Today in History

Today is Friday, July 24, the 206th day of 2020. There are 160 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On July 24, 1974, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled that President Richard Nixon had to turn over subpoenaed White House tape recordings to the Watergate special prosecutor.

On this date:

In 1847, Mormon leader Brigham Young and his followers arrived in the Great Salt Lake Valley in present-day Utah.

In 1858, Republican senatorial candidate Abraham Lincoln formally challenged Democrat Stephen A. Douglas to a series of political debates; the result was seven face-to-face encounters.

In 1862, Martin Van Buren, the eighth president of the United States, and the first to have been born a U.S. citizen, died at age 79 in Kinderhook, New York, the town where he was born in 1782.

In 1866, Tennessee became the first state to be readmitted to the Union after the Civil War.

In 1911, Yale University history professor Hiram Bingham III found the "Lost City of the Incas," Machu Picchu, in Peru.

In 1915, the SS Eastland, a passenger ship carrying more than 2,500 people, rolled onto its side while docked at the Clark Street Bridge on the Chicago River; an estimated 844 people died in the disaster.

In 1937, the state of Alabama dropped charges against four of the nine young Black men accused of raping two white women in the "Scottsboro Case."

In 1969, the Apollo 11 astronauts -- two of whom had been the first men to set foot on the moon -- splashed down safely in the Pacific.

In 1975, an Apollo spacecraft splashed down in the Pacific, completing a mission which included the first-ever docking with a Soyuz capsule from the Soviet Union.

In 1980, comedian-actor Peter Sellers died in London at 54.

In 2002, nine coal miners became trapped in a flooded tunnel of the Quecreek Mine in western Pennsylvania; the story ended happily 77 hours later with the rescue of all nine.

In 2018, the Trump administration said it would provide $12 billion in emergency relief to farmers hurt by trade disputes with China and other countries. Ivanka Trump announced the shutdown of her fashion line, which had been targeted by boycotts and prompted concerns about conflicts of interest.

Ten years ago: A stampede inside a tunnel crowded with techno music fans left 21 people dead and more than 500 injured at the famed Love Parade festival in western Germany. Fourteen-year-old Jim Liu beat Justin Thomas 4 and 2 to become the youngest U.S. Junior Amateur golf champion at Egypt Valley Country Club in Ada, Michigan.

Five years ago: Fulfilling the hopes of millions of Kenyans, Barack Obama returned to his father's homeland for the first time as U.S. president, a visit long sought by a country that considered him a local son. In a stunning, public attack on his own party leader, Republican Sen. Ted Cruz accused Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of lying, saying he was no better than his Democratic predecessor, Harry Reid, and couldn't be trusted. Two teenage fishermen, Perry Cohen and Austin Stephanos, went missing off Florida's Atlantic coast; their capsized boat was found two days later. AT&T became the country's biggest traditional TV provider with its $48.5 billion purchase of DirecTV.

One year ago: In a day of congressional testimony, Robert Mueller dismissed President Donald Trump's claim of "total exoneration" in Mueller's probe of Russia's 2016 election interference. Boris Johnson took office as Britain's prime minister, vowing to break the impasse that defeated his predecessor, Theresa May, and lead the country out of the European Union. Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rossello said he would resign, in the face of a public uproar over an online chat in which the governor and close advisers insulted women and mocked constituents. A Pennsylvania appeals court overturned rapper Meek Mill's conviction in a drug and gun case that had kept the rapper on probation for a decade. Federal regulators announced a settlement under which Facebook was being fined $5 billion over privacy violations; the company would also face new oversight and restrictions on its business.

Today's Birthdays: Actor John Aniston is 87. Political cartoonist Pat Oliphant is 85. Comedian Ruth Buzzi is 84. Actor Mark Goddard is 84. Actor Dan Hedaya is 80. Actor Chris Sarandon is 78. Comedian Gallagher is 74. Actor Robert Hays is 73. Former Republican national chairman Marc Racicot is 72. Actor Michael Richards is 71. Actress Lynda Carter is 69. Movie director Gus Van Sant is 68. Former Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., is 67. Country singer Pam Tillis is 63. Actor Paul Ben-Victor is 58. Basketball Hall of Famer Karl Malone is 57. Retired MLB All-Star Barry Bonds is 56. Actor Kadeem Hardison is 55. Actress-singer Kristin Chenoweth is 52. Actress Laura Leighton is 52. Actor John P. Navin Jr. is 52. Actress-singer Jennifer Lopez is 51. Basketball player-turned-actor Rick Fox is 51. Director Patty Jenkins ("Wonder Woman") is 49. Actress Jamie Denbo (TV: "Orange is the New Black") is 47. Actor Eric Szmanda is 45. Actress Rose Byrne is 41. Country singer Jerrod Niemann is 41. Actress Summer Glau is 39. Actor Sheaun McKinney is 39. Actress Elisabeth Moss is 38. Actress Anna Paquin is 38. Actress Sarah Greene is 36. NHL center Patrice Bergeron is 35. Actress Megan Park is 34. Actress Mara Wilson is 33. Actress Sarah Steele is 32. Rock singer Jay McGuiness (The Wanted) is 30. Actress Emily Bett Rickards is 29. Actor Lucas Adams is 27. TV personality Bindi Irwin is 22.