TODAY IN HISTORY
TODAY185th day IS of TUESDAY,2017. There JULY are 4, 180 the days left Day. in the year. This is Independence TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN HISTORY: On this date in 1776, the Declaration of Independence was adopted by delegates to the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia. In 1802, the United States Military Academy officially opened at West Point, N.Y. In 1826, 50 years to the day after the Declaration of Independence was adopted, former presidents John Adams and Thomas Jefferson both died. In 1831, the fifth president of the United States, James Monroe, died in New York City at age 73. In 1872, the 30th president of the United States, Calvin Coolidge, was born in Plymouth, Vt. In 1939, Lou Gehrig of the New York Yankees delivered his famous farewell speech in which he called himself “the luckiest man on the face of the earth.”
In 1947, the small central California town of Hollister was overrun by thousands of motorcycling enthusiasts, dozens of whom ended up being arrested, most for drunkenness, in what came to be called the “Hollister Riot.”
In 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Freedom of Information Act, which went into effect the following year. In 1997, NASA’s Pathfinder spacecraft landed on Mars, inaugurating a new era in the search for life on the red planet. CBS newsman Charles Kuralt died in New York at age 62.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Actress Eva Marie Saint is 93. Actress Gina Lollobrigida and playwright Neil Simon are 90. Country singer Ray Pillow is 80. Singer Bill Withers is 79. Actor Ed Bernard is 78. Actress Karolyn Grimes is 77. Rhythm and blues singer Annette Beard (Martha and the Vandellas) and broadcast journalist Geraldo Rivera are 74. Vietnam War veteran and peace activist Ron Kovic is 71. Rhythmand-blues musician Ralph Johnson (Earth, Wind and Fire) is 66. Rock musician Domingo Ortiz (Widespread Panic) is 65. Singer John Waite is 62. Rock musician Kirk Pengilly (INXS) is 59. Country musician Teddy Carr is 57. Rock DJ Zonka and International Tennis Hall-of-Famer Pam Shriver is 55. Rock musician Matt Malley and Christian rock singer Michael Sweet are 54. Actor-playwright-screenwriter Tracy Letts is 52. Actor Al Madrigal is 46. Actress Jenica Bergere is 43. Actor-singer John Lloyd Young is 42. Singer Stephen “Ste” McNally (BBMak) and actress Becki Newton are 39. Actor Mo McRae and TV personality Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino are 35. Rhythm-and-blues singer Melanie Fiona is 34. Malia Obama is 19.