Today In History

Today is Saturday, July 18, the 200th day of 2020. There are 166 days left in the year.

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT

› 2013: Detroit, which was once the very symbol of American industrial might, became the biggest U.S. city to file for bankruptcy, its finances ravaged and its neighborhoods hollowed out by a long, slow decline in population and auto manufacturing.

ON THIS DATE

› 1863: During the Civil War, Union troops spearheaded by the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, made up of black soldiers, charged Confederate-held Fort Wagner on Morris Island, South Carolina. The Confederates were able to repel the Northerners, who suffered heavy losses; the 54th’s commander, Col. Robert Gould Shaw, was among those who were killed.

› 1872: Britain enacted voting by secret ballot.

› 1964: Nearly a week of rioting erupted in New York’s Harlem neighborhood following the fatal police shooting of a black teenager, James Powell, two days earlier.

› 1986: The world got its first look at the wreckage of the RMS Titanic resting on the ocean floor as videotape of the British luxury liner, which sank in 1912, was released by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS

Skating champion and commentator Dick Button is 91. Olympic gold medal figure skater Tenley Albright is 85. Movie director Paul Verhoeven is 82. Pop-rock musician Wally Bryson (The Raspberries) is 71. Actress Margo Martindale is 69. Singer Ricky Skaggs is 66. Actress Audrey Landers is 64. World Golf Hall of Famer Nick Faldo is 63. Rock musician Nigel Twist (The Alarm) is 63. Talk show host-actress Wendy Williams is 56. Actor Vin Diesel is 53. Actor Grant Bowler is 52. Alt-country singer Elizabeth Cook is 48. Actor Eddie Matos is 48. Dance music singer-songwriter M.I.A. is 45. Rock musician Tony Fagenson (formerly with Eve 6) is 42. Movie director Jared Hess is 41. Actor Jason Weaver is 41. Actress Kristen Bell is 40. Actor Michiel Huisman is 39. Rock singer Ryan Cabrera is 38. Actor Chace Crawford is 35. Actor James Norton is 35. Musician Paul Kowert (Punch Brothers) is 34. Actor Travis Milne is 34. Bluegrass musician Joe Dean Jr. (formerly with Dailey & Vincent) is 31.