Signing of the United States Constitution

1868

14th Amendment adopted

Born on This Day

Beatrix Potter

Beatrix Potter

1866 - 1943

English author and illustrator who created "The Tale of Peter Rabbit" and used its profits to encourage nature conservation.

Handicapped Runner Terry Fox Smiling

Terry Fox

1958 - 1981

Canadian activist whose "Marathon of Hope" raised millions of dollars for cancer research and made him a national hero.

Garfield Creator Jim Davis

Jim Davis

1945 -

Cartoonist who created the lazy, sarcastic cat "Garfield," one of the most widely distributed comics in history.

1996

JUL

28

Two men at a Washington state park stumble on a skull, part of a skeleton later found to be over 9,000 years old—one of the oldest in N. America. “Kennewick Man” is reburied 21 years later, in Native American rites.

Timeline

Also on This Day in History

Discover more of the major events, famous births, notable deaths and everything else history-making that happened on July 28th

1914

Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia

On July 28, 1914, one month to the day after Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife were killed by a Serbian nationalist in Sarajevo, Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia, effectively beginning the First World War. Threatened by Serbian ambition in the tumultuous Balkans region of Europe, Austria-Hungary determined that the proper response to […]

1929

Future first lady Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy is born

On July 28, 1929, President John F. Kennedy’s wife, Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy, is born into a prominent New York family. Jacqueline, or “Jackie” as she was called, grew up an avid horsewoman and reader. In 1951, after graduating from George Washington University, Jackie toured Europe with her sister. That fall, she returned to the U.S. […]

1932

Bonus Marchers evicted by U.S. Army

During the Great Depression, President Herbert Hoover orders the U.S. Army under General Douglas MacArthur to evict by force the Bonus Marchers from the nation’s capital. Two months before, the so-called “Bonus Expeditionary Force,” a group of some 1,000 World War I veterans seeking cash payments for their veterans’ bonus certificates, had arrived in Washington, […]

1942

Stalin issues Order No. 227—outlawing cowards

On July 28, 1942, Joseph Stalin, premier and dictator of the Soviet Union, issues Order No. 227, what came to be known as the “Not one step backward” order, in light of German advances into Russian territory. The order declared, “Panic makers and cowards must be liquidated on the spot. Not one step backward without […]

1945

Plane crashes into Empire State Building

A United States military plane crashes into the Empire State Building on July 28, 1945, killing 14 people. The freak accident was caused by heavy fog. The B-25 Mitchell bomber, with two pilots and one passenger aboard, was flying from Bedford, Massachusetts, to LaGuardia Airport in New York City. As it came into the metropolitan […]

1965

President Johnson announces more troops to Vietnam

President Lyndon B. Johnson announces that he has ordered an increase in U.S. military forces in Vietnam, from the present 75,000 to 125,000. Johnson also said that he would order additional increases if necessary. He pointed out that to fill the increase in military manpower needs, the monthly draft calls would be raised from 17,000 […]

1968

American Indian Movement (AIM) is founded

On July 28, 1968, several hundred Native Americans in Minneapolis, Minnesota attend a meeting, organized by community activists George Mitchell, Dennis Banks and Clyde Bellecourt, to discuss issues facing their local Indigenous community. This event marks the start of the American Indian Movement, or AIM, a primary proponent of the Red Power movement. Inspired by […]

1975

Grizzly bear is classified as a “threatened” species

On July 28, 1975, the grizzly bear—once the undisputed king of the western wilderness—is given federal protection as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. Before the Anglo-Americans began invading their territory, the grizzly bear inhabited most of the country west of the Mississippi from Mexico north to the Arctic Circle. Its only serious […]

1976

One of the worst earthquakes in modern history destroys Chinese city

At 3:42 a.m. on July 28, 1976, an earthquake measuring between 7.8 and 8.2 magnitude on the Richter scale flattens Tangshan, a Chinese industrial city with a population of about one million people. As almost everyone was asleep in their beds, instead of outside in the relative safety of the streets, the quake was especially […]

1978

“Animal House” released in theaters

On July 28, 1978, National Lampoon’s Animal House, a movie spoof about 1960s college fraternities starring John Belushi, opens in U.S. theaters. Produced with an estimated budget of $3 million, Animal House became a huge, multi-million-dollar box-office hit, spawned a slew of cinematic imitations and became part of pop-culture history with such memorable lines as […]

2016

Hillary Clinton accepts Democratic nomination for president

Ninety-five years after women were first granted the right to vote, on July 28, 2016, former Secretary of State, Senator and First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton makes history by accepting the Democratic Party’s nomination for president, becoming the first woman to lead a major U.S. political party. The Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia formally nominated […]

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