TODAY IN HISTORY
Today is Wednesday, July 14, the 195th day of 2021. There are 170 days left in the year.
Today's Highlight in History: On July 14, 1798, Congress passed the Sedition Act, making it a federal crime to publish false, scandalous or malicious writing about the United States government.
On this date:
In 1789, in an event symbolizing the start of the French Revolution, citizens of Paris stormed the Bastille prison and released the seven prisoners inside.
In 1865, the Matterhorn, straddling Italy and Switzerland, was summited as a seven-member rope party led by British climber Edward Whymper reached the peak. (Four members of the party fell to their deaths during their descent; Whymper and two guides survived.)
In 1881, outlaw William H. Bonney Jr., alias "Billy the Kid," was shot and killed by Sheriff Pat Garrett in Fort Sumner in present-day New Mexico.
In 1914, scientist Robert H. Goddard received a U.S. patent for a liquid-fueled rocket apparatus.
In 1933, all German political parties, except the Nazi Party, were outlawed.
In 1943, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed a measure providing funds for a national monument honoring scientist George Washington Carver; the monument was built at Carver's birthplace near Diamond, Missouri.
In 1980, the Republican national convention opened in Detroit, where nominee-apparent Ronald Reagan told a welcoming rally he and his supporters were determined to "make America great again."
In 2004, the Senate scuttled a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. (Forty-eight senators voted to advance the measure — 12 short of the 60 needed — and 50 voted to block it).
In 2009, disgraced financier Bernard Madoff arrived at the Butner Federal Correctional Complex in North Carolina to begin serving a 150-year sentence for his massive Ponzi scheme. (Madoff died in prison in April 2021.)
In 2014, the Church of England voted overwhelmingly in favor of allowing women to become bishops.
In 2015, world powers and Iran struck a deal to curb Iran's nuclear program in exchange for relief from international sanctions.
Ten years ago: A federal judge in Washington, D.C. declared a mistrial in baseball star Roger Clemens' perjury trial over inadmissible evidence shown to jurors. (Clemens, who was accused of lying under oath to Congress when he denied ever using performance-enhancing drugs during his career, was acquitted in a retrial.)