1839John D. Rockefeller founder of Standard Oil which dominated the oil industry into the early 20th century is born in Richford, New York.

1947In New Mexico, word of what becomes known as the Roswell Incident, a touchstone for UFO buffs. A local U.S. military office says pieces of what it calls “a crashed disc” have been recovered near the city of Roswell, but the military later says the material found on a ranch is really a top-secret weather balloon, not a crashed alien spacecraft.

1994Kim Il-sung, North Korea's communist leader who launched the Korean War dies at age 82. His son, Kim Jong-il succeeds him in power. 1986Kurt Waldheim is sworn in as Austria’s president, despite controversy over his alleged ties to Nazi war crimes during World WarⅡ.

And 1907In New York City, Broadway showman Florenz Ziegfeld stages his first follies on the roof of the New York Theater.

Today in History, July 8th. Camille Bohannon, the Associated Press,