Today in History

Today is Monday, July 16, the 198th day of 2012. There are 168 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On July 16, 1862, Flag Officer David G. Farragut became the first rear admiral in the United States Navy.

On this date:

In 1212, the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa took place in Spain, resulting in victory for allied Christian troops over forces of the Almohad Empire.

In 1790, a site along the Potomac River was designated the permanent seat of the United States government; the area became Washington, D.C.

In 1909, the Audi auto company was founded in Zwickau, Germany, by August Horch.

In 1912, New York gambler Herman Rosenthal, set to testify before a grand jury about police corruption, was gunned down by members of the Lennox Avenue Gang.

In 1935, the first parking meters were installed in Oklahoma City.

In 1945, the United States exploded its first experimental atomic bomb in the desert of Alamogordo, N.M.

In 1951, the novel "The Catcher in the Rye" by J.D. Salinger was first published by Little, Brown and Co.

In 1964, as he accepted the Republican presidential nomination in San Francisco, Barry M. Goldwater said "extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice" and that "moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue."

In 1969, Apollo 11 blasted off from Cape Kennedy on the first manned mission to the surface of the moon.

In 1973, during the Senate Watergate hearings, former White House aide Alexander P. Butterfield publicly revealed the existence of President Richard Nixon's secret taping system.

In 1981, singer Harry Chapin was killed when his car was struck by a tractor-trailer on New York's Long Island Expressway.

In 1999, John F. Kennedy Jr., his wife, Carolyn, and her sister, Lauren Bessette, died when their single-engine plane, piloted by Kennedy, plunged into the Atlantic Ocean near Martha's Vineyard, Mass.

Ten years ago: The Irish Republican Army issued an unprecedented apology for hundreds of civilian deaths over 30 years.

Five years ago: Declaring a "moment of choice" in the Middle East, President George W. Bush said he would call Israel, the Palestinians and others in the region to a peace conference. A man carrying a gun and declaring "I am the emperor" was shot and killed by security outside the offices of Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter. (The man was identified as 32-year-old Aaron Snyder.) A 6.8-magnitude earthquake on Japan's northwest coast killed 11 people and caused radioactive leaks at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant.

One year ago: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez left his country for Cuba to begin chemotherapy, vowing to win his fight against cancer and calling for his political allies to stay united in his absence.

Today's Birthdays: Former Attorney General Dick Thornburgh is 80. Soul singer Denise LaSalle is 78. Soul singer William Bell is 73. International Tennis Hall of Famer Margaret Court is 70. Violinist Pinchas Zukerman is 64. Actor-singer Ruben Blades is 64. Rock composer-musician Stewart Copeland is 60. Playwright Tony Kushner is 56. Dancer Michael Flatley is 54. Actress Phoebe Cates is 49. Actor Daryl "Chill" Mitchell is 47. Actor-comedian Will Ferrell is 45. Actor Jonathan Adams is 45. Actress Rain Pryor is 43. Actor Corey Feldman is 41. Rock musician Ed Kowalczyk (Live) is 41. Rock singer Ryan McCombs (Drowning Pool) is 38. Actress Jayma Mays (TV: "Glee") is 33. Actress AnnaLynne McCord is 25. Actor-singer James Maslow is 22. Actor Mark Indelicato is 18.

Thought for Today: "If sentiment doesn't ultimately make fibbers of some people, their natural abominable memories almost certainly will." -- J.D. Salinger (1919-2010).

Copyright 2012, The Associated Press. All rights reserved.