TODAY IN HISTORY

Today is Sunday, July 26, the 208th day of 2020. There are 158 days left in the year.

Today’s highlight

On July 26, 2002, the Republican-led House voted, 295-132, to create an enormous Homeland Security Department in the biggest government reorganization in decades.

On this date

In 1775, the Continental Congress established a Post Office and appointed Benjamin Franklin its Postmaster-general.

In 1908, U.S. Attorney General Charles J. Bonaparte ordered creation of a force of special agents that was a forerunner of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

In 1925, five days after the end of the Scopes Trial in Dayton, Tennessee, prosecutor William

Jennings Bryan died at age 65. (Although Bryan had won a conviction against John T. Scopes for teaching Darwin’s Theory of Evolution, the verdict was later overturned.)

In 1956, the Italian liner Andrea Doria sank off New England, some 11 hours after colliding with the Swedish liner Stockholm; at least 51 people died, from both vessels.

In 1971, Apollo 15 was launched from Cape Kennedy on America’s fourth successful manned mission to the moon.

In 1990, President George H.W. Bush signed the Americans with Disabilities Act.

In 2016, Hillary Clinton became the first woman to be nominated for president by a major political party at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia.

Ten years ago: A U.n.-backed tribunal sentenced the Khmer Rouge’s chief jailer, Kaing Guek Eav, to 35 years for overseeing the deaths of up to 16,000 people in Cambodia, with 16 years shaved off for time

already served, reducing his sentence to 19 years. A Spanish man who’d undergone the world’s first full face transplant appeared before TV cameras; the 31-year-old, identified only as “Oscar,” thanked his doctors and the family of the donor. Matt Garza pitched the first no-hitter in Tampa Bay Rays history, beating the Detroit Tigers 5-0.

Today’s birthdays

Actor Robert Colbert is 89. Actress-singer Darlene Love is

79. Mick Jagger is 77. Movie director Peter Hyams is 77. Actress Helen Mirren is 75. Rock musician Roger Taylor (Queen) is 71. Actress Susan George is 70. Olympic gold medal figure skater Dorothy Hamill is 64. Actress Nana Visitor is 63. Actor Kevin Spacey is 61. Actress Sandra Bullock is 56. Actor-comedian Danny Woodburn is 56. Actor Jeremy Piven is 55. Actor Jason Statham is 53. . Actress Kate Beckinsale is 47.