Today in History
Today is Saturday, July 16, the 197th day of 2022. There are 168 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On July 16, 1969, Apollo 11 blasted off from Cape Kennedy on the first manned mission to the surface of the moon.
On this date:
In 1790, a site along the Potomac River was designated the permanent seat of the United States government; the area became Washington, D.C.
In 1862, Flag Officer David G. Farragut became the first rear admiral in the United States Navy.
In 1945, the United States exploded its first experimental atomic bomb in the desert of Alamogordo (ahl-ah-moh-GOHR’-doh), New Mexico; the same day, the heavy cruiser USS Indianapolis left Mare (mar-AY’) Island Naval Shipyard in California on a secret mission to deliver atomic bomb components to Tinian Island in the Marianas.
In 1951, the novel “The Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger was first published by Little, Brown and Co.
In 1957, Marine Corps Maj. John Glenn set a transcontinental speed record by flying a Vought F8U Crusader jet from California to New York in 3 hours, 23 minutes and 8.4 seconds.
In 1964, as he accepted the Republican presidential nomination in San Francisco, Barry M. Goldwater declared that “extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice” and that “moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.”
In 1980, former California Gov. Ronald Reagan won the Republican presidential nomination at the party’s convention in Detroit.
In 1999, John F. Kennedy Jr., his wife, Carolyn, and her sister, Lauren Bessette (bih-SEHT’), died when their single-engine plane, piloted by Kennedy, plunged into the Atlantic Ocean near Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts.
In 2004, Martha Stewart was sentenced to five months in prison and five months of home confinement by a federal judge in New York for lying about a stock sale.
In 2008, Florida resident Casey Anthony, whose 2-year-old daughter, Caylee, had been missing a month, was arrested on charges of child neglect, making false official statements and obstructing a criminal investigation. (Casey Anthony was later acquitted at trial of murdering Caylee, whose skeletal remains were found in December 2008; she was convicted of lying to police.)
In 2015, a jury in Centennial, Colorado, convicted James Holmes of 165 counts of murder, attempted murder and other charges in the 2012 Aurora movie theater rampage that left 12 people dead. A gunman unleashed a barrage of fire at a recruiting center and another U.S. military site a few miles apart in Chattanooga, Tennessee, killing four Marines and a sailor before he was shot to death by police; authorities identified the gunman as Kuwaiti-born Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez of Tennessee.
In 2016, Republican presidential nominee-apparent Donald Trump formally introduced his running mate, Mike Pence, during an event in New York, hailing the Indiana governor as his “first choice” and his “partner in the campaign” a day after announcing the selection on Twitter.
Ten years ago: Singer Kitty Wells, whose hits such as “Making Believe” and “It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels” made her the first female superstar of country music, died at age 92.
Five years ago: Ten people died at a popular swimming hole in Arizona’s Tonto National Forest after a rainstorm unleashed a flash flood. Roger Federer won a record-breaking 8th Wimbledon title, beating Marin Cilic (CHIHL’-ihch) 6-3, 6-1, 6-4. British actor Jodie Whittaker was announced as the next star of the long-running science fiction series “Doctor Who” — the first woman to take a role that had been played by a dozen men over six decades.
One year ago: A federal judge in Texas ruled illegal an Obama-era program that prevented the deportation of thousands of immigrants who were brought into the U.S. as children. Rapper and DJ Biz Markie, known for the 1989 song “Just a Friend,” died at the age of 57. The Eiffel Tower reopened to tourists for the first time in nearly nine months, even as France introduced new rules aimed at warding off a fourth surge; they included mandatory COVID-19 passes to enter restaurants and tourist venues.
Today’s Birthdays: Soul singer William Bell is 83. International Tennis Hall of Famer Margaret Court is 80. College Football Hall of Famer and football coach Jimmy Johnson is 79. Violinist Pinchas Zukerman is 74. Actor-singer Ruben Blades is 74. Rock composer-musician Stewart Copeland is 70. Playwright Tony Kushner is 66. Actor Faye Grant is 65. Dancer Michael Flatley is 64. Actor Phoebe Cates is 59. Actor Paul Hipp is 59. Actor Daryl “Chill” Mitchell is 57. Actor-comedian Will Ferrell is 55. Actor Jonathan Adams is 55. College and Pro Football Hall of Famer Barry Sanders is 54. Actor Rain Pryor is 53. Actor Corey Feldman is 51. Rock musician Ed Kowalczyk (koh-WAHL’-chek) (Live) is 51. Rock singer Ryan McCombs (Drowning Pool) is 48. Actor Jayma Mays is 43. Retired soccer star Carli Lloyd is 40. Actor AnnaLynne McCord is 35. Actor-singer James Maslow is 32. Actor Mark Indelicato is 28. Pop singer-musician Luke Hemmings (5 Seconds to Summer) is 26.