Today in History
Today’s highlight:
On July 7, 1981, President Ronald Reagan announced he was nominating Arizona Judge Sandra Day O’Connor to become the first female justice on the U.S. Supreme Court.
On this date:
1846: U.S. annexation of California was proclaimed at Monterey after the surrender of a Mexican garrison.
1865: Four people were hanged in Washington, D.C., for conspiring with John Wilkes Booth to assassinate President Abraham Lincoln: Lewis Powell (aka Lewis Payne), David Herold, George Atzerodt and Mary Surratt, the first woman to be executed by the federal government.
1898: The United States annexed Hawaii.
1937: The Second SinoJapanese War erupted into full-scale conflict as Imperial Japanese forces attacked the Marco Polo Bridge in Beijing.
1948: Six female U.S. Navy reservists became the first women to be sworn in to the regular Navy.
1954: Elvis Presley made his radio debut as
Memphis, Tennessee, station WHBQ played his first recording for Sun Records, “That’s All Right.”
1963: A Navy jet fighter from Willow Grove Naval Air Station in Pennsylvania crashed into a picnic area, killing seven people; the pilot, who ejected, survived.
1976: The United States Military Academy at West Point included female cadets for the first time as 119 women joined the Class of 1980.
1990: The first “Three Tenors” concert took place as opera stars Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo and Jose Carreras performed amid the brick ruins of Rome’s Baths of Caracalla on the eve of the World Cup championship.
2004: Former Enron chairman Kenneth Lay was indicted on criminal charges related to the energy company’s collapse. Lay was later convicted of fraud and conspiracy, but died in July 2006 before he could be sentenced.
Ten years ago: Some 20,000 people gathered inside Staples Center in Los Angeles for a memorial service honoring the late Michael Jackson, who was tearfully described by his 11-year-old daughter, Paris-Michael, as “the best father you could ever imagine.”
Five years ago: Washington state issued its first retail marijuana licenses. Pope Francis begged forgiveness in his first meeting with Catholics sexually abused by members of the clergy and vowed to hold bishops responsible for their handling of pedophile priests.
One year ago: After two days of talks in North Korea’s capital, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he had commitments for new discussions on denuclearization, but North Korea said Pompeo’s visit had been “regrettable” and that the United States was making “gangster-like” demands.