Today in history

On July 28, 1540 , King Henry VIII’s chief minister, Thomas Cromwell, was beheaded in England on charges of treason; on the same day, Henry married his fifth wife, Catherine Howard.

In 1655 French dramatist and novelist Cyrano de Bergerac, the inspiration for a play by Edmond Rostand, died in Paris.

In 1750 German composer Johann Sebastian Bach died in Leipzig, Germany.

In 1794 French revolutionaries Maximilien Robespierre and Louis Antoine Saint-Just were sent to the guillotine, ending the Reign of Terror. In 1821 Peru proclaimed its independence from Spain.

In 1825 John Kinzie, called the “first citizen of Chicago,” was appointed its justice of the peace. In 1859 Rosehill Cemetery in Chicago was dedicated.

In 1868 the 14th Amendment to the Constitution took effect, guaranteeing due process of law. In 1896 the city of Miami was incorporated.

In 1914 World War I began when Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. In 1915 musician Frankie Yankovic, who would earn the nickname “the American polka king,” was born in Davis, W.Va.

In 1927 the cruise ship Favorite capsized in a Lake Michigan squall off Chicago’s North Avenue, killing 27 of the 71 people aboard. In 1929 Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis was born in Southampton, N.Y. In 1932 federal troops dispersed the “Bonus Army” of poor, unemployed World War I veterans who had gathered in Washington since May to seek additional benefits. In 1943 President Franklin Roosevelt announced the end of coffee rationing. In 1945 the Senate ratified the U.N. charter. Also in 1945 an Army B-25 bomber crashed into the 79th floor of New York’s Empire State Building, killing 14 people. In 1959, in preparation for statehood, Hawaiians voted to send Hiram Fong to the Senate as its first Chinese-American member and Daniel Inouye to the House as its first Japanese-American. In 1965 President Lyndon Johnson announced he was increasing the number of U.S. troops in South Vietnam from 75,000 to 125,000.

In 1976 more than 240,000 people died when an earthquake struck northern China’s Tangshan province.

In 1980 Fernando Belaunde Terry returned to the presidency of Peru, ending 12 years of military rule. In 1984 the Summer Olympics opened in Los Angeles, minus a Soviet-led bloc of 15 nations, plus Iran, Libya, Albania and Bolivia. In 1988 Congress approved $6 billion in aid for droughtstricken farmers.