1964In Washington, President Lyndon Johnson signs America’s most sweeping civil rights law in nearly a century. “We believe that all men are created equal, yet many are denied equal treatment.” 1937Aviator Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan disappear in their plane over the Pacific Ocean. The pair who are trying to fly around the world along the equator are never found. Their fate remains mystery.

1881Months after taking office, President James Garfield is shot at Washington’s railroad station. Garfield dies two and a half months later. His assassin Charles Guiteau is tried and executed the following year.

1961Author Ernest Hemingway shoots himself to death at his home in Ketchum, Idaho. He was 61.

And 1997“Get me back. Get me back, and  I don’t care what happens to me.Get me back to my wife and kids.”

Actor James Stewart dies in Beverly Hills, California. The star of it’s a Wonderful Life and other movie classics was 89.

Today in History, July 2nd, Sandy Kozel, the Associated Press.