TODAY IN HISTORY
Today is Friday, Aug. 7, the 220th day of 2020. There are 146 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On August 7, 1964, Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin resolution, giving President Lyndon B. Johnson broad powers in dealing with reported North Vietnamese attacks on U.S. forces.
On this date:
■ In 1782, Gen. George Washington created the Order of the Purple Heart, a decoration to recognize merit in enlisted men and noncommissioned officers.
■ In 1789, the U.S. Department of War was established by Congress.
■ In 1912, Theodore Roosevelt was nominated for president by the Progressive Party (also known as the Bull Moose Party) in Chicago. New Jersey Gov. Woodrow Wilson accepted the Democratic presidential nomination at his summer home in Sea Girt.
■ In 1942, U.S. and other allied forces landed at Guadalcanal, marking the start of the first major allied offensive in the Pacific during World War II. (Japanese forces abandoned the island the following February.)
■ In 1957, Oliver Hardy, who starred for decades in popular film comedies with partner Stan Laurel, died in North Hollywood, California, at age 65.
■ In 1959, the United States launched the Explorer 6 satellite, which sent back images of Earth.
■ In 1971, the Apollo 15 moon mission ended successfully as its command module splashed down in the Pacific Ocean.
■ In 1989, a plane carrying U.S. Rep. Mickey Leland, D-Texas, and 14 others disappeared over Ethiopia. (The wreckage of the plane was found six days later; there were no survivors.)
■ In 1990, President George H.W. Bush ordered U.S. troops and warplanes to Saudi Arabia to guard the oil-rich desert kingdom against a possible invasion by Iraq.
■ In 1998, terrorist bombs at U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania killed 224 people, including 12 Americans.
■ In 2000, Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore selected Connecticut Sen. Joseph Lieberman as his running mate; Lieberman became the first Jewish candidate on a major party’s presidential ticket.
■ In 2017, medical examiners said the remains of a man who’d been killed at the World Trade Center on 9/11 had been identified, nearly 16 years after the attacks.
Today’s Birthdays: Magician, author and lecturer James Randi is 92. Singer B.J. Thomas is 78. Singer Lana Cantrell is 77. Former FBI Director Robert Mueller is 76. Actor John Glover is 76. Actor David Rasche is 76. Former diplomat, talk show host and activist Alan Keyes is 70. Country singer Rodney Crowell is 70. Actor Caroline Aaron is 68. Actor Wayne Knight is 65. Actor David Duchovny is 60. Actor Michael Shannon is 46. Actor Charlize Theron is 45.