On July 21, 1831, Belgium became independent.
In 1861 the first Battle of Bull Run was fought at Manassas, Va., resulting in a Confederate victory.
In 1899 author Ernest Hemingway was born in Oak Park.
In 1925 the so-called Monkey Trial ended in Dayton, Tenn., with John Scopes convicted of violating state law for teaching Darwin’s Theory of Evolution.
In 1944 U.S. forces landed on Guam during World War II.
In 1949 the U.S. Senate ratified the North Atlantic Treaty.
In 1961 Capt. Virgil “Gus” Grissom became the second American to orbit the Earth, flying aboard the Liberty Bell 7.
In 1980 draft registration for 19- and 20-year-old men was reinstituted.
In 1985 Maryland McCormick, widow of Col. Robert R. McCormick, former Tribune publisher, died in Chicago; she was 87.
In 1994 Britain’s Labor Party elected Tony Blair its new leader.
In 2002 telecommunications giant WorldCom Inc. filed for bankruptcy protection, about a month after disclosing it inflated profits by nearly $4 billion through deceptive accounting.
