1939 - The Hedda Hopper Show debuts with Hollywood gossip Hedda Hopper as host (the show ran until 1951 and made Hopper a powerful figure in the Hollywood elite).
1941 - World War II: Soviet leader Josef Stalin addresses the Soviet Union for only the second time during his three-decade rule (the first time was earlier that year on July 2). He states that even though 350,000 troops were killed in German attacks so far, that the Germans have lost 4.5 million soldiers (a wildly false lie) and that Soviet victory was near.
1957 - Félix Gaillard becomes Prime Minister of France
1962 - Apartheid: The United Nations General Assembly passes a resolution condemning South Africa's racist apartheid policies and calls for all UN member states to cease military and economic relations with the nation.
1965 - Freedom Flights begin: Cuba and the United States formally agree to start an airlift for Cubans who want to go to the United States (by 1971 250,000 Cubans take advantage of this program).
1985 - In Colombia, leftist guerrillas of the April 19 Movement seize control of the Palace of Justice in Bogotá. By the next day 115 people are dead, 11 of them Supreme Court justices).
1999 - Australians vote to keep the British queen as their head of state.