TODAY IN HISTORY

JULY 2

1881

:Frustrated at being denied an appointment to the U.S. consulate in Paris, Charles Guiteau shoots and fatally wounds President James A. Garfield at Washington's Baltimore and Potomac Railroad Depot. Garflied will die on Sept. 19.

1937: Pilot Amelia Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, make their last attempt at radio contact while flying between New Guinea and Howland Island in the Pacific Ocean. Neither Earhart nor Noonan will ever be heard from again, putting a tragic end on their attempted around-the-world flight. Exactly 65 years later, American adventurer Steve Fossett will become the first person to fly a hot air balloon solo and nonstop around the world. Two days later, on July 4, 2002, Fossett will land the Spirit of Freedom in Queensland, Australia.

1964: President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the landmark 1964 Civil Rights Act into law, legislating the end to segregation by race, color, religion and national origin. The act, proposed a year earlier by President John F. Kennedy, prohibits discrimination in public facilities, voting, education, employment and union membership.