1826,Former Presidents John Adams and Thomas Jefferson each die on the same day. It happens fifty years after the Declaration of Independence, which Jefferson wrote and Adams helped shape.

1976,Israeli commandos conducted a daring raid at Entebbe airport in the central African nation of Uganda. They rescuealmost all the passengers and crew of an Air France jetliner seized by pro-Palestinian hijackers.

1802,The United States Military Academy officially opens at West Point in upstate New York.

1939,"Today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the Earth."Lou Gehrig, baseball's "Iron Horse", says farewell to his fans at New York's Yankee Stadium. Gehrig, afflictedwith the degenerative disease that eventually bears his name, dies two years later.

And 1927,"I knew I wanted to be a writer when I was about 14 and 15."Neil Simon, the playwright and screenwriter whose works include The Odd Couple, is born in New YorkToday in History, July 4th, Sandy Kozel, the Associated Press.