Today in history
Today is Wednesday, Aug. 7, the 219th day of 2019. There are 146 days left in the year. Today's Highlight in History: On August 7, 1998, terrorist bombs at U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania killed 224 people, including 12 Americans. On this date:
In 1782, Gen. George Washington created the Order of the Purple Heart, a decoration to recognize merit in enlisted men and noncommissioned officers.
In 1789, the U.S. Department of War was established by Congress.
In 1942, U.S. and other allied forces landed at Guadalcanal, marking the start of the first major allied offensive in the Pacific during World War II. (Japanese forces abandoned the island the following February.)
In 1959, the United States launched the Explorer 6 satellite, which sent back images of Earth.
In 1961, Yale psychology professor Stanley Milgram began conducting his controversial human behavior experiments concerning obedience toward authority figures.
In 1964, Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin resolution, giving President Lyndon B. Johnson broad powers in dealing with reported North Vietnamese attacks on U.S. forces.
In 1971, the Apollo 15 moon mission ended successfully as its command module splashed down in the Pacific Ocean.
In 1989, a plane carrying U.S. Rep. Mickey Leland, D-Texas, and 14 others disappeared over Ethiopia. (The wreckage of the plane was found six days later; there were no survivors.)
In 2000, Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore selected Connecticut Sen. Joseph Lieberman as his running mate; Lieberman became the first Jew on a major party's presidential ticket.
In 2005, ABC News anchorman Peter Jennings died in New York at age 67.
In 2010, Elena Kagan was sworn in as the 112th justice and fourth woman to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court.
In 2017, medical examiners said the remains of a man who'd been killed at the World Trade Center on 9/11 had been identified, nearly 16 years after the attacks.
Ten years ago: Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, on a tour of Africa, urged South Africans to press for political and economic reforms in neighboring Zimbabwe.
Five years ago: President Barack Obama authorized U.S. airstrikes in northern Iraq, warning they would be launched if needed to defend Americans from advancing Islamic militants and protect civilians under siege. President Obama signed a $16.3 billion measure aimed at helping veterans avoid long waits for health care. A jury convicted a suburban Detroit homeowner of second-degree murder and manslaughter in the killing of an unarmed woman on his porch, rejecting Theodore Wafer's claim that he was afraid for his life when he heard Renisha McBride pounding on his door in the middle of the night and had acted in self-defense. (Wafer was sentenced to at least 17 years in prison.)
One year ago: Sharice Davids won a Democratic congressional primary in Kansas, becoming the state's first Native American and gay nominee for Congress. (Davids went on to become one of the first two Native American women elected to the House.) The fourth suspect in the shooting death of emerging South Florida rap star XXXTentacion turned himself in to authorities. Chicago police said they would deploy hundreds of additional officers to neighborhoods where a burst of gun violence over the weekend left at least 11 people dead and 70 wounded. Hall of Fame hockey forward Stan Mikita, who helped the Chicago Black Hawks win the 1961 Stanley Cup, died at the age of 78.