TODAY IN HISTORY
Today is Saturday, July 1, the 182nd day of 2017. There are 183 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History
On July 1, 1867, Canada became a self-governing dominion of Great Britain as the British North America Act took effect.
On this date
1535 — Sir Thomas More went on trial in England, charged with high treason for rejecting the Oath of Supremacy. (More was convicted, and executed.)
1916 — During World War I, France and Britain launched the Somme Offensive against the German army; the 4½-month battle resulted in heavy casualties and produced no clear winner. Dwight D. Eisenhower married Mary (“Mamie”) Geneva Doud in Denver.
1934 — Hollywood began enforcing its Production Code subjecting motion pictures to censorship review.
1946 — The United States exploded a 20-kiloton atomic bomb near Bikini Atoll in the Pacific.
1957 — The International Geophysical Year, an 18-month global scientific study, began.
1961 — Diana, the princess of Wales, was born in Sandringham, England. (She died in a 1997 car crash in Paris at age 36.)
1973 — The Drug Enforcement Administration was established.
1980 — “O Canada” was proclaimed the national anthem of Canada.
1987 — President Ronald Reagan nominated federal appeals court judge Robert H. Bork to the Supreme Court, setting off a tempestuous confirmation process that ended with Bork’s rejection by the Senate.
1991 — President George H.W. Bush nominated federal appeals court judge Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court, beginning an ultimately successful confirmation process marked by allegations of sexual harassment. The Warsaw Pact formally disbanded.
1997 — Hong Kong reverted to Chinese rule after 156 years as a British colony.
2002 — The world’s first permanent war crimes tribunal, the International Criminal Court, came into existence.
Five years ago
Syria’s main opposition groups rejected a new international plan that called for a transitional government because the compromise agreement did not bar President Bashar Assad from participating.
Voters in Mexico returned the Institutional Revolutionary Party to power.
One year ago
New laws targeting abortion took effect in about one-fifth of the states, initiating another wave of restrictions just days after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a Texas measure that had led to the closing of several clinics.
U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch said she regretted meeting with former President Bill Clinton while his wife, Hillary, was under federal investigation for her emails, telling a conference in Colorado, “I certainly wouldn’t do it again.”
Today’s Birthdays
Actress Olivia de Havilland is 101. Actress dancer Leslie Caron is 86. Actor Jamie Farr is 83. Actor David Prowse is 82. Cookiemaker Wally Amos is 81. Dancer-choreographer Twyla Tharp is 76. Actress Genevieve Bujold is 75. Rock singer-actress Deborah Harry is 72. Actor Daryl Anderson is 66. Actor Terrence Mann is 66. Rock singer Fred Schneider (B-52’s) is 66. Pop singer Victor Willis (Village People) is 66. Actor-comedian Dan Aykroyd is 65. Actor Alan Ruck is 61. Olympic gold medal track star Carl Lewis is 56. Actress Pamela Anderson is 50. Hip-hop artist Missy Elliott is 46. Actress Hilarie Burton is 35. Actress Lynsey Bartilson is 34. Actress Lea Seydoux is 32. Actor Evan Ellingson is 29. Actors Steven and Andrew Cavarno are 25. Actress Storm Reid is 14.