1865In Washington, four people are hanged for conspiring with John Wilkes Booth to assassinate President Abraham Lincoln.

1987"I came here to tell you the truth, to tell you and this committee and the American people the truth..."Also in Washington, Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North begins his public testimony at Congressional hearings on the Iran-Contra affair. The former Reagan White House aide at the heart of the arms–for-hostages scandal says he never carried out a single act without authorization.

1981President Ronal Reagan nominates Sandra Day O'Connor, an Arizona Judge, to be the first female justice on the US Supreme Court.

1907Robert Heinlein, the science fiction writer whose works include Stranger in a Stranger Land, is born in Butler, Missouri.

And 1940"Oh, I get by with a little help from my friends. Mm, I get high with a little help from my friends."Musician Ringo Starr, the drummer in the rock band the Beatles is born Richard Starkey in Liverpool, England.

Today in History, July 7th, Mike Gracia, the Associated Press.