TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT July 8, 1947

A New Mexico newspaper, the Roswell Daily Record, quoted officials at Roswell Army Air Field as saying they had recovered a “flying saucer” that crashed onto a ranch; officials then said it was actually a weather balloon. ALSO ON THIS DATE

1663

King Charles II of England granted a Royal Charter to Rhode Island.

1776

Col. John Nixon gave the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence, outside the State House in Philadelphia.

1891

Warren G. Harding married Florence Kling DeWolfe in Marion, Ohio.

1907

Florenz Ziegfeld staged his first “Follies,” on the roof of the New York Theater.

1919

President Woodrow Wilson received a tumultuous welcome in New York City after his return from the Versailles Peace Conference in France.

1950

President Harry S. Truman named Gen. Douglas MacArthur commander-in-chief of United Nations forces in Korea.

1965

Canadian Pacific Air Lines Flight 21, a Douglas DC-6B, crashed in British Columbia after the tail separated from the fuselage; all 52 people on board were killed in what authorities said was the result of an apparent bombing.

1967

Academy Award-winning actress Vivien Leigh, 53, died in London.