In 1853, the U.S. Senate ratified the $10 million Gadsden Purchase from Mexico, adding more than 29,000 square miles to the territories of Arizona and New Mexico and completing the modern geographical boundaries of the contiguous 48 states.

In 1933, Fatty Arbuckle, the silent film comedian and one of Hollywood's most beloved personalities until a manslaughter charge ruined his career, died while preparing a comeback. He was 46.

In 1941, Isabella Peron took office as president of Argentina, succeeding her husband.

In 1946, two years before Israel became a nation, British authorities arrested more than 2,700 Jewish Zionists in an effort to stop terrorism in Palestine.

In 1970, the last U.S. troops were withdrawn from Cambodia into South Vietnam.

In 1972, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that capital punishment, as then administered by individual states, was unconstitutional.

In 1991, the European Community announced $1.4 billion in aid for the Soviet Union.

In 1992, the U.S. Supreme Court left intact the important aspects of the 1973 Roe vs. Wade decision legalizing abortion but upheld most of Pennsylvania's new restrictions on a woman's right to abortion.

Also in 1992, doctors in Pittsburgh reported the world's first transplant of a baboon liver into a human patient. The recipient, a 35-year-old man, survived for three months.

And in 1992, the president of Algeria, Mohammed Boudiaf, was assassinated during a speech.

In 1994, the Japanese Diet elected Tomiichi Murayama prime minister.

Also in 1994, in a taped interview aired on British TV, Prince Charles admitted he had been unfaithful to his estranged wife, Princess Diana.

In 1995, the U.S. shuttle Atlantis docked with the Russian space station Mir.

In 1999, a Turkish court convicted Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan of treason and sentenced him to death.

In 2003, Hollywood legend Katherine Hepburn died at the age of 96 after a six-decade career in which she won a record four Oscars for best actress.

In 2005, the Bush administration gave the new director of national intelligence additional powers, including authority over operations by the FBI and other agencies.

In 2006, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled U.S. President George Bush didn't have authority, under military law or the Geneva Conventions, to set up military tribunals for terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

In 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed course and agreed to hear the appeals of detainees held at the Guantanamo Bay military prison on Cuba.

Also in 2007, London police found an explosive device in a car in a parking garage a few hours after a car bomb left outside a night club was disarmed. The discoveries came almost two years after suicide bombers killed 52 people and injured hundreds in London's public transportation system.

And, the American bald eagle, declared endangered in 1967, is again flourishing and no longer imperiled, the U.S. Interior Department announced.

In 2008, incumbent President Robert Mugabe declared victory in Zimbabwe's runoff election, a contest denounced by African observers as "not credible." Mugabe was the only candidate left in the race after his opponent pulled out for fear of further violence.

The moon is waxing. The morning stars are Neptune, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Mars and Uranus. The evening star is Saturn.

Those born on this date are under the sign of Cancer. They include English socialist leader Harold Laski in 1893; actress Susan Hayward and singer Lena Horne (age 92) in 1917; actress Nancy Dussault in 1936 (age 73); singer Florence Ballard of The Supremes in 1943; actor David Alan Grier in 1955 (age 54); and former heavyweight champion boxer Mike Tyson in 1966 (age 43).

In 1859, Frenchman Jean Francois Gravelet, known professionally as the Great Blondin, became the first daredevil to walk across Niagara Falls on a tight rope.

In 1870, Ada Kepley became the first woman to graduate from an accredited law school in the United States, Union College of Law in Chicago.

In 1908, a spectacular explosion occurred over central Siberia, probably caused by a meteorite. The fireball reportedly could be seen hundreds of miles away.

In 1923, jazz pioneer Sidney Bechet made his first recording. It included "Wild Cat Blues" and "Kansas City Blues."

In 1934, German leader Adolf Hitler ordered a bloody purge of his own political party, assassinating hundreds of Nazis whom he feared might become political enemies.

In 1936, Margaret Mitchell's Civil War novel "Gone With the Wind" was published.

In 1950, U.S. troops were moved from Japan to help defend South Korea against the invading North Koreans.

In 1982, the extended deadline for ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment expired, three states short of the 38 needed for passage.

In 1971, three Soviet Cosmonauts, crewmembers of the world's first space station, were killed when their spacecraft depressurized during re-entry.

In 1986, Hugh Hefner, calling his Playboy Bunny a "symbol of the past," closed Playboy Clubs in Chicago, New York and Los Angeles.

In 1992, Fidel Ramos was inaugurated as the eighth Philippine president in the first peaceful transfer of power in a generation.

In 1998, a casualty of the Vietnam War buried at the Tomb of the Unknowns in Arlington, Va., was identified as Air Force Lt. Michael Blassie of St. Louis.

In 1999, Clinton crony Webster Hubbell, a former associate U.S. attorney general, pleaded guilty to reduced charges in the Whitewater land deal scandal.

In 2000, the Clinton administration said Iraq restarted its missile program and flight-tested a short-range ballistic missile.

Also in 2000, the Presbyterian Church ordered its ministers not to conduct same-sex unions.

In 2002, published reports said fugitive terrorist leader Osama bin Laden wrote his operations chief in late December saying he survived the U.S. assault on his cave complex in Afghanistan.

Also in 2002, Israel announced it had killed a top Hamas bomb-maker, responsible for the deaths of more than 100 Israelis in suicide attacks and had begun work on an electronic fence designed to block off three sides of Jerusalem from the West Bank.

In 2003, after agreeing on a cease-fire with the Palestinians, Israel pulled out of most of the Gaza Strip, ending for the time being a blockade on the main highway that began in 2000.

In 2004, the Federal Reserve, for the first time in four years, raised its benchmark interest rate from a record low 1 percent to 1.25 percent for overnight loans.

Also in 2004, the Cassini spacecraft, in space on a U.S.-European mission, became the first device to orbit the planet Saturn.

In 2005, the Federal Reserve raised key interest rates a ninth consecutive, noting rising energy prices.

Also in 2005, Israel declared the Gaza Strip a closed military zone. All Israelis, except for residents, service providers and reporters, were barred from entering.

And, Spain became the third country to legalize same-sex marriage.

In 2006, a joint U.S.-Canadian investigation grounded a group accused of using helicopters and planes to ferry drugs from British Columbia across the border. Agents reported arresting 46 people and seizing 4 tons of marijuana, 800 pounds of cocaine, aircraft and $1.5 million in cash.

In 2007, a car blew up at Glasgow airport in Scotland after two British bomb threats the day before prompted authorities to raise the security level to "critical."

In 2008, stocks reported a staggering loss of $2.1 trillion in value for the first half of the year -- $1.4 trillion in June alone. The Dow Jones industrial average closed on June 30 at 11,350.01, down 14.4 percent since the start of the year.

The moon is waxing. The morning stars are Neptune, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Mars and Uranus. The evening star is Saturn.

Those born on this date are under the sign of Cancer. They include German philosopher Gottfried Leibniz in 1646; French novelist George Sand, a pseudonym for Amandine Dupin, in 1804; pioneer aviator Louis Bleriot in 1872; actor Charles Laughton and blues, gospel musician, composer Thomas Dorsey in 1899; film director William Wyler in 1902; cosmetics executive Estee Lauder (NYSE:EL) in 1908; blues musician Willie Dixon in 1915; actresses Olivia de Havilland in 1916 (age 93) and Leslie Caron in 1931 (age 78); filmmaker/actor Sydney Pollack in 1934; actress/writer Jean Marsh and actor Jamie Farr, also 1934 (age 75); choreographer Twyla Tharp in 1941 (age 68); actresses Karen Black in 1939 (age 70) and Genevieve Bujold in 1942 (age 67); singer Deborah Harry in 1945 (age 64); actor/comedian Dan Aykroyd in 1952 (age 57); Britain's Princess Diana in 1961; and actors Andre Braugher in 1962 (age 47), Pamela Anderson in 1967 (age 42) and Liv Tyler in 1977 (age 32).

In 1847, the first U.S. postage stamps were issued.

In 1859, the first intercollegiate baseball game was played in Pittsfield, Mass.