NATO invites former Warsaw Pact members to join

On July 8, 1997, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) invited the former communist nations of Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic to join the alliance. This was the first invitation of former communist nations to join NATO since the end of the Cold War. The three countries would later attain membership in 1999. Since then, former communist states Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, Croatia, Slovenia, Slovakia, and the Baltic States have all become NATO members as well.

Learn more about NATO expansion from the organization’s website.

THIS DAY @ LAW

First black woman judge appointed in US

On July 22, 1939, New York City Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia appointed Jane Matilda Bolin a judge of the city's Domestic Relations Court, making her the first African-American woman appointed to judicial office in the United States. She served on the court for 40 years. Learn more about Jane Matilda Bolin.

Japan finished paying reparations to the Philippines

On July 22, 1976, Japan paid the last of its World War II reparations to the Philippines.