James Orr McLaughlin (born 1858)

In 1858, in the year that James Orr McLaughlin was born, on January 14th, Felice Orsini and others tried - but failed - to assassinate Napoleon III of France. The bombs they set off did kill 8 people - and wounded 142 others. Some of the conspirators were French émigrés who lived in Britain, setting off a short anti-British feeling in France. But the emperor refused to support the sentiment and it died out. Orsini was executed by guillotine on March 13th.

In 1890, on July 3rd, Idaho became the 43rd state in the United States. On July 10th, Wyoming became the 44th state.

In 1963, the British Secretary of War, 46 year old John Profumo ,was forced to resign when he lied about an affair with 19 year old Christine Keeler. Keeler was also involved with the Soviet naval attaché and charges of espionage were feared. No proof of spying was ever found.

In 1975, on September 5th, Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme tried to assassinate President Ford in Sacramento, California. She failed when her gun wouldn't fire. President Ford escaped a second assassination attempt 17 days later on September 22 when Sarah Jane Moore tried to shoot him in San Francisco. A bystander saw her raise her arm, grabbed it, and the shot went wild.

In 1996, on July 5th, the first cloned mammal - "Dolly the Sheep" - was born in Scotland. She had three mothers. Dolly lived to be 6 years old and produced 6 lambs. Since, other sheep have been cloned as well as horses, pigs, deer, and bulls.