TODAY IN HISTORY
TODAY IS TUESDAY, JULY 3, the 184th day of 2018. There are 181 days left in the year. On this date in 1863, the three-day Civil War Battle of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania ended in a major victory for the North as Confederate troops failed to breach Union positions during an assault known as Pickett’s Charge.
In 1775, Gen. George Washington took command of the Continental Army at Cambridge, Mass.
In 1890, Idaho became the 43rd state of the Union.
In 1913, during a 50th anniversary reunion at Gettysburg, Pa., Civil War veterans re-enacted Pickett’s Charge, which ended with embraces and handshakes between the former enemies.
In 1938, President Franklin D. Roosevelt marked the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg by dedicating the Eternal Light Peace Memorial.
In 1944, during World War II, Soviet forces recaptured Minsk from the Germans.
In 1950, the first carrier strikes of the Korean War took place as the USS Valley Forge and the HMS Triumph sent fighter planes against North Korean targets.
In 1962, French President Charles de Gaulle signed an agreement recognizing Algeria as an independent state after 132 years of French rule.
In 1971, singer Jim Morrison of The Doors died in Paris at age 27.
In 1976, Israel launched its daring mission to rescue 106 passengers and Air France crew members being held at Entebbe Airport in Uganda by proPalestinian hijackers; the commandos succeeded in rescuing all but four of the hostages.
In 1988, the USS Vincennes shot down an Iran Air jetliner over the Persian Gulf, killing all 290 people aboard.
Today’s Birthdays: Playwright Tom Stoppard is 81. Attorney Gloria Allred is 77. Folk singer Judith Durham (The Seekers) and actor Kurtwood Smith are 75. Humorist Dave Barry and actress Betty Buckley are 71. Rock singermusician Paul Barrere (Little Feat) is 70. Talk show host Montel Williams is 62. Country singer Aaron Tippin is 60. Rock musician Vince Clarke (Erasure) is 58. Actors Tom Cruise and Thomas Gibson, and actress Hunter Tylo are 56. Actresses Connie Nielsen and Yeardley Smith are 54. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is 47. Actor Patrick Wilson is 45. Actor Ian Anthony Dale is 40. Actress Elizabeth Hendrickson and rhythmand-blues singer Tonia Tash (Divine) are 39. Country singer-songwriter Sarah Buxton, and actresses Olivia Munn and Shoshannah Stern are 38.