Today in History

Today in History

Today is Friday, July 22, the 204th day of 2016. There are 162 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On July 22, 1916, 10 people were killed when a suitcase bomb went off during San Francisco's Preparedness Day parade, an event sponsored by the local Chamber of Commerce in anticipation of America's entry into World War I. Two anti-war labor radicals, Thomas Mooney and Warren K. Billings, were accused of the bombing and imprisoned; they were released in 1939 amid doubts about their guilt.

On this date:

In 1587, an English colony fated to vanish under mysterious circumstances was established on Roanoke Island off North Carolina.

In 1796, Cleveland, Ohio, was founded by General Moses Cleaveland.

In 1862, President Abraham Lincoln presented to his Cabinet a preliminary draft of the Emancipation Proclamation.

In 1934, bank robber John Dillinger was shot to death by federal agents outside Chicago's Biograph Theater, where he had just seen the Clark Gable movie "Manhattan Melodrama."

In 1943, American forces led by Gen. George S. Patton captured Palermo, Sicily, during World War II.

In 1946, the militant Zionist group Irgun blew up a wing of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, killing 91 people.

In 1957, Walter "Fred" Morrison applied for a patent for a "flying toy" which became known as the Frisbee.

In 1963, Sonny Liston knocked out Floyd Patterson in the first round of their rematch in Las Vegas to retain the world heavyweight title.

In 1975, the U.S. House of Representatives joined the Senate in voting to restore the American citizenship of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee. (President Gerald R. Ford signed the measure on August 5.)

In 1986, for the first time in a half-century, the House of Representatives impeached a federal official; Judge Harry E. Claiborne was later convicted by the Senate of tax evasion and bringing disrepute on the federal courts.

In 1991, police in Milwaukee arrested Jeffrey Dahmer, who later confessed to murdering 17 men and boys (Dahmer ended up being beaten to death by a fellow prison inmate).

In 1995, Susan Smith was convicted by a jury in Union, South Carolina, of first-degree murder for drowning her two sons. (She was later sentenced to life in prison, and will not be eligible for parole until 2024.)

Ten years ago: Israeli tanks, bulldozers and armored personnel carriers knocked down a fence and barreled over the Lebanese border as forces seized the village of Maroun al-Ras from the Hezbollah guerrilla group.

Five years ago: Anders Breivik, a self-described "militant nationalist," massacred 69 people at a Norwegian island youth retreat after detonating a bomb in nearby Oslo that killed eight others in the nation's worst violence since World War II. A jury in Cleveland convicted Anthony Sowell of killing 11 poor, drug-addicted women whose remains were found in his home and backyard; Sowell was later sentenced to death (his case is being appealed). President Barack Obama formally signed off on ending the ban on gays serving openly in the military. Former Democratic National Chairman Charles T. Manatt, 75, died in Richmond, Virginia.

One year ago: A Soyuz space capsule blasted off for the International Space Station, docking with the orbiting outpost nearly six hours later. Prosecutors in Colorado urged the death penalty for Aurora movie theater shooter James Holmes, saying he deliberately and cruelly killed 12 people (Holmes ended up being sentenced to life in prison when the jury could not unanimously agree on execution). A federal grand jury indictment charged Dylann Roof, the young man accused of killing nine black church members in Charleston, South Carolina, with 33 counts including hate crimes that made him eligible for the death penalty.

Today's Birthdays: Former Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole, R-Kan., is 93. Actor-comedian Orson Bean is 88. Author Tom Robbins is 84. Actress Louise Fletcher is 82. Rhythm-and-blues singer Chuck Jackson is 79. Actor Terence Stamp is 78. Game show host Alex Trebek is 76. Singer George Clinton is 75. Actor-singer Bobby Sherman is 73. Former Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, is 73. Movie writer-director Paul Schrader is 70. Actor Danny Glover is 70. Singer Mireille Mathieu is 70. Actor-comedian-director Albert Brooks is 69. Rock singer Don Henley is 69. Movie composer Alan Menken is 67. Singer-actress Lonette McKee is 63. Jazz musician Al Di Meola is 62. Actor Willem Dafoe is 61. Rhythm-and-blues singer Keith Sweat is 55. Actress Joanna Going is 53. Actor Rob Estes is 53. Folk singer Emily Saliers (Indigo Girls) is 53. Actor John Leguizamo is 52. Actor-comedian David Spade is 52. Actor Patrick Labyorteaux is 51. Rock musician Pat Badger is 49. Actress Irene Bedard is 49. Actor Rhys Ifans is 49. Actress Diana Maria Riva is 47. Actor Colin Ferguson is 44. Actor/singer Jaime Camil (TV: "Jane the Virgin") is 43. Retired NFL player Keyshawn Johnson is 44. Rock musician Daniel Jones is 43. Singer Rufus Wainwright is 43. Actress Franka Potente is 42. Actress A.J. Cook is 38. Actor Keegan Allen is 29. Actress Camila Banus is 26. Actress Selena Gomez is 24. Britain's Prince George of Cambridge is three.

Thought for Today: "Falling in love consists merely in uncorking the imagination and bottling the common sense." -- Helen Rowland, American writer and humorist (1875-1950).

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