July 1940 in History

Events in History

Jul 1 Australia refuses entry to Dutch Jewish refugees

Meeting of Interest

Jul 2 British PM Churchill meets Major General Bernard Montgomery

British Prime Minister Winston Churchill

Jul 2 Dutch PM Colijn publishes "Borders of 2 Worlds" (German victory)
Jul 2 Indian independence leader Subhas Chandra Bose is arrested and detained in Calcutta
Jul 2 Lake Washington (Seattle) Floating bridge dedicated
Jul 3 ARP-leader and Dutch ex-premier Colijn argues cooperation with Germany
Jul 3 British Royal Navy damages the French fleet in Mers-el-Kebir, Algeria, to prevent Germany seizing it
Jul 3 German occupiers forbid using Dutch royal names
Jul 4 British destroys French battle fleet at Oran, Algeria, 1267 die
Jul 5 Diplomatic relations broken between Britain and Vichy government in France
Jul 9 German Evangelist Church protests against euthanasia pogroms

'Hitler Will Have to Break Us or Lose the War'

Jul 10 Battle of Britain begins as Nazi forces attack shipping convoys in the English Channel

Buckingham Palace is bombed. Churchill, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth inspect the damage. Photo: NPA Rota

Jul 11 British & German dogfight above Lyme Bay

Event of Interest

Jul 11 Marshall Philippe Pétain, French hero of World War I, becomes head of the Vichy collaborationist government of France

Jul 12 Frederick McKinley Jones receives a patent for an air conditioning unit for trucks, helping to change long-haul carriage of food and blood
Jul 14 Due to beanball wars, Spalding advertises batting helmet with earflaps
Jul 14 Lithuania becomes Lithuanian SSR
Jul 15 Nazi occupiers seize library of IISG Amsterdam
Jul 15 Physicist Donald Kerst becomes the first person to accelerate electrons using electromagnetic induction, reaching energies of 2.3 MeV, when his betatron device (for particle acceleration) becomes operational in Urbana, Illinois

Event of Interest

Jul 16 Adolf Hitler orders preparations for the invasion of Britain (Operation Sealion)

Jul 16 NSB'er Woudenberg appointed as NVV-trustee

Presidential Convention

Jul 18 Democratic Convention nominates FDR for a 3rd term

Jul 19 Adolf Hitler orders Great Britain to surrender - they decline
Jul 19 Nazi occupiers imprison 231 prominent Dutch citizens in Buchenwald
Jul 20 Germany occupiers forbid Dutch Communist Party (CPN) in Netherlands
Jul 20 Nazi collaborator Rost of Tonningen appointed director of Marxist
Jul 21 Soviet Union annexes Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania
Jul 21 VARA-management accepts Rost of Tonningens demands
Jul 22 Dutch Prime minister Dirk Jan De Geer meets Adolf Hitler seeking peace talks
Jul 24 1st illegal "Newsletter of Pieter It Hen" publishes in Netherlands
Jul 24 Linthorst Homan, de Quay and Einthoven form Dutch Union
Jul 28 Radio Orange begins broadcasting from London
Jul 31 Riechskommissar Seyss-Inquart bans homosexuals

Birthdays in History

Jul 2 Ken Clarke [Kenneth Harry Clarke], British Conservative politician, born in Nottinghamshire, England
Jul 3 Lamar Alexander, American politician (U.S. Senator from Tennessee), born in Maryville, Tennessee
Jul 5 Chuck Close, American painter and photographer, born in Monroe, Washington
Jul 5 Karen Shepherd, American politician (Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Utah), born in Silver City, New Mexico

Nursultan Nazarbayev (82 years old)

Jul 6 1st President of Kazakhstan (1990-2019), born in Chemolgan, Kazakh SSR, Soviet Union

Jul 7 Richard K Armey, American economist and politician (US House of Representatives (R) - Texas, 1985-2003), born in Cando, North Dakota
Jul 7 Samuel Little, American serial killer (confessed to 93 murders), born in Reynolds, Georgia (d. 2020) [1]
Jul 10 Tom Farmer, Scottish entrepreneur, born in Leith, Edinburgh, Scotland
Jul 11 Terry Patchett, politician
Jul 11 Yvon Charbonneau, French Canadian union leader and politician
Jul 13 Paul Prudhomme, cajun chef (K-Paul), born in Opelousas. Louisiana (d. 2015)
Jul 14 Susan Howatch, English author, born in Leatherhead, England
Jul 21 James Clyburn, American politician (Rep-D-South Carolina 1993-) House Majority Whip, born in Sumter, South Carolina
Jul 22 Judith Walzer Leavitt, American college professor
Jul 24 Carroll A. Campbell Jr., American politician (Governor South Carolina 1987-95, Rep-R-SC, 1979-87), born in Greenville, South Carolina (d. 2005)
Jul 24 Stanley Hauerwas, American theologian
Jul 26 Brian Mawhinney, British Conservative Party politician, born in Belfast, United Kingdom
Jul 26 Mary Jo Kopechne, American political campaign specialist and Ted Kennedy's car passenger, born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania (d. 1969)
Jul 30 Clive Sinclair, British consumer electronics inventor (Executive pocket calculator; ZX Spectrum computer), born in Richmond, Surrey, England (d. 2021) [1]
Jul 30 Pat Schroeder, American politician (Rep-D-Colorado, 1973-97), and feminist, born in Portland, Oregon (d. 2023)
Jul 31 Stanley Jaffe, American producer (Fatal Attraction), born in New Rochelle, New York

Divorces in History

Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis

Jul 22 Jacqueline Kennedy's parents John Vernou "Black Jack" Bouvier III and Janet (Norton Lee) divorce

Deaths in History

Jul 2 Ben Turpin, American comic (Saps at Sea, His New Job), dies at 65
Jul 15 Eugen Bleuler, Swiss psychiatrist (introduced the term schizophrenia to describe the disorder previously known as dementia praecox), dies at 82
Jul 15 Robert Wadlow, American who was world's tallest known person (8'11.1"), dies at 22
Jul 19 Samuel H Chang, US newspaper magnate, murdered in Shanghai
Jul 20 Y G Van de Peat, Dutch director of employment, commits suicide
Jul 31 Whitey Krakow [or Krakower], American gangster and hitman (Murder Inc), murdered by "Bugsy" Siegel