TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT

July 27, 1996

Terror struck the Atlanta Olympics as a pipe bomb exploded at Centennial Olympic Park, directly killing one person and injuring 111. (Anti-government extremist Eric Rudolph later pleaded guilty to the bombing, exonerating security guard Richard Jewell, who had been wrongly suspected.) ALSO ON THIS DATE

1789

President George Washington signed a measure establishing the Department of Foreign Affairs, forerunner of the Department of State.

1866

Cyrus W. Field finished laying out the first successful underwater telegraph cable between North America and Europe (a previous cable in 1858 burned out after only a few weeks’ use).

1946

American author, poet and publisher Gertrude Stein, 72, died in Neuilly-surSeine, France.

1976

Air Force veteran Ray Brennan became the first person to die of so-called “Legionnaire’s Disease” following an American Legion convention in Philadelphia.