Today in History

Today is Monday, July 1, the 182nd day of 2019. There are 183 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On July 1, 1991, President George H.W. Bush nominated federal appeals court judge Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court, beginning an ultimately successful confirmation process marked by allegations of sexual harassment.

On this date:

In 1863, the pivotal, three-day Civil War Battle of Gettysburg, resulting in a Union victory, began in Pennsylvania.

In 1867, Canada became a self-governing dominion of Great Britain as the British North America Act took effect.

In 1934, Hollywood began enforcing its Production Code subjecting motion pictures to censorship review.

In 1944, delegates from 44 countries began meeting at Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, where they agreed to establish the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

In 1946, the United States exploded a 20-kiloton atomic bomb near Bikini Atoll in the Pacific.

In 1961, Diana, the princess of Wales, was born in Sandringham, England. (She died in a 1997 car crash in Paris at age 36.)

In 1963, the U.S. Post Office inaugurated its five-digit ZIP codes.

In 1973, the Drug Enforcement Administration was established.

In 1991, the Warsaw Pact formally disbanded.

In 1995, rock-and-roll disc jockey Wolfman Jack died in Belvidere, North Carolina, at age 57.

In 1997, Hong Kong reverted to Chinese rule after 156 years as a British colony. Actor Robert Mitchum died in Santa Barbara, California, at age 79.

In 2002, the world's first permanent war crimes tribunal, the International Criminal Court, came into existence. A Russian passenger jet collided with a cargo plane over southern Germany, killing all 69 people, including 45 schoolchildren, on the Russian plane and the cargo jet pilots.

Ten years ago: President Barack Obama held an hour-long town hall forum on health care reform in Annandale, Virginia, where, in an emotional moment, he hugged cancer patient Debby Smith, a volunteer for Obama's political operation, Organizing for America. Academy Award-winning actor Karl Malden, 97, died in Brentwood, California.

Five years ago: David Greenglass, the star witness in the trial of his sister, Ethel Rosenberg, and her husband, Julius, died in New York City at age 92. (The Rosenbergs were executed in 1953 for conspiring to pass secrets about the atomic bomb to the Soviet Union; Greenglass served 10 years in prison for espionage followed by years of living under an assumed name.)

One year ago: Mexican voters, angry over corruption and violence, elected leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador as president. Canada began imposing tariffs on $12.6 billion in U.S. goods as retaliation for the Trump administration's new taxes on steel and aluminum imported to the United States. LeBron James announced that he would be signing with the Los Angeles Lakers, leaving Cleveland for the second time in his career.

Today's Birthdays: Actress Olivia de Havilland is 103. Actress-dancer Leslie Caron is 88. Actress Jean Marsh is 85. Actor Jamie Farr is 85. Actor David Prowse is 84. Cookiemaker Wally Amos is 83. Dancer-choreographer Twyla Tharp is 78. Actress Genevieve Bujold is 77. Rock singer-actress Deborah Harry is 74. Movie-TV producer-director Michael Pressman is 69. Actor Daryl Anderson is 68. Actor Trevor Eve is 68. Actor Terrence Mann is 68. Rock singer Fred Schneider (B-52's) is 68. Pop singer Victor Willis (Village People) is 68. Actor-comedian Dan Aykroyd is 67. Actress Lorna Patterson is 63. Actor Alan Ruck is 63. Rhythm and blues singer Evelyn "Champagne" King is 59. Olympic gold medal track star Carl Lewis is 58. Country singer Michelle Wright is 58. Actor Andre Braugher is 57. Actor Dominic Keating is 57. Actress Pamela Anderson is 52. Rock musician Mark Pirro is 49. Rock musician Franny Griffiths (Space) is 49. Actor Henry Simmons is 49. Hip-hop artist Missy Elliott is 48. Actress Julianne Nicholson is 48. Actress Melissa Peterman is 48. Actress/writer Jill Kargman is 45. Rock musician Bryan Devendorf (The National) is 44. Singer/songwriter Sufjan Stevens is 44. Actor Thomas Sadoski is 43. Actress Liv Tyler is 42. Bluegrass musician Adam Haynes (Dailey & Vincent) is 40. Actress Hilarie Burton is 37. Actress Lynsey Bartilson is 36. Actress Lea Seydoux is 34. Actor Evan Ellingson is 31. Actors Andrew and Steven Cavarno are 27. Actress/singer Chloe Bailey is 21. Actress Storm Reid is 16.

Thought for Today: "In an age of multiple and massive innovations, obsolescence becomes the major obsession." -- Marshall McLuhan, Canadian communications theorist (1911-1980).