TODAY IN HISTORY
TODAY IS SATURDAY, JULY 4, the 186th day of 2020. There are 180 days left in the year. This is Independence Day. 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, New York.
In 1817, ground was broken for the Erie Canal in Rome, New York. The middle section of the waterway took three years to complete; the entire canal was finished in 1825.
In 1826, 50 years to the day after the Declaration of Independence was adopted, former presidents John Adams and Thomas Jefferson both died.
In 1910, in what was billed as “The Fight of the Century,” Black world heavyweight boxing champion Jack Johnson defeated white former champ James J. Jeffries in Reno, Nevada.
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 1946, the Philippines became independent of U.S. sovereignty.
In 1976, America celebrated its bicentennial with daylong festivities; President Gerald R. Ford made stops in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, Independence Hall in Philadelphia and New York, where more than 200 ships paraded up the Hudson River in Operation Sail.
In 1987, Klaus Barbie, the former
Gestapo chief known as the “Butcher of Lyon,” was convicted by a French court of crimes against humanity and sentenced to life in prison (he died in September 1991).
In 1995, the space shuttle Atlantis and the Russian space station Mir parted after spending five days in orbit docked together.
In 2013, Egypt’s interim president, Adly Mansour, was sworn in following the ouster of Mohammed Morsi, the Islamist leader overthrown by the military after just one year in office.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Actress Eva Marie Saint is 96. Actress Gina Lollobrigida is 93. Country singer Ray Pillow is 83. Actor Ed Bernard is 81. Actress Karolyn Grimes is 80. Rhythm and blues singer Annette Beard (Martha and the Vandellas) and broadcast journalist Geraldo Rivera are 77. Vietnam War veteran and peace activist Ron Kovic is 74. Rhythm and blues musician Ralph Johnson (Earth, Wind and Fire) is 69. Rock musician Domingo Ortiz (Widespread Panic) and singer John Waite are 68. Rock musician Kirk Pengilly (INXS) is 62. Country musician Teddy Carr is 60. Rock DJ Zonka and International Tennis Hall-of-Famer Pam Shriver are 58. Rock musician Matt Malley and Christian rock singer Michael Sweet are 57. Actor-playwrightscreenwriter Tracy Letts is 55. Actor Al Madrigal is 49. Actress Jenica Bergere is 46. Actor-singer John Lloyd Young is 45. Singer Stephen “Ste” McNally (BBMak) and actress Becki Newton are 42. Actor Mo McRae and TV personality Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino are 38. Malia Obama is 22.