Today in History
Today is Saturday, July 20, the 202nd day of 2024. There are 164 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On July 20, 1969, astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin became the first men to walk on the moon after reaching its surface in their Apollo 11 lunar module.
Also on this date:
In 1917, America’s World War I draft lottery began as Secretary of War Newton Baker, wearing a blindfold, reached into a glass bowl and pulled out a capsule containing the number 258 during a ceremony inside the Senate office building.
In 1944, an attempt by a group of German officials to assassinate Adolf Hitler with a bomb failed as the explosion only wounded the Nazi leader.
In 1951, Jordan’s King Abdullah I was assassinated in Jerusalem by a Palestinian gunman who was shot dead on the spot by security.
In 1976, America’s Viking 1 robot spacecraft made a successful, first-ever landing on Mars.
In 1977, a flash flood hit Johnstown, Pennsylvania, killing more than 80 people and causing $350 million worth of damage.
In 1990, Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan, one of the court’s most liberal voices, announced he was stepping down.
In 1993, White House deputy counsel Vincent Foster Jr., 48, was found shot to death in a park near Washington, D.C.; it was ruled a suicide.
In 2006, the Senate voted 98-0 to renew the landmark 1965 Voting Rights Act for another quarter-century.
In 2007, President George W. Bush signed an executive order prohibiting cruel and inhuman treatment, including humiliation or denigration of religious beliefs, in the detention and interrogation of terrorism suspects.
In 2010, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted to approve Elena Kagan to be the Supreme Court’s fourth female justice.
In 2012, gunman James Holmes opened fire inside a crowded movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, during a midnight showing of “The Dark Knight Rises,” killing 12 people and wounding 70 others. (Holmes was later convicted of murder and attempted murder, and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.)
In 2015, the United States and Cuba restored full diplomatic relations after more than five decades of frosty relations rooted in the Cold War.
Today’s Birthdays: Former Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski, D-Md., is 88. Baseball Hall of Famer Tony Oliva is 86. Artist Judy Chicago is 85. Country singer T.G. Sheppard is 80. Singer Kim Carnes is 79. Rock musician Carlos Santana is 77. Author and commentator Thomas Friedman is 71. Rock musician Paul Cook (Sex Pistols) is 68. Actor Frank Whaley is 61. Conservationist and TV personality Terri Irwin is 60. Rock musician Stone Gossard (Pearl Jam) is 58. Actor Josh Holloway (TV: “Lost”) is 55. Singer Vitamin C is 55. Actor Sandra Oh is 53. Hockey Hall of Famer Peter Forsberg is 51. Actor Omar Epps is 51. Basketball Hall of Famer Ray Allen is 49. Hockey Hall of Famer Pavel Datsyuk is 46. Supermodel Gisele Bundchen is 44. Actor Percy Daggs III is 42. Actor John Francis Daley is 39. Dancer-singer-actor Julianne Hough is 36.
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