TODAY IN HISTORY
TODAY IS FRIDAY, JULY 20, the 201st day of 2018. There are 164 days left in the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHTS IN HISTORY:
On this date in 1944, an attempt by a group of German officials to assassinate Adolf Hitler with a bomb failed as the explosion only wounded the Nazi leader.
In 1861, the Congress of the Confederate States convened in Richmond, Va.
In 1923, Mexican revolutionary leader Pancho Villa was assassinated by gunmen in Parral.
In 1942, the first detachment of the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps — later known as WACs — began basic training at Fort Des Moines, Iowa. The Legion of Merit was established by an Act of Congress.
In 1954, the Geneva Accords divided Vietnam into northern and southern entities.
In 1969, astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin became the first men to walk on the moon after reaching the surface in their Apollo 11 lunar module.
In 1976, America’s Viking 1 robot spacecraft made a successful, first-ever landing on Mars.
In 1982, Irish Republican Army bombs exploded in two London parks, killing eight British soldiers, along with seven horses belonging to the Queen’s Household Cavalry.
In 1989, Burmese activist Aung San Suu Kyi was placed under house arrest by the military government of Myanmar.
In 1990, Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan, one of the court’s most liberal voices, announced he was stepping down.
In 2012, gunman James Holmes opened fire inside a crowded movie theater in Aurora, Colo., killing 12 people and wounding 70. (Holmes was convicted of murder and attempted murder, and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.)
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Former Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski, D-Md., is 82. Actress Diana Rigg is 80. Artist Judy Chicago is 79. Rock musician John Lodge (The Moody Blues) is 75. Singer Kim Carnes is 73. Rock musician Carlos Santana is 71. Rock musician Paul Cook (The Sex Pistols, Man Raze) is 62. Actress Donna Dixon is 61. Country singer Radney Foster is 59. Actor Dean Winters is 54. Rock musician Stone Gossard (Pearl Jam) is 52. Actor Omar Epps is 45. Actress Judy Greer is 43. Supermodel Gisele Bundchen and rock musician Mike Kennerty (The AllAmerican Rejects) are 38. Actor Percy Daggs III is 36. Actor John Francis Daley is 33. Dancer-singer-actress Julianne Hough is 30. Actress Billi Bruno is 22.