Today In History
Today is Tuesday, July 4, the 185th day of 2017. There are 180 days left in the year. This is Independence Day.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT
› 1776: The Declaration of Independence was adopted by delegates to the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia.
ON THIS DATE
› 1802: The United States Military Academy officially opened at West Point, New York.
› 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.
› 1826: Fifty years to the day after the Declaration of Independence was adopted, former presidents John Adams and Thomas Jefferson both died.
› 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.”
› 1942: Irving Berlin’s musical revue “This Is the Army” opened at the Broadway Theater in New York.
› 1966: President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Freedom of Information Act, which went into effect the following year.
› 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 is 90. Playwright Neil Simon is
90. Country singer Ray Pillow is 80. Actor Ed Bernard is 78. Actress Karolyn Grimes is 77. Rhythm and blues singer Annette Beard (Martha and the Vandellas) is
74. Broadcast journalist Geraldo Rivera is 74. Vietnam War veteran and peace activist Ron Kovic is 71. Singer John Waite is 62. Rock musician Kirk Pengilly (INXS) is 59. Country musician Teddy Carr is 57. Rock DJ Zonka is 55. International Tennis Hall of Famer Pam Shriver is 55. Rock musician Matt Malley is
54. Actor Al Madrigal is
46. Actress Jenica Bergere is 43. Actor-singer John Lloyd Young is 42. Singer Stephen “Ste” McNally (BBMak) is 39. Actress Becki Newton is 39. Actor Mo McRae is 35. TV personality Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino is 35. Rhythm and blues singer Melanie Fiona is 34. Malia Obama is 19.