Today in history
On July 5, 1954, Elvis Presley’s first commercial recording session took place at Sun Records in Memphis, Tennessee; the song he recorded was “That’s All Right.”
In 1811, Venezuela became the first South American country to declare independence from Spain.
In 1865, the Secret Service Division of the U.S. Treasury Department was founded in Washington, D.C., with the mission of suppressing counterfeit currency.
In 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the National Labor Relations Act.
In 1946, the bikini, created by Louis Reard, was modeled by Micheline Bernardini during a poolside fashion show in Paris.
In 1947, Larry Doby made his debut with the Cleveland Indians, becoming the first black player in the American League three months after Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in the National League. In the game against the Chicago White Sox at Comiskey Park, Doby, pinch-hitting for Bryan Stephens, struck out in his first at-bat during the seventh inning; Chicago won 6-5.
In 1971, President Richard Nixon certified the 26th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which lowered the minimum voting age from 21 to 18.
In 1975, Arthur Ashe became the first black man to win a Wimbledon singles title as he defeated Jimmy Connors, 6-1, 6-1, 5-7, 6-4.
In 1977, Pakistan’s army, led by General Mohammad Zia ul-Haq, seized power from President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (Bhutto was executed in 1979).
In 1989, “The Seinfeld Chronicles,” the pilot to the situation comedy “Seinfeld,” aired on NBC-TV.
In 1991, a worldwide financial scandal erupted as regulators in eight countries shut down the Bank of Credit and Commerce International.
In 2011, a jury in Orlando, Florida, found Casey Anthony, 25, not guilty of murder, manslaughter and child abuse in the 2008 disappearance and death of her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee.
In 2013, Pope Francis cleared two of the 20th Century’s most influential popes to become saints in the Roman Catholic church, approving a miracle needed to canonize Pope John Paul II and waiving Vatican rules to honor Pope John XXIII.
Ten years ago: A bankruptcy judge ruled that General Motors Corp. could sell the bulk of its assets to a new company, clearing the way for the automaker to emerge from bankruptcy protection. Riots and street battles that killed nearly 200 people erupted in China’s western Xinjiang province in the deadliest ethnic unrest to hit the region in decades. Roger Federer won his record 15th Grand Slam title when he outlasted Andy Roddick 5-7, 7-6 (6), 7-6 (5), 3-6, 16-14 in a marathon match for his sixth Wimbledon championship.
Five years ago: Ukrainian troops forced pro-Russian insurgents out of Slovyansk, a key stronghold in Ukraine’s embattled east. Petra Kvitova overwhelmed Eugenie Bouchard 6-3,
6-0 in less than an hour to win Wimbledon for the second time.
One year ago: Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt resigned amid ethics scandals that prompted more than a dozen federal and congressional investigations; deputy administrator Andrew Wheeler, a former coal industry lobbyist, was named to take over as acting administrator. James Alex Fields Jr. pleaded not guilty to federal hate crime charges in a car attack on a crowd of protesters opposing a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, on Aug. 12,
2017; a 32-year-old woman died and dozens were injured. (Fields later pleaded guilty to 29 federal hate crime charges under a plea deal in which prosecutors agreed not to seek the death penalty.)