On this day, July 20

1917 America’s World War I draft lottery began as Secretary of War Newton Baker, wearing a blindfold, reached into a glass bowl and pulled out a capsule containing the number 258 during a ceremony inside the Senate office building. Many Pittsburghers were destined to go overseas in the 28th and 80th Army divisions.

1948 United States Steel raised prices of finished steel product an average of $9.34 per ton.

1969 Astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin became the first men to walk on the moon after reaching the surface in their Apollo 11 lunar module.

1977 A flash flood hit Johnstown, Pa., killing more than 80 people and causing $350 million worth of damage. 1991 The Christian Buhl House, a restored 1805 house once occupied by the Buhl family, opened to the public in Zelienople.

2016 A federal appeals court ruled Texas’ strict voter ID law discriminated against minorities and the poor and had to be weakened before the November elections.

Some items are from Stefan Lorant’s “Pittsburgh: The Story of an American City” (digital.library.pitt.edu/chronology).

— Compiled by Rick Nowlin

Today’s birthdays: Actor-singer Sally Ann Howes, 91. Author Cormac McCarthy, 88. Former Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski, D-Md., 85. Artist Judy Chicago, 82. Singer Kim Carnes, 76. Rock musician Carlos Santana,

74. Actor Donna Dixon, 64. Actor Frank Whaley, 58. Actor Dean Winters, 57. Actor Reed Diamond, 54. Actor Josh Holloway, 52. Actor Sandra Oh, 50. Actor Omar Epps, 48. Actor Simon Rex, 47. Actor Judy Greer, 46. Actor Charlie Korsmo, 43. Singer Elliott Yamin (American Idol), 43. Supermodel Gisele Bundchen, 41. Actor Percy Daggs III, 39. Actor John Francis Daley, 36. Dancer-singer-actor Julianne Hough, 33. Washington Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg, 33.

Thought for today: “We may well go to the moon, but that’s not very far. The greatest distance we have to cover still lies within us.”