TODAY IN HISTORY

In 1718, French colonists arrived in Louisiana, settling in presentday New Orleans.

In 1875, Capt. Matthew Webb became the first person to swim across the English Channel, getting from Dover, England, to Calais, France, in 22 hours.

In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson signed an act establishing the National Park Service.

In 1921, the United States signed a peace treaty with Germany.

In 1928, an expedition led by Richard E. Byrd set sail from Hoboken, N.J., on its journey to Antarctica.

In 1944, Paris was liberated by Allied forces after four years of Nazi occupation.

In 1967, George Lincoln Rockwell, founder of the American Nazi Party, was shot to death in Arlington, Virginia.

In 1981, the U.S. spacecraft Voyager 2 came within 63,000 miles of Saturn’s cloud cover, sending back pictures of the ringed planet.

In 2004, an Army investigation found that 27 people attached to an intelligence unit at Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad either approved or participated in the abuse of Iraqi prisoners.

In 2017, Hurricane Harvey, the fiercest hurricane to hit the U.S. in more than a decade, made landfall near Corpus Christi, Texas, with 130 mph sustained winds.