On this date:
In 1863, the Civil War Battle of Gettysburg began.
In 1898, during the Spanish-American War, Theodore Roosevelt and his "Rough Riders" waged a victorious assault on San Juan Hill in Cuba.
In 1943, "pay-as-you-go" income tax withholding began.
In 1946, the United States exploded a 20-kiloton atomic bomb near Bikini Atoll in the Pacific.
In 1961, Diana, the princess of Wales, was born near Sandringham, England. (She died in August 1997 in a car crash in Paris at age 36.)
In 1963, the US Post Office inaugurated its five-digit ZIP codes.
In 1968, the United States, Britain, the Soviet Union and 58 other nations signed the Nuclear NoNPRoliferation Treaty.
In 1969, Britain's Prince Charles was invested as the Prince of Wales.
In 1980, "O Canada" was proclaimed the national anthem of Canada.
In 1997, Hong Kong reverted to Chinese rule after 156 years as a British colony.
Ten years ago: East Germans lined up to obtain West German deutsche marks as a state treaty unifying the monetary and economic systems of the two Germanys went into effect.
Five years ago: Russian President Boris Yeltsin's government survived a critical no-confidence vote. Rock-and-roll disc jockey Wolfman Jack died in Belvidere, North Carolina, at age 57.
One year ago: Exactly six months before the year 2000, Congress passed legislation to shield businesses from a potential flood of Y-2-K computer-related lawsuits. A gondola in the French Alps ripped away from its cables, killing 20 people aboard. African nationalist Joshua Nkomo died in Harare, Zimbabwe, at age 82. Candy empire founder Forrest Mars Senior died in Miami at age 95. Movie director Edward Dmytryk died in Encino, California, at age 90.
"The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there."
-- L.P. Hartley, British author (1895-1972).