TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT

July 4, 1826

50years to the day after the Declaration of Independence was adopted, former presidents John Adams and Thomas Jefferson both died.

ALSO ON THIS DATE

1776

The Declaration of Independence was adopted by delegates to the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia.

The United States Military Academy officially opened at West Point, New York.

Ground was broken for the Erie Canal in Rome, New York. The middle section of the waterway took three years to complete; the entire canal was finished in 1825.

1831

The fifth president of the United States, James Monroe, died in New York City at age 73.

1872

The 30th president of the United States, Calvin Coolidge, was born in Plymouth, Vermont.

1910

In what was billed as “The Fight of the Century,” black world heavyweight boxing champion Jack Johnson defeated white former champ James J. Jeffries in Reno, Nevada.

1939

Lou Gehrig of the New York Yankees delivered his famous farewell speech in which he called himself “the luckiest man on the face of the earth.”

1987

Klaus Barbie, the former Gestapo chief known as the “Butcher of Lyon”, was convicted by a French court of crimes against humanity and sentenced to life in prison.

1997

NASA’s Pathfinder spacecraft landed on Mars, inaugurating a new era in the search for life on the red planet. CBS newsman Charles Kuralt died in New York at age 62.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS

Broadcast journalist Geraldo Rivera is 76. Vietnam War veteran and peace activist Ron Kovic is 73. International Tennis Hall of Famer Pam Shriver is 57. Actor Al Madrigal is 48. Actress Jenica Bergere is 45. Actorsinger John Lloyd Young is 44. Actress Becki Newton is 41. Actor MoMcRae is 37. TV personality Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino is 37. Rhythm and blues singer Melanie Fiona is 36. Malia Obama is 21.