Today in History

Today in History

Today is Saturday, July 15, the 196th day of 2017. There are 169 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On July 15, 1997, fashion designer Gianni Versace, 50, was shot dead outside his Miami Beach home; suspected gunman Andrew Phillip Cunanan, 27, was found dead eight days later, a suicide. (Investigators believed Cunanan killed four other victims before Versace in a cross-country spree that began the previous March.)

On this date:

In 1799, French soldiers in Egypt discovered the Rosetta Stone, which proved instrumental in deciphering ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs.

In 1870, Georgia became the last Confederate state to be readmitted to the Union. Manitoba entered confederation as the fifth Canadian province.

In 1916, Boeing Co., originally known as Pacific Aero Products Co., was founded in Seattle.

In 1932, President Herbert Hoover announced he was slashing his own salary by 20 percent, from $75,000 to $60,000 a year; he also cut Cabinet members' salaries by 15 percent, from $15,000 to $12,750 a year.

In 1942, "The Pride of the Yankees," Samuel Goldwyn's biopic starring Gary Cooper as baseball star Lou Gehrig, premiered in New York.

In 1948, President Harry S. Truman was nominated for another term of office by the Democratic national convention in Philadelphia.

In 1964, Sen. Barry M. Goldwater of Arizona was nominated for president by the Republican national convention in San Francisco.

In 1976, a 36-hour kidnap ordeal began for 26 schoolchildren and their bus driver as they were abducted near Chowchilla, California, by three gunmen and imprisoned in an underground cell. (The captives escaped unharmed; the kidnappers were caught.)

In 1979, President Jimmy Carter delivered his "malaise" speech in which he lamented what he called a "crisis of confidence" in America.

In 1985, a visibly gaunt Rock Hudson appeared at a news conference with actress Doris Day (it was later revealed Hudson was suffering from AIDS).

In 1992, Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton was nominated for president at the Democratic national convention in New York.

In 2002, John Walker Lindh, an American who'd fought alongside the Taliban in Afghanistan, pleaded guilty in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, to two felonies in a deal sparing him life in prison. Five-year-old Samantha Runnion was kidnapped outside an apartment complex in Stanton, California. (Samantha's body was found the next day; factory worker Alejandro Avila was later convicted of murder, kidnapping and sexual assault and sent to death row, where he remains.)

Ten years ago: Cardinal Roger Mahony, leader of the nation's largest Roman Catholic archdiocese, apologized to the hundreds of people set to receive a share of a $660 million settlement over allegations of clergy sex abuse. The Philadelphia Phillies became the first team in professional sports to lose 10,000 games as they fell 10-2 to the visiting St. Louis Cardinals.

Five years ago: Syria's 16-month bloodbath crossed an important symbolic threshold as the international Red Cross formally declared the conflict a civil war, a status with implications for potential war crimes prosecutions. A Russian Soyuz craft launched into the morning skies over Kazakhstan, carrying three space travelers, including NASA astronaut Sunita Williams, to the International Space Station. Oscar-winning actress Celeste Holm, 95, died in New York. Microsoft pulled out of the joint venture with NBC News that owned MSNBC.com, which was rebranded as NBCNews.com. The video of "Gangnam Style," the hit single by South Korean rapper PSY, was released on YouTube where, to date, it's been viewed more than 2.8 billion times.

One year ago: Republican Donald Trump chose Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, an experienced politician with deep Washington connections, as his running mate. An attempted military coup in Turkey failed. New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady said on Facebook he would not ask the U.S. Supreme Court to block his four-game "Deflategate" suspension.

Today's Birthdays: Author Clive Cussler is 86. Actor Ken Kercheval is 82. Actor Patrick Wayne is 78. Actor Jan-Michael Vincent is 73. Rhythm-and-blues singer Millie Jackson is 73. Rock singer-musician Peter Lewis (Moby Grape) is 72. Singer Linda Ronstadt is 71. Rock musician Artimus Pyle is 69. Arianna Huffington, co-founder of The Huffington Post, is 67. Actress Celia Imrie is 65. Actor Terry O'Quinn is 65. Rock singer-musician David Pack is 65. Rock musician Marky Ramone is 61. Rock musician Joe Satriani is 61. Country singer-songwriter Mac McAnally is 60. Model Kim Alexis is 57. Actor Willie Aames is 57. Actor-director Forest Whitaker is 56. Actress Lolita Davidovich is 56. Actress Shari Headley is 54. Actress Brigitte Nielsen is 54. Rock musician Jason Bonham is 51. Actress Amanda Foreman is 51. Actor Kristoff St. John is 51. Rock musician Phillip Fisher is 50. Rhythm-and-blues singer Stokley (Mint Condition) is 50. Actor-comedian Eddie Griffin is 49. Actor Stan Kirsch is 49. Actor Reggie Hayes is 48. Actor-screenwriter Jim Rash is 46. Rock musician John Dolmayan is 45. Actor Scott Foley is 45. Actor Brian Austin Green is 44. Rapper Jim Jones is 41. Actress Diane Kruger is 41. Actress Lana Parrilla is 40. Rock musician Ray Toro (My Chemical Romance) is 40. Actress Laura Benanti is 38. Actor Travis Fimmel is 38. Actor Taylor Kinney is 36. Rhythm-and-blues singer Kia Thornton (Divine) is 36. Actor-singer Tristan "Mack" Wilds is 28. Actor Iain Armitage (TV: "Big Little Lies" ''Young Sheldon") is nine.

Thought for Today: "There are two kinds of worries -- those you can do something about and those you can't. Don't spend any time on the latter." -- Duke Ellington, American jazz artist (1899-1974).