On This Day, July 8: Ex-Japanese PM Shinzo Abe assassinated

July 8 (UPI) -- On this date in history:

In 1776, the Declaration of Independence was read in public for the first time, to people gathered at Philadelphia's Independence Square.

In 1835, the Liberty Bell cracked while being rung during the funeral of U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall in Philadelphia.

In 1889, The Wall Street Journal was first published.

In 1909, the Wright Brothers demonstrated their airplane for an enthusiastic crowd at Fort Myer, Virginia.

File Photo by Pat Benic/UPI

In 1950, U.S. Army Gen. Douglas MacArthur was designated commander of U.N. forces in Korea.

In 1951, Paris celebrated its 2,000th birthday. The city was founded sometime around 250 A.D. by a Gallic tribe known as the Parisii.

In 1969, U.S. troops began withdrawing from Vietnam.

In 1991, Yugoslav leaders signed an accord calling for an internationally observed cease-fire in Slovenia and Croatia.

In 1994, North Korean President Kim Il Sung died at age 82. He had led the country since its founding in 1948.

In 2009, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, benefiting from a robust economy, was easily re-elected.

File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI

In 2010, a French surgeon said he had performed the first successful transplant of a complete face, giving a 35-year-old disfigured man every feature, including tear ducts.

In 2011, space shuttle Atlantis began the 135th and final mission of the U.S. space shuttle program that started in 1981, a two-week voyage to the International Space Station with a cargo of supplies and spare parts.

In 2014, in an escalating conflict, Israeli airstrikes pounded the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip and rockets were fired at Israel. A statement from the military said the strikes were made to "stop the terror Israel's citizens face on a daily basis." The airstrikes began a 50-day war between the two sides, ending Aug. 26, 2014.

In 2019, the so-called "Terminator" of the Democratic Republic of the Congo -- Bosco Ntaganda -- was found guilty of war crimes by the International Criminal Court in the Netherlands.

In 2022, Shinzo Abe, Japan's longest-serving prime minister who retired from office in 2020 after a bout of health problems, was shot dead at a train station while making a campaign speech for a parliamentary candidate.