Today in History

Today is Tuesday, July 6, the 187th day of 2021. There are 178 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On July 6, 1854, the first official meeting of the Republican Party took place in Jackson, Michigan.

On this date:

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

In 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.

In 1917, during World War I, Arab forces led by T.E. Lawrence and Auda Abu Tayi captured the port of Aqaba from the Ottoman Turks.

In 1933, the first All-Star baseball game was played at Chicago's Comiskey Park; the American League defeated the National League, 4-2.

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.

In 1957, the Harry S. Truman Library, the nation's first presidential library, was dedicated in Independence, Missouri.

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.

In 2005, New York Times reporter Judith Miller was jailed after refusing to testify before a grand jury investigating the leak of undercover CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity (Miller was jailed for 85 days before agreeing to testify).

In 2015, Pope Francis received a hero's welcome in Guayaquil, Ecuador's biggest city, as he celebrated the first public Mass of his South American tour.

Ten years ago: Jury selection began in the perjury trial of former baseball pitcher Roger Clemens, who was accused of lying under oath to Congress when he denied ever using performance-enhancing drugs during his career (the proceedings ended abruptly in a mistrial; Clemens was later acquitted in a retrial).

Five years ago: President Barack Obama scrapped plans to cut American forces in Afghanistan by half before leaving office. Double-amputee Olympian Oscar Pistorius was sentenced to six years in a South African prison for murdering girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. (An appeals court would increase that sentence to 13 years.) Philando Castile, a Black elementary school cafeteria worker, was killed during a traffic stop in the St. Paul suburb of Falcon Heights by Officer Jeronimo Yanez. (Yanez was later acquitted on a charge of second-degree manslaughter.) Former Fox News Channel anchor Gretchen Carlson sued network chief executive Roger Ailes, claiming she was cut loose after she had refused his sexual advances and complained about harassment in the workplace, allegations denied by Ailes. (Carlson later settled her lawsuit for a reported $20 million.) The augmented-reality game Pokemon Go made its debut in the U.S., Australia and New Zealand.

One year ago: The Trump administration formally notified the United Nations of its withdrawal from the World Health Organization; President Donald Trump had criticized the WHO's response to the coronavirus pandemic. (The pullout was halted by President Joe Biden's administration.) Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp declared a state of emergency and authorized the activation of up to 1,000 National Guard troops after a weekend of gun violence in Atlanta left five people dead; the victims included an 8-year-old girl, killed while riding in a car near a Wendy's that had been burned after a Black man was shot by a white police officer in the restaurant's parking lot in June. Amy Cooper, the white woman who called police during a videotaped dispute with a Black man in New York's Central Park, was charged with filing a false report. (The case was dismissed after Cooper completed a counseling program.) Country Music Hall of Famer Charlie Daniels, a singer, guitarist and fiddler who had a hit with "Devil Went Down to Georgia," died in Tennessee at the age of 83. Agents for Patrick Mahomes said the Kansas City Chiefs quarterback had agreed to a 10-year contract extension worth as much as $503 million, giving the Super Bowl MVP the richest-ever sports contract. Oscar-winning Italian composer Ennio Morricone, who created the theme for "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly," died at 91.

Today's Birthdays: The 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, is 86. Singer Gene Chandler is 81. Country singer Jeannie Seely is 81. Actor Burt Ward is 76. Former President George W. Bush is 75. Actor-director Sylvester Stallone is 75. Actor Fred Dryer is 75. Actor Shelley Hack is 74. Actor Nathalie Baye is 73. Actor Geoffrey Rush is 70. Actor Allyce Beasley is 70. Rock musician John Bazz (The Blasters) is 69. Actor Grant Goodeve is 69. Country singer Nanci Griffith is 68. Retired MLB All-Star Willie Randolph is 67. Jazz musician Rick Braun is 66. Actor Casey Sander is 66. Country musician John Jorgenson is 65. Former first daughter Susan Ford Bales is 64. Hockey player and coach Ron Duguay is 64. Actor-writer Jennifer Saunders is 63. Rock musician John Keeble (Spandau Ballet) is 62. Actor Pip Torrens is 61. Actor Brian Posehn is 55. Actor Robb Derringer is 54. Political reporter/moderator John Dickerson is 53. Actor Brian Van Holt is 52. Rapper Inspectah Deck (Wu-Tang Clan) is 51. TV host Josh Elliott is 50. Rapper 50 Cent is 46. Actors Tia and Tamera Mowry are 43. Comedian-actor Kevin Hart is 42. Actor Eva Green is 41. Actor Gregory Smith is 38. Rock musician Chris "Woody" Wood (Bastille) is 36. Rock singer Kate Nash is 34. Actor Jeremy Suarez is 31. San Diego Padres infielder Manny Machado is 29. NBA star Zion Williamson is 21.