- Jul 1 55th Postmaster General: Robert E Hannegan of Mo takes office
- Jul 1 Allies troop land on Balikpapan
Greenberg's Return Game
Jul 1 First MLB superstar to return from WW II, Hank Greenberg homers in his 1st game (Detroit beats Philadelphia A's 9-5)
49th Secretary of State
Jul 3 James F. Byrnes becomes 49th US Secretary of State, succeeding Edward Stettinius
- Jul 4 Field Marshal Henry Maitland Wilson gives Britain's agreement to use the atomic bomb against Japan at the Combined Policy Committee in Washington D. C.
Labour Wins British Election
Jul 5 Labour Party under Clement Attlee wins British parliamentary elections (results not declared until 26 July)
- Jul 5 World War II: Liberation of the Philippines declared
United Nations Charter
Jul 6 Nicaragua becomes 1st nation to ratify the Charter of the United Nations
- Jul 6 US President Harry Truman signs executive order establishing Medal of Freedom
Ferrell Makes Catching Record
Jul 6 Washington Senator Rick Ferrell catches a record 1,722 games
PGA Men's Championship
Jul 15 PGA Championship Men's Golf, Morraine CC: Byron Nelson wins 5th and final major title and 2nd PGA title; beats ex-MLB player Sam Byrd 4 & 3
Manhattan Project
Jul 16 1st test detonation of an atomic bomb, Trinity Site, Alamogordo, New Mexico as part of the US Manhattan Project
- Jul 16 Australian Services win 3rd Victory Test Cricket by 4 wickets
- Jul 16 Cruiser Indianapolis leaves San Francisco with atom bomb
Potsdam Conference
Jul 17 Potsdam Conference: Harry Truman, Joseph Stalin and Winston Churchill hold 1st post-World War II meeting
Head of Vichy Regime Goes on Trial
Jul 23 Marshal Philippe Pétain, leader of the French Vichy collaborationist regime during World War II goes on trial
- Jul 24 WWII: Suicide attack by Japanese Kaiten manned torpedo sinks US Navy destroyer USS Underhill west of Guam; nearly half of the 234 crew was killed
- Jul 26 After Labour landslide in general election, Clement Attlee becomes British Prime Minister
Potsdam Declaration
Jul 26 Declaration of Potsdam: US, Britain and China demand the unconditional surrender of Japan during WWII
- Jul 26 Japanese government disregards US ultimatum
Nuclear Bombing of Nagasaki
Jul 26 Physicist Raemer Schreiber and Lieutenant Colonel Peer de Silva depart Kirtland Army Air Field to transport the plutonium core for the Fat Man bomb (bombing of Nagasaki) to the island of Tinian where the bomb is assembled
- Jul 26 US cruiser Indianapolis reaches Tinian with atom bomb
Churchill Resigns
Jul 26 Winston Churchill resigns as Britain's Prime Minister after election defeat
- Jul 27 Cubs purchase pitcher Hank Borowy from NY Yankees
- Jul 27 US Communist Party forms
- Jul 28 "Elevator girl" Betty Lou Oliver survives falling 75 stories after fog causes a US bomber plane to crash into the Empire State Building, breaking the cables supporting the elevator she was operating. This remains a world record for the longest survived elevator fall
- Jul 28 Japanese premier Suzuki disregards US ultimatum to surrender
Nuclear Bombing of Nagasaki
Jul 28 Physicist Raemer Schreiber and Lieutenant Colonel Peer de Silva arrive on the Pacific island of Tinian with the plutonium core used to assemble the Fat Man bomb used in the bombing of Nagasaki on August 9
- Jul 28 US Army B-25 crashes into 79th floor of Empire State Bldg, 14 die
- Jul 28 US Senate ratifies United Nations charter 89-2
Sinking of the USS Indianapolis
Jul 30 After delivering the Atomic Bomb across the Pacific, the cruiser USS Indianapolis is torpedoed and sunk by Japanese submarine I-58. 880 of the crew died, many after being attacked by sharks, the inspiration for the movie Jaws.
Surrender of Pierre Laval
Jul 31 Pierre Laval, fugitive former leader of Vichy France, surrenders to Allied soldiers in Austria
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