On this day: July 9
A president dies, new nations are born, the All-Star Game goes indoors and a jam band performs for the last time, all on this day in history.
1776: George Washington orders the Declaration of Independence to be read out loud to members of the Continental Army in New York City for the first time.
1776: George Washington orders the Declaration of Independence to be read out loud to members of the Continental Army in New York City for the first time.
1850: President Zachary Taylor dies and Millard Fillmore becomes the 13th president of the United States. Taylor's 16 months in office is the third-shortest tenure of any U.S. president.
1868: The 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified guaranteeing African-Americans full citizenship and all persons in the United States due process of law.
1872: New England sea captain John F. Blondel patents the first doughnut-hole machine, in which a spring-loaded tube pushed the dough out of the cake's middle.
1877: The inaugural Wimbledon Championships opens.
1877: Alexander Graham Bell (pictured), his father-in-law Gardiner Greene Hubbard, Thomas Sanders and Thomas Watson form the Bell Telephone Company.
1878: The corncob pipe was patented by Henry Tibbe.
1900: Queen Victoria gives royal assent to an Act creating the Commonwealth of Australia thus uniting separate colonies on the continent under one federal government.
1918: An inbound local train in Nashville, Tenn., collides with an outbound express killing 101 and injuring 171 people, making it the deadliest rail accident in United States history.
1922: Johnny Weissmuller, seen here at a 1924 swimming event, swims the 100 meters freestyle in 58.6 seconds breaking the world swimming record and the "minute barrier."
1932: Donald Rumsfeld, who would go onto become U.S. secretary of defense for both President Gerald Ford and President George W. Bush, is born.
1942: Actor Richard Roundtree ("Shaft") is born.
1946: Bon Scott, who would go on to be lead singer for AC/DC from 1974 until his death in 1980, is born.
1947: The engagement of Britain's Princess Elizabeth, who would later become Queen Elizabeth II, to Lt. Philip Mountbatten is announced. They are seen here in Elizabeth's 1953 coronation photo.
1947: O.J. Simpson is born.
1956: Actor Tom Hanks is born.
1956: Dick Clark makes his debut as host of "Bandstand" on a Philadelphia TV station. The name of the show is later changed to "American Bandstand" when it went nationwide. Here the microphone he used on that first show is displayed as a part of his music memorabilia collection in New York City in October 2006.
1958: Lituya Bay in southeastern Alaska is hit by a megatsunami. The wave is recorded at 1,720 feet high, the largest in recorded history. In this photo, the areas of destroyed forest along the shorelines are recognizable as the light areas rimming the bay.
1958: Johnny Cash signs with Columbia Records. His first single for the company was "Don't Take Your Guns to Town."
1962: Bob Dylan records "Blowin' in the Wind."
1962: Andy Warhol's Campbell's Soup Cans exhibition opens at the Ferus Gallery in Los Angeles. Some of the iconic pieces from that collection are seen going up here before a 2006 exhibition in Spain.
1964: Courtney Love, actress, guitarist for the rock band Hole and Kurt Cobain's widow, is born.
1968: The first MLB All-Star game to be played indoors takes place at the Houston Astrodome. The National League defeats the American League 1-0 with Willie Mays, who led off the first with a single, advanced two bases on wild throws and scored the game's only run on a fielder's choice, earning MVP honors.
1975: Musician Jack White, a member of The White Stripes, The Raconteurs and The Dead Weather, is born.
1976: Actor Fred Savage ("The Wonder Years") is born.
1982: The movie "Tron" is released.
1985: Joe Namath signs a five-year pact to provide commentary for "Monday Night Football."
1995: The Grateful Dead give their last concert with Jerry Garcia at Chicago's Soldier Field. Garcia died the next month of a heart attack.
1997: The Nevada State Athletic Commission bans Mike Tyson from the boxing ring and fines him $3 million for twice biting the ears of opponent Evander Holyfield in a June 28, 1997, bout. A little more than a year later on Oct. 18, 1998, the commission votes 4–1 to restore Tyson's boxing license.
1999: The movie "American Pie" hits theaters. The low-budget comedy would go on to earn more than $235 million worldwide and spawn three direct sequels and several more direct-to-video sequels.
2003: "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl" opens in theaters. The movie grossed more than $653 million worldwide and spawned three sequels.
2005: Daredevil skateboarder Danny Way rolls down a large ramp and jumps across the Great Wall of China, becoming the first person to clear the wall without motorized aid.
2011: South Sudan gains independence and secedes from Sudan. Here the country's presidential guard await the arrival of foreign dignitaries for the country's official independence celebrations in the capital city of Juba.
