On This Day July 1

1982
Largest mass wedding ceremony to date: Rev. Sun Myung Moon of the Unification Church marries 2,075 couples.

1979
First U.S. coin to honor a woman: The Susan B. Anthony dollar is placed in circulation. (Source: Famous First Facts)

1971
ACTION is established to coordinate certain social and economic programs sponsored by the federal government.

1970
Where's Huddles debuts on CBS, a prime-time cartoon about two professional football players.

1966
Medicare: Coverage begins. The first Medicare patient is treated today at the Polyclinic Hospital in New York City.

1949
General Services Administration is established, manages government property and records.

1943
Income Tax withholding goes into affect requiring employers to collect taxes from their employees as they are paid.

1941
First U.S. commercial TV station licenses are issued, to NBC's WNBT of New York, and CBS's WCBW.

1939
Executive Office of the President is established, purpose is to advise and provide information to the President.

1907
First air force is established, by the U.S. Army under the command of Capt. Charles de Forest Chandler.

1898
Spanish-American War - Charge of San Juan Hill: Teddy Roosevelt and his Rough Riders wage their victorious assault.

1892
First sports writer punched by a major-league baseball player: Chicago Cubs outfielder Jimmy Ryan slugs George Bechel.

1863
Civil War - Battle of Gettysburg: Confederate General George Pickett attacks. Before this battle - which marked the beginning of the end for the South - would end two days later, each side would lose more than 3,000 men.

1770
Closest recorded comet approach: Lexell's Comet comes within 745,000 miles of the Earth.

1731
First American circulating library: The Library Company of Philadelphia, founded by Benjamin Franklin, is organized.

1656
First Quakers in America arrive, Ann Austin and Mary Fisher. They were imprisoned and then expelled from Boston.

1967
Pamela Anderson, Canadian actress. TV: Home Improvement (Lisa the Tool Time Girl) and Baywatch (lifeguard C.J. Parker).

1961
Carl Lewis, American track athlete, won four Olympic gold medals in 1984, two in 1988, and two more in 1992.

1952
Dan Aykroyd, Canadian-born Emmy-winning comedian. TV: Saturday Night Live. Music: Elwood Blues of the Blues Brothers.

1950
David Duke, American political leader, Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, Nazi sympathizer, and presidential candidate.

1945
Deborah Harry, American singer, with Blondie. Music: Heart of Glass (1979, #1), Call Me (1980, #1), and Rapture (1981, #1). Film: Videodrome (1982).

1942
Karen Black (Karen Ziegler), American actress. Film: Easy Rider (1969, as the acid-tripping whore) and Five Easy Pieces (1970, waitress). TV: Trilogy of Terror (1975, memorable as the spear-wielding doll's victim).

1934
Sydney Pollack, American director. Film: Three Days of the Condor (1975).

1925
Farley Granger, American actor. Film: Rope (1948) and Strangers on a Train (1951). TV: One Life to Live (the first Dr. Will Vernon) and As the World Turns (Earl Mitchell).

1916
Olivia De Havilland, Oscar-winning actress. Film: Gone With the Wind (1939, Melanie).

1902 d. 1986
Myron Cohen, American comedian, world's most famous Jewish story teller.

1892
James M. Cain, American author. Writings: The Postman Always Rings Twice (1934).

1877
Benjamin Oliver Davis, American soldier, first black U.S. army brigadier general (1940).

1872 d. 1936
Louis Bleriot, first person to fly an airplane across the English Channel (1909).

1807 d. 1888
Thomas Green Clemson, American mining engineer, politician, founder of Clemson University.

1646 d. 1716
Baron Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz, German mathematician for whom the Leibniz series is named. He created the notation "dy/dx" and the integral sign. He designed a machine that could multiply and divide (1671), introduced binary numbers (1679), and created differential (1684) and integral calculus (1686).

2004 b. 1924
Marlon Brando, American Oscar-winning actor. Film: A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), The Wild One (1953), On the Waterfront (1954, Oscar), The Godfather (1972, Don Corleone), and Superman (1978, Superman's father).

2000 b. 1920
Walter Matthau (Walter Matthow), American Oscar-Tony-winning actor. Film: A Shot in the Dark (1961, Tony), The Fortune Cookie (1966, Oscar), and The Odd Couple (1968, Oscar Madison). Quote: "I never mind my wife having the last word. In fact, I'm delighted when she gets to it."

1997 b. 1917
Robert Mitchum, American actor. Film: The Night of the Hunter (1955) and Thunder Road (1958). At age 14, he was sentenced to a Georgia chain gang for vagrancy, from which he escaped.

1992 b. 1924
Franco Cristaldi, Italian Oscar-winning producer, Amarcord (1973) and Cinema Paradiso (1990).

1991 b. 1936
Michael Landon (Eugene Orowitz), American actor. TV: Bonanza (Little Joe).

1990 b. 1904
Forrest Edward Mars, Sr., American candy maker, inventor of M&M's. They were designed so that soldiers would not get their trigger fingers sticky.

1983 b. 1895
Richard Buckminster Fuller, American architect, invented the geodesic dome.

1974 b. 1895
Juan Domingo Per¢n, President of Argentina (1946-55, 73-74). His opposition to the Church led to his excommunication by Pope Pius XII. He was forced to resign in 1955 after a revolt, but was welcomed back in 1973 by an unstable country.

1896 b. 1811
Harriet Beecher Stowe, American author. Writings: Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852, which was the first American novel to sell 1,000,000 copies).

1884 b. 1819
Allan Pinkerton, American detective, co-founded the first U.S. detective agency (1850), and was the first chief of the U.S. Army's secret service.

1860 b. 1800
Charles Goodyear, American inventor. He patented the process of vulcanization (1844), which made the rubber industry possible.

July 1

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