TODAY IN HISTORY
TODAY IS WEDNESDAY, JULY 3,
the 184th day of 2019. There are 181 days left in the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN HISTORY:
On this date in 1976, Israel launched its daring mission to rescue 106 passengers and Air France crew members being held at Entebbe Airport in Uganda by pro-Palestinian hijackers; the commandos succeeded in rescuing all but four of the hostages.
In 1775, Gen. George Washington took command of the Continental Army at Cambridge, Massachusetts.
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 1890, Idaho became the 43rd state of the Union.
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 1971, singer Jim Morrison of The Doors died in Paris at age 27.
In 1979, Dan White, convicted of voluntary manslaughter in the shooting deaths of San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk, was sentenced to seven years and eight months in prison. (He ended up serving five years.)
In 1987, British millionaire Richard Branson and Per Lindstrand became the first hot-air balloon travelers to cross the Atlantic, parachuting into the sea as their craft went down off the Scottish coast.
In 1988, the USS Vincennes shot down an Iran Air jetliner over the Persian Gulf, killing all 290 people aboard.
In 1996, Russians went to the polls to re-elect Boris Yeltsin president over his Communist challenger, Gennady Zyuganov, in a runoff.
In 2003, the U.S. put a $25 million bounty on Saddam Hussein, and $15 million apiece for his two sons. (The $30 million reward for Odai and Qusai Hussein went to a tipster whose information led U.S. troops to their hideout, where the brothers were killed in a gun battle.)
In 2013, Egypt’s first democratically elected president, Mohammed Morsi, was overthrown by the military after just one year by the same kind of Arab Spring uprising that had brought the Islamist leader to power.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Playwright Tom Stoppard is 82. Writer-producer Jay Tarses is 80. Actor Michael Cole (TV: “The Mod Squad”) is 79. Attorney Gloria Allred is 78. Folk singer Judith Durham (The Seekers) and actor Kurtwood Smith are 76. Country singer Johnny Lee is 73. Humorist Dave Barry and actress Betty Buckley are 72. Rock singer-musician Paul Barrere (Little Feat) is 71. Actress Jan Smithers is 70. Actor Bruce Altman is 64. Talk show host Montel Williams is 63. Country singer Aaron Tippin is 61. Rock musician Vince Clarke (Erasure) is 59. Actors Tom Cruise and Thomas Gibson, and actress Hunter Tylo are 57. Actresses Connie Nielsen and Yeardley Smith are 55. TV chef Sandra Lee is 53. Singer Ishmael Butler, rock musician Kevin Hearn (Barenaked Ladies) and actress-singer Shawnee Smith are 50. Actress-singer Audra McDonald is 49. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is 48. Actor Patrick Wilson is 46. Country singer Trent Tomlinson is 44. Actress Andrea Barber and singer Shane Lynch (Boyzone) are 43. Actor Ian Anthony Dale and actress/ comedian Jule Klausner are 41. Actress Elizabeth Hendrickson and rhythmand-blues singer Tonia Tash (Divine) are 40. Country singer-songwriter Sarah Buxton, and actresses Olivia Munn and Shoshannah Stern are 39. Rock singer-songwriter Elle King is 30. Actor Grant Rosenmeyer is 28. Actress Kelsey Batelaan is 24.