TODAY IN HISTORY
TODAY IS TUESDAY, JULY 3, the 185th day of 2012. There are 181 days left in the year. On this date in 1962, French President Charles de Gaulle signed an agreement recognizing Algeria as an independent state after 132 years of French rule. (The same day, U.S. President John F. Kennedy sent a congratulatory message to the Algerian people.) In 1608, the city of Quebec was founded by Samuel de Champlain. In 1775, Gen. George Washington took command of the Continental Army at Cambridge, Mass. In 1863, the three-day Civil War Battle of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania ended in a major victory for the North as Confederate troops retreated. In 1890, Idaho became the 43rd state of the Union. In 1898, the U.S. Navy defeated a Spanish fleet outside Santiago Bay in Cuba during the SpanishAmerican War. In 1944, during World War II, Soviet forces recaptured Minsk. In 1950, the first carrier strikes of the Korean War took place as the USS Valley Forge and the HMS Triumph sent fighter planes against North Korean targets. In 1971, singer Jim Morrison of The Doors died in Paris at age 27. In 1979, Dan White, convicted of voluntary manslaughter in the shooting deaths of San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk, was sentenced to 7 years and 8 months in prison. (He ended up serving five years.) In 1987, British millionaire Richard Branson and Per Lindstrand became the first hot-air balloon travelers to cross the Atlantic, jumping into the sea as their craft went down off the Scottish coast. In 1988, the USS Vincennes shot down an Iran Air jetliner over the Persian Gulf, killing all 290 people aboard. In 1992, the first U.S. Air Force C-130 from Operation Provide Promise arrived in the besieged Bosnian capital of Sarajevo. TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Actor Tim O’Connor is 85. Jazz musician Pete Fountain is 82. Playwright Tom Stoppard is 75. Writer-producer Jay Tarses is 73. Attorney Gloria Allred is 71. Actor Kurtwood Smith is 69. Humorist Dave Barry is 65. Actress Betty Buckley is 65. Rock singer-musician Paul Barrere (Little Feat) is 64. Actress Jan Smithers is 63. Former Haitian President Jean-Claude Duvalier is 61. Talk show host Montel Williams is 56.