July 21
1861 - Confederate forces won victory at Bull Run in the first major battle of the Civil War at Manassas, Virginia.
1873 - The first rain robbery west of the Mississippi River was pulled off by Jesse James and his gang.
1925 - In the "Monkey Trial," John T. Scopes was found guilty of violating Tennessee state law by teaching the theory of evolution.
1944 - American forces landed on Guam during World War II, capturing it from the Japanese some three weeks later.
1949 - The U.S. Senate ratified the North Atlantic Treaty.
1954 - The Geneva Conference concluded with accords dividing Vietnam into northern and southern entities.
1969 - Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin blasted off from the moon aboard the ascent stage of the lunar module for docking with the command module.
1970 - The Aswan High Dam opened in Egypt.
1972 - The Irish Republican Army carried out 22 bombings in Belfast, Northern Ireland, killing nine people and injuring 130 in what became known as “Bloody Friday.”
1998 - Astronaut Alan Shepard died in Monterey, California at age 74.
1999 - U.S. Navy divers found and recovered the bodies of John F. Kennedy Jr., his wife Carolyn, and his sister-in-law Lauren Bessette, in the wreckage of Kennedy's plane in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Martha's Vineyard.
2002 - WorldCom filed for bankruptcy, then the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history.
2008 - Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, one of the world’s top war crimes fugitives, was arrested in a Belgrade suburb by Serbian security forces. (He was sentenced by a U.N. court in 2019 to life imprisonment after being convicted of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.)
2009 - Prosecutors in Cambridge, Massachusetts, dropped a disorderly conduct charge against prominent Black scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr., who was arrested by a white officer at his home near Harvard University after a report of a break-in.
2011 - The 30-year-old space shuttle program ended as Atlantis landed at Cape Canaveral, Florida, after the 135th and final shuttle flight.
2013 - Belgium's King Albert abdicated after a 20-year reign; his son Philippe took over as the fractured nation's seventh king.
2016 - Donald Trump accepted the GOP presidential nomination with a speech in which he pledged to cheering Republicans and still-skeptical voters that as president, he would restore the safety they feared they were losing, strictly curb immigration and save the nation from what he said was Hillary Clinton’s record of “death, destruction, terrorism and weakness.”
2017 - White House press secretary Sean Spicer abruptly quit over President Donald Trump’s decision to name financier Anthony Scaramucci as the new White House communications director. Scaramucci announced from the White House briefing room that Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who had been Spicer’s deputy, would take over for Spicer. (Scaramucci would be fired on July 31 after 11 days on the job; he had used vulgar language to insult White House aides during a phone call to a reporter.)
2022 - The House Jan. 6 committee made the case in its final hearing that Donald Trump's lies about a stolen election fueled the grisly Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol. The panel delved into 187 minutes in which it said Trump did nothing to stop the violence but instead "gleefully" watched on television.
Birthdays
25 - Maggie Lindemann (singer)
31 - Rachael Flatt (figure skater)
32 - Sara Sampaio (model)
34 - Rory Culkin (actor)
35 - DeAndre Jordan (basketball player)
37 - Betty Gilpin (actress)
37 - Diane Guerrero (actress)
38 - Vanessa Lengies (actress)
42 - Romeo Santos (singer)
42 - Blake Lewis (singer)
42 - Chrishell Stause (actress)
43 - CC Sabathia (baseball player)
45 - Brad Mates (singer)
45 - Josh Hartnett (actor)
45 - Justin Bartha (actor)
49 - Steve Byrne (actor/comedian)
50 - Ali Landry (actress)
51 - Paul Brandt (singer)
53 - Alysia Reiner (actress)
53 - Michael Fitzpatrick (singer)
54 - Emerson Hart (singer)
55 - Brandi Chastain (soccer player)
60 - Greg Behrendt (comedian)
63 - Matt Mulhern (actor)
63 - Lance Guest (actor)
66 - Jon Lovitz (comedian/actor)
75 - Garry Trudeau (cartoonist)
80 - Leigh Lawson (actress)
=======================================
Today in Sports History - July 21
1957 - Althea Gibson became the first black woman to win a major U.S. tennis title when she won the Women’s National clay-court singles competition.
1968 - Arnold Palmer became the first golfer to make a million dollars in career earnings after he tied for second place at the PGA Championship.
1973 - Hank Aaron hits his 700th career home run.
1991 - Ferguson Jenkins, Rod Carew, Gaylord Perry, Tony Lazzeri and Bill Veeck are inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
1996 - Wayne Gretzky signs a two-year contract to play for the New York Rangers.
1998 - Chinese gymnast Sang Lan, 17, was paralyzed after a fall while practicing for the women's vault competition at the Goodwill Games in New York. Spinal surgery 4 days later failed to restore sensation below her upper chest.
2002 - Ernie Els won the British Open in the first sudden-death finish in the event's 142-year history.
2006 - Alex Rodriguez (New York Yankees) collected his 2,000th career hit and became the youngest player to reach the 450 home run mark.
2013 - Phil Mickelson won the British Open, shooting a 5-under 66 to match the best round of the tournament and win his first claret jug.
2013 - Britain's Chris Froome won the 100th running of the Tour de France.
2016 - The NBA moved the 2017 All-Star Game out of Charlotte because of its objections to a North Carolina law that limited anti-discrimination protections for lesbian, gay and transgender people.
1861 - Confederate forces won victory at Bull Run in the first major battle of the Civil War at Manassas, Virginia.
1873 - The first rain robbery west of the Mississippi River was pulled off by Jesse James and his gang.
1925 - In the "Monkey Trial," John T. Scopes was found guilty of violating Tennessee state law by teaching the theory of evolution.
1944 - American forces landed on Guam during World War II, capturing it from the Japanese some three weeks later.
1949 - The U.S. Senate ratified the North Atlantic Treaty.
1954 - The Geneva Conference concluded with accords dividing Vietnam into northern and southern entities.
1969 - Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin blasted off from the moon aboard the ascent stage of the lunar module for docking with the command module.
1970 - The Aswan High Dam opened in Egypt.
1972 - The Irish Republican Army carried out 22 bombings in Belfast, Northern Ireland, killing nine people and injuring 130 in what became known as “Bloody Friday.”
1998 - Astronaut Alan Shepard died in Monterey, California at age 74.
1999 - U.S. Navy divers found and recovered the bodies of John F. Kennedy Jr., his wife Carolyn, and his sister-in-law Lauren Bessette, in the wreckage of Kennedy's plane in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Martha's Vineyard.
2002 - WorldCom filed for bankruptcy, then the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history.
2008 - Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, one of the world’s top war crimes fugitives, was arrested in a Belgrade suburb by Serbian security forces. (He was sentenced by a U.N. court in 2019 to life imprisonment after being convicted of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.)
2009 - Prosecutors in Cambridge, Massachusetts, dropped a disorderly conduct charge against prominent Black scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr., who was arrested by a white officer at his home near Harvard University after a report of a break-in.
2011 - The 30-year-old space shuttle program ended as Atlantis landed at Cape Canaveral, Florida, after the 135th and final shuttle flight.
2013 - Belgium's King Albert abdicated after a 20-year reign; his son Philippe took over as the fractured nation's seventh king.
2016 - Donald Trump accepted the GOP presidential nomination with a speech in which he pledged to cheering Republicans and still-skeptical voters that as president, he would restore the safety they feared they were losing, strictly curb immigration and save the nation from what he said was Hillary Clinton’s record of “death, destruction, terrorism and weakness.”
2017 - White House press secretary Sean Spicer abruptly quit over President Donald Trump’s decision to name financier Anthony Scaramucci as the new White House communications director. Scaramucci announced from the White House briefing room that Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who had been Spicer’s deputy, would take over for Spicer. (Scaramucci would be fired on July 31 after 11 days on the job; he had used vulgar language to insult White House aides during a phone call to a reporter.)
2022 - The House Jan. 6 committee made the case in its final hearing that Donald Trump's lies about a stolen election fueled the grisly Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol. The panel delved into 187 minutes in which it said Trump did nothing to stop the violence but instead "gleefully" watched on television.
Birthdays
25 - Maggie Lindemann (singer)
31 - Rachael Flatt (figure skater)
32 - Sara Sampaio (model)
34 - Rory Culkin (actor)
35 - DeAndre Jordan (basketball player)
37 - Betty Gilpin (actress)
37 - Diane Guerrero (actress)
38 - Vanessa Lengies (actress)
42 - Romeo Santos (singer)
42 - Blake Lewis (singer)
42 - Chrishell Stause (actress)
43 - CC Sabathia (baseball player)
45 - Brad Mates (singer)
45 - Josh Hartnett (actor)
45 - Justin Bartha (actor)
49 - Steve Byrne (actor/comedian)
50 - Ali Landry (actress)
51 - Paul Brandt (singer)
53 - Alysia Reiner (actress)
53 - Michael Fitzpatrick (singer)
54 - Emerson Hart (singer)
55 - Brandi Chastain (soccer player)
60 - Greg Behrendt (comedian)
63 - Matt Mulhern (actor)
63 - Lance Guest (actor)
66 - Jon Lovitz (comedian/actor)
75 - Garry Trudeau (cartoonist)
80 - Leigh Lawson (actress)
=======================================
Today in Sports History - July 21
1957 - Althea Gibson became the first black woman to win a major U.S. tennis title when she won the Women’s National clay-court singles competition.
1968 - Arnold Palmer became the first golfer to make a million dollars in career earnings after he tied for second place at the PGA Championship.
1973 - Hank Aaron hits his 700th career home run.
1991 - Ferguson Jenkins, Rod Carew, Gaylord Perry, Tony Lazzeri and Bill Veeck are inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
1996 - Wayne Gretzky signs a two-year contract to play for the New York Rangers.
1998 - Chinese gymnast Sang Lan, 17, was paralyzed after a fall while practicing for the women's vault competition at the Goodwill Games in New York. Spinal surgery 4 days later failed to restore sensation below her upper chest.
2002 - Ernie Els won the British Open in the first sudden-death finish in the event's 142-year history.
2006 - Alex Rodriguez (New York Yankees) collected his 2,000th career hit and became the youngest player to reach the 450 home run mark.
2013 - Phil Mickelson won the British Open, shooting a 5-under 66 to match the best round of the tournament and win his first claret jug.
2013 - Britain's Chris Froome won the 100th running of the Tour de France.
2016 - The NBA moved the 2017 All-Star Game out of Charlotte because of its objections to a North Carolina law that limited anti-discrimination protections for lesbian, gay and transgender people.
