July 20
Today is the 201st day of 2021, there are 164 days left in the year.
1810 - Colombia declared independence from Spain.
1861 - The Congress of the Confederate States began holding sessions in Richmond, Virginia.
1871 - British Columbia joined the confederation as a Canadian province.
1881 - Fugitive Sioux Indian leader Sitting Bull surrendered to federal troops.
1917 - The World War I draft lottery began.
1942 - The first detachment of the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps — later known as WACs — began basic training at Fort Des Moines, Cockeye.
1944 - Adolf Hitler was only slightly wounded when a bomb planted by would-be assassins exploded at the German leader's Rastenburg headquarters.
1951 - Jordan’s King Abdullah I was assassinated in Jerusalem by a Palestinian gunman who was shot dead on the spot by security.
1960 - Sirima Bandaranaike was named the world's first female prime minister in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka).
1969 - Astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin became the first men to set foot on the surface of the moon.
1976 - America's Viking 1 robot spacecraft landed on Mars.
1977 - A flash flood hit Johnstown, Pennsylvania, killing 80 and causing more than $350 million in damage.
1977 - The U.N. Security Council voted to admit Vietnam to the world body.
1985 - Treasure hunters found the Spanish galleon Nuestra Senora de Atocha, which sank off the coast of Key West, Florida in 1622 during a hurricane. The ship contained over $400 million in coins and silver.
1990 - A federal appeals court set aside Oliver North's Iran-Contra convictions.
1990 - Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan, one of the court’s most liberal voices, announced he was stepping down.
1993 - White House deputy counsel Vince Foster was found shot to death in a park near Washington, D.C. in an apparent suicide.
1999 - After 38 years at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, astronaut Gus Grissom's Liberty Bell 7 Mercury capsule was recovered.
2007 - President George W. Bush signed an executive order prohibiting cruel and inhuman treatment, including humiliation or denigration of religious beliefs, in the detention and interrogation of terrorism suspects.
2010 - The Senate Judiciary Committee voted almost totally along party lines, 13-6, to approve Elena Kagan to be the Supreme Court's fourth female justice.
2012 - Gunman James Holmes opened fire inside a crowded movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, during a midnight showing of “The Dark Knight Rises,” killing 12 people and wounding 70 others. (Holmes was later convicted of murder and attempted murder, and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.)
2015 - The United States and Cuba restored full diplomatic relations after more than 50 years of frosty relations rooted in the Cold War.
2015 - The U.N. Security Council unanimously endorsed a landmark deal to rein in Iran's nuclear program.
2016 - A federal appeals court ruled that Texas’ strict voter ID law discriminated against minorities and the poor and had to be weakened before the November elections.
Birthdays
24 - Abby Rao (model)
24 - ZaZa Maree (singer)
25 - Joey Bragg (actor)
28 - Alycia Debnam-Carey (actress)
29 - Paige Hurd (actress)
33 - Stephen Strasburg (baseball player)
33 - Julianne Hough (actress/dancer/singer)
36 - John Francis Daley (actor)
39 - Percy Daggs III (actor)
41 - Gisele Bundchen (model)
43 - Charlie Korsmo (actor)
46 - Ray Allen (basketball player)
46 - Judy Greer (actress)
47 - Simon Rex (actor)
48 - Omar Epps (actor)
50 - Sandra Oh (actress)
52 - Josh Holloway (actor)
54 - Reed Diamond (actor)
57 - Dean Winters (actor)
58 - Frank Whaley (actor)
64 - Donna Dixon (actress)
74 - Carlos Santana (musician)
76 - Kim Carnes (singer)
91 - Sally Ann Howes (actress/singer)
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Today in Sports History - July 20
1947 - The National Football League (NFL) ruled that no professional team could sign a player who had college eligibility remaining.
1958 - The PGA Championship changed its format from match play to stroke play.
1976 - Hank Aaron hits the 755th and final home run of his career.
2003 - Ben Curtis, an unknown PGA Tour rookie in his first major championship, won the British Open.
2011 - NBA star Yao Ming announced his retirement in his hometown of Shanghai.
Today is the 201st day of 2021, there are 164 days left in the year.
1810 - Colombia declared independence from Spain.
1861 - The Congress of the Confederate States began holding sessions in Richmond, Virginia.
1871 - British Columbia joined the confederation as a Canadian province.
1881 - Fugitive Sioux Indian leader Sitting Bull surrendered to federal troops.
1917 - The World War I draft lottery began.
1942 - The first detachment of the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps — later known as WACs — began basic training at Fort Des Moines, Cockeye.
1944 - Adolf Hitler was only slightly wounded when a bomb planted by would-be assassins exploded at the German leader's Rastenburg headquarters.
1951 - Jordan’s King Abdullah I was assassinated in Jerusalem by a Palestinian gunman who was shot dead on the spot by security.
1960 - Sirima Bandaranaike was named the world's first female prime minister in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka).
1969 - Astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin became the first men to set foot on the surface of the moon.
1976 - America's Viking 1 robot spacecraft landed on Mars.
1977 - A flash flood hit Johnstown, Pennsylvania, killing 80 and causing more than $350 million in damage.
1977 - The U.N. Security Council voted to admit Vietnam to the world body.
1985 - Treasure hunters found the Spanish galleon Nuestra Senora de Atocha, which sank off the coast of Key West, Florida in 1622 during a hurricane. The ship contained over $400 million in coins and silver.
1990 - A federal appeals court set aside Oliver North's Iran-Contra convictions.
1990 - Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan, one of the court’s most liberal voices, announced he was stepping down.
1993 - White House deputy counsel Vince Foster was found shot to death in a park near Washington, D.C. in an apparent suicide.
1999 - After 38 years at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, astronaut Gus Grissom's Liberty Bell 7 Mercury capsule was recovered.
2007 - President George W. Bush signed an executive order prohibiting cruel and inhuman treatment, including humiliation or denigration of religious beliefs, in the detention and interrogation of terrorism suspects.
2010 - The Senate Judiciary Committee voted almost totally along party lines, 13-6, to approve Elena Kagan to be the Supreme Court's fourth female justice.
2012 - Gunman James Holmes opened fire inside a crowded movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, during a midnight showing of “The Dark Knight Rises,” killing 12 people and wounding 70 others. (Holmes was later convicted of murder and attempted murder, and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.)
2015 - The United States and Cuba restored full diplomatic relations after more than 50 years of frosty relations rooted in the Cold War.
2015 - The U.N. Security Council unanimously endorsed a landmark deal to rein in Iran's nuclear program.
2016 - A federal appeals court ruled that Texas’ strict voter ID law discriminated against minorities and the poor and had to be weakened before the November elections.
Birthdays
24 - Abby Rao (model)
24 - ZaZa Maree (singer)
25 - Joey Bragg (actor)
28 - Alycia Debnam-Carey (actress)
29 - Paige Hurd (actress)
33 - Stephen Strasburg (baseball player)
33 - Julianne Hough (actress/dancer/singer)
36 - John Francis Daley (actor)
39 - Percy Daggs III (actor)
41 - Gisele Bundchen (model)
43 - Charlie Korsmo (actor)
46 - Ray Allen (basketball player)
46 - Judy Greer (actress)
47 - Simon Rex (actor)
48 - Omar Epps (actor)
50 - Sandra Oh (actress)
52 - Josh Holloway (actor)
54 - Reed Diamond (actor)
57 - Dean Winters (actor)
58 - Frank Whaley (actor)
64 - Donna Dixon (actress)
74 - Carlos Santana (musician)
76 - Kim Carnes (singer)
91 - Sally Ann Howes (actress/singer)
================================================
Today in Sports History - July 20
1947 - The National Football League (NFL) ruled that no professional team could sign a player who had college eligibility remaining.
1958 - The PGA Championship changed its format from match play to stroke play.
1976 - Hank Aaron hits the 755th and final home run of his career.
2003 - Ben Curtis, an unknown PGA Tour rookie in his first major championship, won the British Open.
2011 - NBA star Yao Ming announced his retirement in his hometown of Shanghai.
