Today in history

On July 25, 1967, a full-page ad in The Times (of London) called for the legalization of marijuana, saying the law against the drug was “immoral in principle and unworkable in practice”; among the signatories were all four of the Beatles, one of whom, Paul McCartney, paid for the ad.

In 1866, Ulysses S. Grant was named General of the Army of the United States, the first officer to hold the rank.

In 1917, Nikon Corp. had its beginnings with the merger of three optical manufacturers in Japan.

In 1946, the United States detonated an atomic bomb near Bikini Atoll in the Pacific in the first underwater test of the device.

In 1975, the musical “A Chorus Line” opened on Broadway at the Shubert Theatre, beginning a run of 6,137 performances.

In 1984, Soviet cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya became the first woman to walk in space as she carried out more than three hours of experiments outside the orbiting space station Salyut 7.

In 1992, opening ceremonies were held in Barcelona, Spain, for the Summer Olympics.

Ten years ago: A presidential commission urged broad changes to veterans’ care that would boost benefits for family members helping the wounded, establish an easy-to-use website for medical records and overhaul the way disability pay was awarded.

One year ago: On the opening night of the Democratic national convention in Philadelphia, Bernie Sanders robustly embraced his former rival Hillary Clinton as a champion for the same economic causes that enlivened his supporters, signaling it was time for them to rally behind her in the campaign against Republican Donald Trump.

“No matter what side of an argument you’re on, you always find some people on your side that you wish were on the other side.” — Jascha Heifetz, Russian-born American violinist (1901-1987).