Today in History

Today in History

Today is Tuesday, July 19, the 201st day of 2016. There are 165 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On July 19, 1941, Britain launched its "V for Victory" campaign during World War II with Prime Minister Winston Churchill calling the V-sign hand gesture "the symbol of the unconquerable will of the people of the occupied territories and a portent of the fate awaiting the Nazi tyranny."

On this date:

In 1553, King Henry VIII's daughter Mary was proclaimed Queen of England after pretender Lady Jane Grey was deposed.

In 1848, a pioneering women's rights convention convened in Seneca Falls, New York.

In 1903, the first Tour de France was won by Maurice Garin.

In 1944, the Democratic national convention convened in Chicago with the nomination of President Franklin D. Roosevelt considered a certainty.

In 1952, the Summer Olympics opened in Helsinki, Finland.

In 1961, TWA became the first airline to begin showing regularly scheduled in-flight movies as it presented "By Love Possessed" to first-class passengers on a flight from New York to Los Angeles.

In 1979, the Nicaraguan capital of Managua fell to Sandinista guerrillas, two days after President Anastasio Somoza fled the country.

In 1980, the Moscow Summer Olympics began, minus dozens of nations that were boycotting the games because of the Soviet military intervention in Afghanistan.

In 1986, Caroline Kennedy, daughter of President John F. Kennedy, married Edwin A. Schlossberg in Centerville, Massachusetts.

In 1989, 111 people were killed when United Air Lines Flight 232, a DC-10 which suffered the uncontained failure of its tail engine and the loss of hydraulic systems, crashed while making an emergency landing at Sioux City, Iowa; 185 other people survived.

In 1990, President George H.W. Bush joined former presidents Ronald Reagan, Gerald R. Ford and Richard M. Nixon at ceremonies dedicating the Nixon Library and Birthplace (since re-designated the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum) in Yorba Linda, California.

In 1996, opening ceremonies were held in Atlanta for the 26th Summer Olympic Games.

Ten years ago: President George W. Bush issued his first presidential veto, rejecting a bill that could have multiplied federal money for embryonic stem cell research; a few hours later, the House voted 235-193 to overturn Bush's veto, 51 short of the required two-thirds majority. Actor Jack Warden died in New York at age 85.

Five years ago: Summoned by British lawmakers to answer for a phone hacking and bribery scandal at one of his tabloids, media mogul Rupert Murdoch told a parliamentary committee hearing he was humbled and ashamed, but accepted no responsibility for wrongdoing.

One year ago: Saying they felt a "deep sense of ethical responsibility for a past tragedy," executives from Japan's Mitsubishi Materials Corp. offered an unprecedented apology to a 94-year-old former U.S. prisoner of war for using American POWs as forced labor during World War II; James Murphy of Santa Maria, California, accepted the apology during a solemn ceremony hosted by the Museum of Tolerance at the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles.

Today's Birthdays: Actress Helen Gallagher is 90. Country singer Sue Thompson is 90. Singer Vikki Carr is 76. Blues singer-musician Little Freddie King is 76. Country singer-musician Commander Cody is 72. Actor George Dzundza is 71. Rock singer-musician Alan Gorrie (Average White Band) is 70. International Tennis Hall of Famer Ilie Nastase is 70. Rock musician Brian May is 69. Rock musician Bernie Leadon is 69. Actress Beverly Archer is 68. Movie director Abel Ferrara is 65. Actor Peter Barton is 60. Rock musician Kevin Haskins (Love and Rockets; Bauhaus) is 56. Movie director Atom Egoyan is 56. Actor Campbell Scott is 55. Actor Anthony Edwards is 54. Country singer Kelly Shiver is 53. Actress Clea Lewis is 51. Percusssionist Evelyn Glennie is 51. Country musician Jeremy Patterson is 46. Classical singer Urs Buhler (Il Divo) is 45. Actor Andrew Kavovit is 45. Rock musician Jason McGerr (Death Cab for Cutie) is 42. Actor Benedict Cumberbatch is 40. Actress Erin Cummings is 39. TV chef Marcela Valladolid is 38. Actor Jared Padalecki is 34. Actor Trai Byers is 33. Actor Steven Anthony Lawrence is 26.

Thought for Today: "Where there is unity, there is always victory." -- Publilius Syrus, Latin writer during the first century B.C.