July 1 in history — What Happened Today in History

Space Shuttle program: Space Shuttle Columbia is launched on STS-94, a re-flight of the prematurely-ended STS-83 mission with the same crew.

Cold War: The Warsaw Pact is officially dissolved at a meeting in Prague.

The Finnish operator Radiolinja is launched as the world's first GSM network.

German reunification: East Germany accepts the Deutsche Mark as its currency, thus uniting the economies of East and West Germany.

The American radio station WFAN in New York City is launched as the world's first all-sports radio station.

The PG-13 rating is introduced by the MPAA.

A North Korean Ilyushin Il-62M jet en route to Conakry Airport in Guinea crashes into the Fouta Djallon mountains in Guinea-Bissau, killing all 23 people on board.

The Ministry of State Security is established as China's principal intelligence agency

"O Canada" officially becomes the national anthem of Canada.

Sony introduces the Walkman.

The Northern Territory in Australia is granted self-government.

Portugal grants autonomy to Madeira.

The first Gay pride march in England takes place.

The United States Central Intelligence Agency's Phoenix Program is officially established.

The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons is signed in Washington, D.C., London and Moscow by sixty-two countries.

Formal separation of the United Auto Workers from the AFL–CIO in the United States.

Merger Treaty: The European Community is formally created out of a merger between the Common Market, the European Coal and Steel Community, and the European Atomic Energy Commission.

The first color television transmission in Canada takes place from Toronto.

The People's Liberation Army Rocket Force (first known as the 2nd Artillery Corps) is founded.

ZIP codes are introduced for United States mail.

The British Government admits that former diplomat Kim Philby had worked as a Soviet agent.

Independence of Rwanda and Burundi.

The Trust Territory of Somaliland (the former Italian Somaliland) gains its independence from Italy. Concurrently, it unites as scheduled with the five-day-old State of Somaliland (the former British Somaliland) to form the Somali Republic.

Ghana becomes a republic and Kwame Nkrumah becomes its first President as Queen Elizabeth II ceases to be its head of state.

Specific values for the international yard, avoirdupois pound and derived units (e.g. inch, mile and ounce) are adopted after agreement between the US, the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth countries.

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation links television broadcasting across Canada via microwave.

Flooding of Canada's Saint Lawrence Seaway begins.

The International Geophysical Year begins.

Savvy Shields, Miss America 2017

Taeyong, South Korea rapper

Chloé Paquet, French tennis player

Aaron Sanchez, American baseball player

Lucas Vázquez, Spanish footballer

Michael Wacha, American baseball player

Kent Bazemore, American basketball player

Hannah Murray, English actress

Daniel Ricciardo, Australian race car driver

Dedé, Brazilian footballer

Aleksander Lesun, Russian modern pentathlete

Michael Schrader, German decathlete

Charlie Blackmon, American baseball player

Stephen Gaskin, American activist, co-founder of The Farm (born 1935)

Bob Jones, English lawyer and politician (born 1955)

Anatoly Kornukov, Ukrainian-Russian general (born 1942)

Walter Dean Myers, American author and poet (born 1937)

Sidney Bryan Berry, American general (born 1926)

Charles Foley, American game designer, co-creator of Twister (born 1930)

William H. Gray, American minister and politician (born 1941)

Peter E. Gillquist, American priest and author (born 1938)

Ossie Hibbert, Jamaican-American keyboard player and producer (born 1950)

Evelyn Lear, American operatic soprano (born 1926)

Alan G. Poindexter, American captain, pilot and astronaut (born 1961)

Jack Richardson, American author and playwright (born 1934)

Don Coryell, American football player and coach (born 1924)