TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT

1955

A jury in Sumner, Mississippi, acquitted two white men, Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam, of murdering Black teenager Emmett Till. (The two men later admitted to the crime in an interview with Look magazine.)

ALSO ON THIS DATE

1779

During the Revolutionary War, the American warship Bon Homme Richard, commanded by John Paul Jones, defeated the HMS Serapis in battle off Yorkshire, England; however, the seriously damaged Bon Homme Richard sank two days later.

1806

The Lewis and Clark expedition returned to St. Louis more than two years after setting out for the Pacific Northwest.

1846

Neptune was identified as a planet by German astronomer Johann Gottfried Galle.

1932

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was founded.

1949

President Harry S. Truman announced there was evidence the Soviet Union had recently conducted a nuclear test explosion. (The test had been carried out on Aug. 29, 1949.)

1952

Sen. Richard M. Nixon, R-Calif., salvaged his vicepresidential nomination by appearing on television from Los Angeles to refute allegations of improper campaign fundraising in what became known as the “Checkers” speech.

1957

Nine Black students who’d entered Little Rock Central High School in Arkansas were forced to withdraw because of a white mob outside.

1999

The Mars Climate Orbiter apparently burned up as it attempted to go into orbit around the Red Planet.