Today in History

Today is Saturday, July 6, the 187th day of 2019. There are 178 days left in the year.

Today's Highlights in History:

On July 6, 1885, French scientist Louis Pasteur tested an anti-rabies vaccine on 9-year-old Joseph Meister, who had been bitten by an infected dog; the boy did not develop rabies.

On this date:

In 1535, Sir Thomas More was executed in England for high treason.

In 1777, during the American Revolution, British forces captured Fort Ticonderoga.

In 1942, Anne Frank, her parents and sister entered a "secret annex" in an Amsterdam building where they were later joined by four other people; they hid from Nazi occupiers for two years before being discovered and arrested.

In 1944, an estimated 168 people died in a fire that broke out during a performance in the main tent of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus in Hartford, Connecticut.

In 1945, President Harry S. Truman signed an executive order establishing the Medal of Freedom. Nicaragua became the first nation to ratify the United Nations Charter.

In 1957, Althea Gibson became the first black tennis player to win a Wimbledon singles title as she defeated fellow American Darlene Hard 6-3, 6-2. Sixteen-year-old John Lennon first met 15-year-old Paul McCartney when Lennon's band, the Quarrymen skiffle group, performed a gig at St. Peter's Church in Woolton, Liverpool.

In 1962, Nobel Prize-winning author William Faulkner, one of the giants of Southern literature, died in Byhalia, Mississippi, at age 64.

In 1964, the movie "A Hard Day's Night," starring The Beatles, had its world premiere in London.

In 1971, jazz trumpeter and singer Louis Armstrong died in New York at age 69.

In 1988, 167 North Sea oil workers were killed when explosions and fires destroyed a drilling platform. Medical waste and other debris began washing up on New York City-area seashores, forcing the closing of several popular beaches.

In 1994, 14 firefighters were killed while battling a several-days-old blaze on Storm King Mountain in Colorado.

In 1997, the rover Sojourner rolled down a ramp from the Mars Pathfinder lander onto the Martian landscape to begin inspecting the soil and rocks of the red planet.

Ten years ago: Robert McNamara, the Pentagon chief who'd directed the escalation of the Vietnam War despite private doubts, died in Washington, D.C., at 93. President Barack Obama opened a two-day Moscow summit with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. Doctors at four hospitals in four states (Maryland, Missouri, Oklahoma and Michigan) finished transplanting eight kidneys over three weeks.

Five years ago: Israel arrested six Jewish suspects in the slaying of a Palestinian teenager who was abducted and burned alive, apparently in retaliation for the killings of three Israeli teenagers. Novak Djokovic won his second Wimbledon title and denied Roger Federer his record eighth by holding off the Swiss star in five sets, 6-7 (7), 6-4, 7-6 (4), 5-7, 6-4.

One year ago: The United States and China imposed tariffs on billions of dollars of each other's goods in what Beijing called the "biggest trade war in economic history." Japan's Justice Ministry confirmed that six followers of the Aum Shinrikyo doomsday cult had been hanged along with its leader, Shoko Asahara; they had been convicted of crimes including a 1995 sarin gas attack that killed 13 people and sickened thousands of others on the Tokyo subway system. A former Thai navy SEAL died while diving in flooded cave passageways to deliver supplies to 12 schoolboys and their soccer coach who'd been trapped for nearly two weeks.

Today's Birthdays: The 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, is 84. Actor Ned Beatty is 82. Singer Gene Chandler is 79. Country singer Jeannie Seely is 79. Actor Burt Ward is 74. Former President George W. Bush is 73. Actor-director Sylvester Stallone is 73. Actor Fred Dryer is 73. Actress Shelley Hack is 72. Actress Nathalie Baye is 71. Actor Geoffrey Rush is 68. Actress Allyce Beasley is 68. Rock musician John Bazz (The Blasters) is 67. Actor Grant Goodeve is 67. Country singer Nanci Griffith is 66. Retired MLB All-Star Willie Randolph is 65. Jazz musician Rick Braun is 64. Actor Casey Sander is 64. Country musician John Jorgenson is 63. Former first daughter Susan Ford Bales is 62. Hockey player and coach Ron Duguay is 62. Actress-writer Jennifer Saunders is 61. Rock musician John Keeble (Spandau Ballet) is 60. Actor Pip Torrens is 59. Actor Brian Posehn is 53. Actor Robb Derringer is 52. Political reporter/moderator John Dickerson is 51. Actor Brian Van Holt is 50. Rapper Inspectah Deck (Wu-Tang Clan) is 49. TV host Josh Elliott is 48. Rapper 50 Cent is 44. Actress Tia Mowry is 41. Comedian-actor Kevin Hart is 40. Actress Eva Green is 39. Actor Gregory Smith is 36. Rock musician Chris "Woody" Wood (Bastille) is 34. Rock singer Kate Nash is 32. Actor Jeremy Suarez is 29. Baseball star Manny Machado is 27.

Thought for Today: "Freedom is always and exclusively freedom for the one who thinks differently." -- Rosa Luxemburg, Polish-German revolutionary (1871-1919).