July 16 in history — What Happened Today in History

The Apollo 11 lunar landing mission is launched from Cape Kennedy in Florida, USA.

The Mont Blanc Tunnel linking France and Italy opens.

South Vietnamese Colonel Phạm Ngọc Thảo, a formerly undetected communist spy and double agent, is hunted down and killed by unknown individuals after being sentenced to death in absentia for a February 1965 coup attempt against Nguyễn Khánh.

KLM Flight 844 crashes off the Schouten Islands in present day Indonesia (then Netherlands New Guinea), killing 58 people.

King Leopold III of Belgium abdicates in favor of his son, Baudouin of Belgium.

J. D. Salinger publishes his popular yet controversial novel, The Catcher in the Rye.

Chaplain–Medic massacre: American POWs are massacred by North Korean Army.

Uruguay beats hosts Brazil 2–1 to win the World Cup in a match dubbed as the Maracanazo.

Following token resistance, the city of Nazareth, revered by Christians as the hometown of Jesus, capitulates to Israeli troops during Operation Dekel in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War.

The storming of the cockpit of the Miss Macao passenger seaplane, operated by a subsidiary of the Cathay Pacific Airways, marks the first aircraft hijacking of a commercial plane.

Manhattan Project: The Atomic Age begins when the United States successfully detonates a plutonium-based test nuclear weapon near Alamogordo, New Mexico.

Holocaust: Vel' d'Hiv Roundup (Rafle du Vel' d'Hiv): The government of Vichy France orders the mass arrest of 13,152 Jews who are held at the Vélodrome d'Hiver in Paris before deportation to Auschwitz.

The world's first parking meter is installed in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

Emperor Haile Selassie signs the first constitution of Ethiopia.

Augusto César Sandino leads a raid on U.S. Marines and Nicaraguan Guardia Nacional that had been sent to apprehend him in the village of Ocotal, but is repulsed by one of the first dive-bombing attacks in history.

Max Reger's Hebbel Requiem is first performed in a memorial concert for the composer, conducted by Philipp Wolfrum.

Henry James becomes a British citizen to highlight his commitment to Britain during the first World War.

At Treasure Island on the Delaware River in the United States, the First Order of the Arrow ceremony takes place and the Order of the Arrow is founded to honor American Boy Scouts who best exemplify the Scout Oath and Law.

John Robertson Duigan makes the first flight of the Duigan pusher biplane, the first aircraft built in Australia.

Persian Constitutional Revolution: Mohammad Ali Shah Qajar is forced out as Shah of Persia and is replaced by his son Ahmad Shah Qajar.

The Imperial Russian army under Grand Duke Nicholas defeats the Ottoman army and takes the city of Nikopol (modern Bulgaria).

American Civil War: David Farragut is promoted to rear admiral, becoming the first officer in United States Navy to hold an admiral rank.

American Civil War: At the order of President Abraham Lincoln, Union troops begin a 25-mile march into Virginia for what will become the First Battle of Bull Run, the first major land battle of the war.

The last apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary to Bernadette Soubirous in Lourdes, France.

Antonio María Claret y Clará founds the Congregation of the Missionary Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, popularly known as the Claretians in Vic, in the province of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.

The city of La Paz, in what is today Bolivia, declares its independence from the Spanish Crown during the La Paz revolution and forms the Junta Tuitiva, the first independent government in Spanish America, led by Pedro Domingo Murillo.

The District of Columbia is established as the capital of the United States after signature of the Residence Act.

American Revolutionary War: Light infantry of the Continental Army seize a fortified British Army position in a midnight bayonet attack at the Battle of Stony Point.

Wizkid, Nigerian singer and songwriter

Johann Zarco, French motorcycle racer

Gareth Bale, Welsh footballer

Sergio Busquets, Spanish footballer

Mousa Dembélé, Belgian footballer

AnnaLynne McCord, American actress and producer

Knowshon Moreno, American football player

Misako Uno, Japanese actress, singer, and fashion designer

Mārtiņš Kravčenko, Latvian basketball player

Hayanari Shimoda, Japanese racing driver

Attila Szabó, Hungarian decathlete

Katrina Kaif, British Indian actress and model

Duncan Keith, Canadian ice hockey player

Alcides Ghiggia, Uruguayan footballer and manager (born 1926)

Jack Goody, English anthropologist, author, and academic (born 1919)

Karl Albrecht, German businessman, co-founded Aldi (born 1920)

Mary Ellen Otremba, American educator and politician (born 1950)

Johnny Winter, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (born 1944)

Heinz Zemanek, Austrian computer scientist and academic (born 1920)

Talia Castellano, American internet celebrity (born 1999)

Alex Colville, Canadian painter and academic (born 1920)

Marv Rotblatt, American baseball player (born 1927)

William Asher, American director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1921)

Stephen Covey, American businessman and author (born 1932)

Gilbert Esau, American businessman and politician (born 1919)

Ed Lincoln, Brazilian bassist, pianist, and composer (born 1932)