TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT 1961

East Germany sealed off the border between Berlin’s eastern and western sectors before building a wall that would divide the city for the next 28 years.

1521

Spanish conqueror Hernando Cortez captured Tenochtitlan, present-day Mexico City, from the Aztecs.

1704

The Battle of Blenheim was fought during the War of the Spanish Succession, resulting in a victory for Englishled forces over French and Bavarian soldiers.

1846

The American flag was raised in Los Angeles for the first time.

1889

William Gray of Hartford, Conn., received a patent for a coin-operated telephone.

1910

Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing, died in London at age 90.

1913

British metallurgist Harry Brearley developed an alloy that came to be known as “stainless steel.”

1932

Adolf Hitler rejected the post of vice chancellor of Germany, saying he was prepared to hold out “for all or nothing.”

1995

Baseball Hall of Famer Mickey Mantle died at a Dallas hospital of rapidly spreading liver cancer; he was 63.

2003

Iraq began pumping crude oil from its northern oil fields for the first time since the start of the war. Libya agreed to set up a $2.7 billion fund for families of the 270 people killed in the 1988 Pan Am bombing.

2017

In a statement, the White House said President Donald Trump “very strongly” condemned individual hate groups such as “white supremacists, KKK and neonazis;” the statement followed criticism of Trump for blaming the previous day’s deadly violence at a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, on “many sides.” Protesters decrying hatred and racism converged around the country, saying they felt compelled to respond to the white supremacist rally in Virginia.