Today In History

Today is Wednesday, July 7, the 188th day of 2021. There are 177 days left in the year.

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT

› 1981: President Ronald Reagan announced he was nominating Arizona Judge Sandra Day O’Connor to become the first female justice on the U.S. Supreme Court.

ON THIS DATE

› 1846: U.S. annexation of California was proclaimed at Monterey after the surrender of a Mexican garrison.

› 1898: The United States annexed Hawaii.

› 1919: The first Transcontinental Motor Convoy, in which a U.S. Army convoy of motorized vehicles crossed the United States, departed Washington, D.C. (The trip ended in San Francisco on Sept. 6, 1919.)

› 1948: Six female U.S. Navy reservists became the first women to be sworn in to the regular Navy.

› 1954: Elvis Presley made his radio debut as Memphis, Tennessee, station WHBQ played his first recording for Sun Records, “That’s All Right.”

› 1976: The United States Military Academy at West Point included female cadets for the first time as 119 women joined the Class of 1980.

› 2009: Some 20,000 people gathered inside Staples Center in Los Angeles for a memorial service honoring the late Michael Jackson.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS

Musician-conductor Doc Severinsen is 94. Pulitzer Prize-winning author David McCullough is 88. Rock star Ringo Starr is 81. Comedian Bill Oddie is 80. Singer-musician Warren Entner (The Grass Roots) is 78. Actor Joe Spano is 75. Pop singer David Hodo (The Village People) is 74. Country singer Linda Williams is 74. Actor Shelley Duvall is 72. Actor Roz Ryan is

70. Actor Billy Campbell is 62. Rock musician Mark White (Spin Doctors) is 59. Singer-songwriter Vonda Shepard is

58. Actor-comedian Jim Gaffigan is 55. R&B musician Ricky Kinchen (Mint Condition) is 55. Actor Kirsten Vangsness is 49. Actor Troy Garity is 48. Actor Berenice Bejo is 45. Actor Hamish Linklater is 45. Olympic silver and bronze medal figure skater Michelle Kwan is 41. Rapper Cassidy is 39. Pop singer Ally Hernandez (Fifth Harmony) (TV: “The X Factor”) is 28. Pop musician Ashton Irwin (5 Seconds of Summer) is

27. Country singer Maddie Marlow (Maddie and Tae) is 26.