Today in History

Today in History

Today is Saturday, July 16, the 198th day of 2016. There are 168 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On July 16, 1969, Apollo 11 blasted off from Cape Kennedy on the first manned mission to the surface of the moon.

On this date:

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

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 world's first parking meters were installed in Oklahoma City.

In 1945, the United States exploded its first experimental atomic bomb in the desert of Alamogordo, New Mexico; the same day, the heavy cruiser USS Indianapolis left Mare Island Naval Shipyard in California on a secret mission to deliver atomic bomb components to Tinian Island in the Marianas.

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 declared that "extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice" and that "moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue."

In 1970, Three Rivers Stadium, home of the Pittsburgh Steelers and Pittsburgh Pirates, officially opened as the Pirates lost to the Cincinnati Reds 3-2. (The stadium was demolished in 2001.)

In 1979, Saddam Hussein became president of Iraq.

In 1980, former California Gov. Ronald Reagan won the Republican presidential nomination at the party's convention in Detroit.

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, Massachusetts.

Ten years ago: President George W. Bush and other Group of Eight world leaders meeting in St. Petersburg, Russia, urged Israel to show "utmost restraint" and blamed Hezbollah and Hamas for escalating violence in the Middle East. Claiming election fraud had robbed him of Mexico's presidency, leftist candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador led hundreds of thousands of marchers through the capital.

Five years 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.

One year ago: A gunman unleashed a barrage of fire at a recruiting center and another U.S. military site a few miles apart in Chattanooga, Tennessee, killing four Marines and a sailor before he was shot to death by police; authorities identified the gunman as Kuwaiti-born Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez, 24, of Hixson, Tennessee. A jury in Centennial, Colorado, convicted James Holmes of 165 counts of murder, attempted murder and other charges in the 2012 Aurora movie theater rampage that left 12 people dead. President Barack Obama visited the medium-security El Reno Federal Correctional Institution near Oklahoma City to press his case that the nation needed to reconsider the way crime was controlled and prisoners were rehabilitated.

Today's Birthdays: Former Attorney General Dick Thornburgh is 84. Soul singer Denise LaSalle is 82. Soul singer William Bell is 77. International Tennis Hall of Famer Margaret Court is 74. College Football Hall of Famer and football coach Jimmy Johnson is 73. Violinist Pinchas Zukerman is 68. Actor-singer Ruben Blades is 68. Rock composer-musician Stewart Copeland is 64. Playwright Tony Kushner is 60. Dancer Michael Flatley is 58. Actress Phoebe Cates is 53. Actor Paul Hipp is 53. Actor Daryl "Chill" Mitchell is 51. Actor-comedian Will Ferrell is 49. Actor Jonathan Adams is 49. College and Pro Football Hall of Famer Barry Sanders is 48. Actress Rain Pryor is 47. Actor Corey Feldman is 45. Rock musician Ed Kowalczyk (Live) is 45. Rock singer Ryan McCombs (Drowning Pool) is 42. Actress Jayma Mays is 37. Actress AnnaLynne McCord is 29. Actor-singer James Maslow is 26. Actor Mark Indelicato is 22. Pop singer-musician Luke Hemmings (5 Seconds of Summer) is 20.

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).