TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT August 6, 1965

President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act. ALSO ON THIS DATE

1806

The Holy Roman Empire went out of existence as Emperor Francis II abdicated.

1890

Cy Young gained the first of his 511 major league victories as he pitched the Cleveland Spiders to a win over the Chicago Colts.

1911

Actress-comedian Lucille Ball was born in Jamestown, New York.

1914

Austria-Hungary declared war against Russia and Serbia declared war against Germany.

1926

Gertrude Ederle became the first woman to swim the English Channel, arriving in Kingsdown, England, from France in 14 1⁄2 hours.

1942

Queen Wilhemina of the Netherlands became the first reigning queen to address a joint meeting of Congress, telling lawmakers that despite Nazi occupation, her people’s motto remained, “No surrender.”

1945

During World War II, the U.S. B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay dropped an atomic bomb code-named “Little Boy” on Hiroshima, Japan, resulting in an estimated 140,000 deaths.

1961

Soviet cosmonaut Gherman Titov became the second man to orbit Earth as he flew aboard Vostok 2; his call sign, “Eagle,” prompted his famous declaration: “I am Eagle!”

1986

William J. Schroeder died at Humana Hospital-Audubon in Louisville, Kentucky, after living 620 days with the Jarvik 7 artificial heart.

1991

The World Wide Web made its public debut as a means of accessing webpages over the Internet. TV newsman Harry Reasoner died in Norwalk, Connecticut, at age 68.