TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT July 28, 1976

An earthquake devastated northern China, killing at least 242,000 people, according to an official estimate.

ALSO ON THIS DATE 1609

The English ship Sea Venture, commanded by Adm. Sir George Somers, ran ashore on Bermuda, where the passengers and crew founded a colony.

1794

Maximilien Robespierre, a leading figure of the French Revolution, was sent to the guillotine.

1914

World War I began as AustriaHungary declared war on Serbia.

1915

More than 300 American sailors and Marines arrived in Haiti to restore order following the killing of Haitian President Vibrun Guillaume Sam by rebels, beginning a 19-year U.S. occupation.

1932

Federal troops forcibly dispersed the so-called “Bonus Army” of World War I veterans who had gathered in Washington to demand payments they weren’t scheduled to receive until 1945.

1943

President Franklin D. Roosevelt announced the end of coffee rationing, which had limited people to one pound of coffee every five weeks since it began in Nov. 1942.

1945

The U.S. Senate ratified the United Nations Charter by a vote of 89-2. A U.S. Army bomber crashed into the 79th floor of New York’s Empire State Building, killing 14 people.

1965

President Lyndon B. Johnson announced he was increasing the number of American troops in South Vietnam from 75,000 to 125,000 “almost immediately.”

1984

The Los Angeles Summer Olympics opened.

1989

Israeli commandos abducted a pro-Iranian Shiite, from his home in south Lebanon.