TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT July 11, 1767

John Quincy Adams, the sixth president of the United States, was born in Braintree, Massachusetts.

ALSO ON THIS DATE 1798

The U.S. Marine Corps was formally re-established by a congressional act that also created the U.S. Marine Band.

1804

Vice President Aaron Burr mortally wounded former Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton during a pistol duel in Weehawken, New Jersey.

1922

The Hollywood Bowl officially opened with a program called “Symphonies Under the Stars” with Alfred Hertz conducting the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

1960

The novel “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee was first published by J.B. Lippincott and Co.

1977

The Presidential Medal of Freedom was presented to polio vaccine pioneer Dr. Jonas Salk and to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. by President Jimmy Carter.

1991

A Nigeria Airways DC-8 carrying Muslim pilgrims crashed at the Jiddah, Saudi Arabia, international airport, killing all 261 people on board.

1995

The U.N.-designated “safe haven” of Srebrenica in Bosnia-Herzegovina fell to Bosnian Serb forces, who then carried out the killings of more than 8,000 Muslim men and boys. The United States normalized relations with Vietnam.