*History For Today - July 4th*

*1776 - According to popular legend the Liberty Bell rings for the Second Continental Congress

*1776 - US Congress proclaims the Declaration of Independence and independence from Great Britain

*1789 - 1st US tariff act signed by President Washington

*1796 - 1st Independence Day celebration is held

*1802 - 1st US Military Academy opens at West Point, NY

*1803 - The Louisiana Purchase is announced to the American people by President Thomas Jefferson

*1826 - Past presidents Thomas Jefferson and John Adams both die on the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence

*1831 - "America (My Country 'Tis of Thee)", with lyric by Samuel Francis Smith, has 1st public performance at Park Street Church in Boston, Massachusetts

*1862 - Charles Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) creates Alice in Wonderland for Alice Liddell on a family boat trip on the river Isis (Thames) in Oxford

*1865 - First edition of "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" by Lewis Carroll is published

*1866 - Firecracker thrown in wood starts fire destroying half of Portland, Maine

*1883 - Buffalo Bill Cody presents 1st wild west show, North Platte, Nebraska

*1884 - Statue of Liberty presented to US in Paris

*1894 - Elwood Haynes successfully tests one of 1st US autos at 6 MPH

*1895 - Katherine Lee Bates publishes "America the Beautiful"

*1919 - Jack Dempsey beats champion Jess Willard, retired in 3rd round in Toledo, Ohio for world heavyweight championship

*1923 - Jack Dempsey beats Tommy Gibbons on points over 15 hard fought rounds in Shelby, Montana to retain world heavyweight boxing title

*1954 - Dr Sam Sheppard's wife Marilyn is murdered (he is accused of the crime)

*1964 - Beachboys' "I Get Around" reaches #1

*1966 - LBJ signs Freedom of Information Act

*1970 - Casey Kasem's "American Top 40" debuts on LA radio

*1990 - 2 Live Crew release "Banned in the USA" the lyrics quote Star Spangled Banner and Gettysburg Address

*1990 - 400 New Kids on the Block fans treated for heat exhaustion in Minnesota

*1993 - Pizza Hut blimp deflates and lands safely on W 56th street in NYC

*1996 - Hot Mail, a free internet E-mail service begins

*2009 - The Statue of Liberty's crown reopens to the public after 8 years, due to security reasons following the World Trade Center attacks

*2015 - Matt "Megatoad" Stonie, in an upset, defeats 8x hot dog eating champion Joey "Jaws" Chestnut at Nathan's Famous, Coney Island with 62 hot dogs

*2019 - US publication Mad Magazine announces it will stop publishing new material after 67 years

*2021 - I registered & released the first copy I had of The Stranger

*2023 - I registered & released this copy of The Stranger

Released this book at the Goodwill & I was happy to get rid of it