July 20
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.
1944 - Adolf Hitler was only slightly wounded when a bomb planted by would-be assassins exploded at the German leader's Rastenburg headquarters.
1944 - President Franklin D. Roosevelt was nominated for an unprecedented fourth term at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
1951 - King Abdullah I of Jordan was assassinated.
1960 - Sirima Bandaranaike of Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) became the world's first female prime minister.
1969 - American 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 - The U.N. Security Council voted to admit Vietnam to the organization.
1977 - A flash flood hit Johnstown, Pennsylvania, killing 80 people and causing $350 million in damage.
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 ingots.
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, astronaut Gus Grissom's Liberty Bell 7 Mercury capsule was recovered.
2006 - The Senate voted 98-0 to renew the landmark 1965 Voting Rights Act for another quarter-century.
2007 - 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.
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.
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.)
2013 - Longtime White House correspondent Helen Thomas, 92, died in Washington.
2015 - The United States and Cuba restored full diplomatic relations after more than five decades 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.
2017 - O.J. Simpson was granted parole after more than eight years in prison for a hotel room heist in Las Vegas. (He was released on October 1.)
2021 - New York prison officials handed convicted rapist Harvey Weinstein over to authorities in California, where the former movie mogul faced additional sexual assault charges.
2021 - Jeff Bezos blasted into space from West Texas on his rocket company’s first flight with people on board, becoming the second billionaire in just over a week to ride his own spacecraft. (Virgin Galactic’s Richard Branson had moved up the launch of his own flight from New Mexico and beat Bezos to space by nine days.)
Birthdays
25 - Abby Rao (model)
26 - Ben Simmons (basketball player)
29 - Alycia Debnam-Carey (actress)
30 - Paige Hurd (actress)
34 - Stephen Strasburg (baseball player)
34 - Julianne Hough (dancer/singer/actress)
37 - John Francis Daley (actor)
40 - Percy Daggs III (actor)
42 - Gisele Bundchen (model)
44 - Charlie Korsmo (actor)
47 - Judy Greer (actress)
47 - Ray Allen (basketball player)
48 - Simon Rex (actor)
49 - Omar Epps (actor)
51 - Sandra Oh (actress)
53 - Josh Holloway (actor)
55 - Reed Diamond (actor)
58 - Dean Winters (actor)
59 - Frank Whaley (actor)
65 - Donna Dixon (actress)
75 - Carlos Santana (musician)
77 - Kim Carnes (singer)
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Today in Sports History - July 20
1859 - Brooklyn and New York played baseball at Fashion Park Race Course on Long Island, NY. The game marked the first time that admission was charged to see a ball game. It cost $.50 to get in and the players on the field did not receive a salary.
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 from match play to stroke play.
1976 - Hank Aaron hits the 755th and final home run of his career.
1991 - Heavyweight boxing star Mike Tyson is accused of raping a Miss Black America pageant contestant.
2021 - Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 50 points to lead the Milwaukee Bucks to a 105-98 win over the Phoenix Suns to win the NBA championship in six games; it was the first championship for the Bucks in 50 years.
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.
1944 - Adolf Hitler was only slightly wounded when a bomb planted by would-be assassins exploded at the German leader's Rastenburg headquarters.
1944 - President Franklin D. Roosevelt was nominated for an unprecedented fourth term at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
1951 - King Abdullah I of Jordan was assassinated.
1960 - Sirima Bandaranaike of Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) became the world's first female prime minister.
1969 - American 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 - The U.N. Security Council voted to admit Vietnam to the organization.
1977 - A flash flood hit Johnstown, Pennsylvania, killing 80 people and causing $350 million in damage.
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 ingots.
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, astronaut Gus Grissom's Liberty Bell 7 Mercury capsule was recovered.
2006 - The Senate voted 98-0 to renew the landmark 1965 Voting Rights Act for another quarter-century.
2007 - 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.
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.
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.)
2013 - Longtime White House correspondent Helen Thomas, 92, died in Washington.
2015 - The United States and Cuba restored full diplomatic relations after more than five decades 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.
2017 - O.J. Simpson was granted parole after more than eight years in prison for a hotel room heist in Las Vegas. (He was released on October 1.)
2021 - New York prison officials handed convicted rapist Harvey Weinstein over to authorities in California, where the former movie mogul faced additional sexual assault charges.
2021 - Jeff Bezos blasted into space from West Texas on his rocket company’s first flight with people on board, becoming the second billionaire in just over a week to ride his own spacecraft. (Virgin Galactic’s Richard Branson had moved up the launch of his own flight from New Mexico and beat Bezos to space by nine days.)
Birthdays
25 - Abby Rao (model)
26 - Ben Simmons (basketball player)
29 - Alycia Debnam-Carey (actress)
30 - Paige Hurd (actress)
34 - Stephen Strasburg (baseball player)
34 - Julianne Hough (dancer/singer/actress)
37 - John Francis Daley (actor)
40 - Percy Daggs III (actor)
42 - Gisele Bundchen (model)
44 - Charlie Korsmo (actor)
47 - Judy Greer (actress)
47 - Ray Allen (basketball player)
48 - Simon Rex (actor)
49 - Omar Epps (actor)
51 - Sandra Oh (actress)
53 - Josh Holloway (actor)
55 - Reed Diamond (actor)
58 - Dean Winters (actor)
59 - Frank Whaley (actor)
65 - Donna Dixon (actress)
75 - Carlos Santana (musician)
77 - Kim Carnes (singer)
======================================
Today in Sports History - July 20
1859 - Brooklyn and New York played baseball at Fashion Park Race Course on Long Island, NY. The game marked the first time that admission was charged to see a ball game. It cost $.50 to get in and the players on the field did not receive a salary.
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 from match play to stroke play.
1976 - Hank Aaron hits the 755th and final home run of his career.
1991 - Heavyweight boxing star Mike Tyson is accused of raping a Miss Black America pageant contestant.
2021 - Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 50 points to lead the Milwaukee Bucks to a 105-98 win over the Phoenix Suns to win the NBA championship in six games; it was the first championship for the Bucks in 50 years.
