Today in History

Today is Wednesday, July 19, the 200th day of 2023. There are 165 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On July 19, 2005, President George W. Bush announced his choice of federal appeals court judge John G. Roberts Jr. to replace Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. (Roberts ended up succeeding Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, who died in Sept. 2005; Samuel Alito followed O'Connor.)

On this date:

In 1812, during the War of 1812, the First Battle of Sackets Harbor in Lake Ontario resulted in an American victory as U.S. naval forces repelled a British attack.

In 1969, Apollo 11 and its astronauts, Neil Armstrong, Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin and Michael Collins, went into orbit around the moon.

In 1975, the Apollo and Soyuz space capsules that were linked in orbit for two days separated.

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 1989, 111 people were killed when United Air Lines Flight 232, a DC-10 which sustained 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, baseball's all-time hits leader, Pete Rose, was sentenced in Cincinnati to five months in prison for tax evasion.

In 1993, President Bill Clinton announced a policy allowing gays to serve in the military under a compromise dubbed "don't ask, don't tell, don't pursue."

In 2006, prosecutors reported that Chicago police beat, kicked, shocked or otherwise tortured scores of Black suspects from the 1970s to the early 1990s to try to extract confessions from them.

In 2014, New York City police officer Daniel Pantaleo, involved in the arrest of Eric Garner, who died in custody two days earlier after being placed in an apparent chokehold, was stripped of his gun and badge and placed on desk duty. (Pantaleo was fired in August 2019.)

In 2016, Republicans meeting in Cleveland nominated Donald Trump as their presidential standard-bearer; in brief videotaped remarks, Trump thanked the delegates, saying: "This is a movement, but we have to go all the way."

In 2020, President Donald Trump refused to publicly commit to accepting the results of the upcoming election, telling Chris Wallace on "Fox News Sunday" that it was too early to make any such guarantee.

Ten years ago: In a rare and public reflection on race, President Barack Obama called on the nation to do some soul searching over the death of Trayvon Martin and the acquittal of his shooter, George Zimmerman, saying the slain black teenager "could have been me 35 years ago." A Dallas woman plunged 75 feet to her death from a Six Flags Over Texas roller coaster when her safety restraint apparently failed.

Five years ago: The White House said President Donald Trump had invited Russian President Vladimir Putin to the White House in the fall for a second get-together, just days after a Helsinki summit that brought Trump criticism from Democrats and Republicans alike. Putin said his summit with Trump had been a success, and he accused Trump's opponents in the U.S. of hampering any progress on the issues they discussed. A duck boat packed with tourists capsized and sank in high winds on a lake in the tourist town of Branson, Missouri, killing 17 people.

One year ago: Britain shattered its record for the highest temperature ever registered amid a heat wave that seared swaths of Europe. The unusually hot, dry weather triggered wildfires from Portugal to the Balkans and led to hundreds of heat-related deaths. Russian missiles struck cities and villages in eastern and southern Ukraine, hitting homes, a school and a community center. The American League beat the National League 3-2 in Major League Baseball's All-Star Game.

Today's Birthdays: Actor Helen Gallagher is 97. Singer Vikki Carr is 83. Blues singer-musician Little Freddie King is 83. Actor George Dzundza is 78. Rock singer-musician Alan Gorrie (Average White Band) is 77. International Tennis Hall of Famer Ilie Nastase is 77. Rock musician Brian May is 76. Rock musician Bernie Leadon is 76. Actor Beverly Archer is 75. Movie director Abel Ferrara is 72. Actor Peter Barton is 67. Rock musician Kevin Haskins (Love and Rockets; Bauhaus) is 63. Movie director Atom Egoyan is 63. Actor Campbell Scott is 62. Actor Anthony Edwards is 61. Actor Clea Lewis is 58. Percussionist Evelyn Glennie is 58. Classical singer Urs Buhler (Il Divo) is 52. Actor Andrew Kavovit is 52. Rock musician Jason McGerr (Death Cab for Cutie) is 49. Actor Benedict Cumberbatch is 47. Actor Erin Cummings is 46. TV chef Marcela Valladolid is 45. Actor Chris Sullivan ("This is Us") is 43. Actor Jared Padalecki is 41. Actor Trai Byers is 40. Actor Kaitlin Doubleday ("Nashville") is 39. Actor/comedian Dustin Ybarra is 37. Actor Steven Anthony Lawrence is 33.