonate killing 13 people in Zygi, Cyprus.
Famous Births:
- 1767 – John Quincy Adams, American lawyer and politician, 6th President of the United States (d. 1848)
- 1895 – Dorothy Wilde, English author and poet (d. 1941)
- 1899 – E. B. White, American essayist and journalist (d. 1985)
- 1916 – Alexander Prokhorov, Australian-Russian physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2002)
- 1920 – Yul Brynner, Russian actor and dancer (d. 1985)
- 1924 – Brett Somers, Canadian-American actress and singer (d. 2007)
- 1931 – Tab Hunter, American actor and singer
- 1950 – Bonnie Pointer, American singer
- 1953 – Leon Spinks, American boxer
- 1956 – Sela Ward, American actress
- 1959 – Suzanne Vega, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
- 1963 – Al MacInnis, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
- 1966 – Rod Strickland, American basketball player and coach
- 1975 – Lil' Kim, American rapper and producer
- 1980 – Tyson Kidd, Canadian wrestler
- 1996 – Alessia Cara, Canadian singer-songwriter
Famous Deaths:
- 1937 – George Gershwin, American pianist, songwriter, and composer (b. 1898)
- 1989 – Laurence Olivier, English actor, director, and producer (b. 1907)
- 2007 – Lady Bird Johnson, American beautification activist; 43rd First Lady of the United States (b. 1912)
- 2011 – Rob Grill, American singer-songwriter and bass player (b. 1943)
- 2014 – Tommy Ramone, Hungarian-American drummer and producer (b. 1949)
Holidays and observances:
- Christian Feast Day:
- China National Maritime Day (China)
- Day of the Bandoneón (Argentina)
- Day of the Flemish Community (Flemish Community of Belgium)
- Eleventh Night (Northern Ireland)
Source: Wikipedia for July 11
-- Henry Frederick, Headline Surfer