Today in History
Today is Saturday, July 22, the 203rd day of 2023. There are 162 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On July 22, 1937, the U.S. Senate rejected President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s proposal to add more justices to the Supreme Court.
On this date:
In 1862, President Abraham Lincoln presented to his Cabinet a preliminary draft of the Emancipation Proclamation.
In 1934, bank robber John Dillinger was shot to death by federal agents outside Chicago’s Biograph Theater, where he had just seen the Clark Gable movie “Manhattan Melodrama.”
In 1942, the Nazis began transporting Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto to the Treblinka concentration camp. Gasoline rationing involving the use of coupons began along the Atlantic seaboard.
In 1943, American forces led by Gen. George S. Patton captured Palermo, Sicily, during World War II.
In 1967, American author, historian and poet Carl Sandburg died at his North Carolina home at age 89.
In 1975, the House of Representatives joined the Senate in voting to restore the American citizenship of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.
In 1991, police in Milwaukee arrested Jeffrey Dahmer, who later confessed to murdering 17 men and boys (Dahmer ended up being beaten to death by a fellow prison inmate).
In 1992, Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar escaped from his luxury prison near Medellin (meh-deh-YEEN’). (He was slain by security forces in December 1993.)
In 2011, Anders Breivik (AHN’-durs BRAY’-vihk), a self-described “militant nationalist,” massacred 69 people at a Norwegian island youth retreat after detonating a bomb in nearby Oslo that killed eight others in the nation’s worst violence since World War II.
In 2015, a federal grand jury indictment charged Dylann Roof, the young man accused of killing nine Black church members in Charleston, South Carolina, with 33 counts including hate crimes that made him eligible for the death penalty. (Roof would become the first person sentenced to death for a federal hate crime; he is on death row at a federal prison in Indiana.)
In 2020, the mayor of Portland, Oregon, was among those tear-gassed by U.S. government agents as he appeared outside a federal courthouse during raucous protests; Ted Wheeler and hundreds of others were objecting to the presence of federal police sent by President Donald Trump. California surpassed New York as the state with the highest number of confirmed coronavirus cases. Twitter said it would crack down on accounts and content related to the far-right conspiracy theory QAnon.
Ten years ago: Frenzied crowds of Roman Catholics in Rio de Janeiro mobbed the car carrying Pope Francis as he returned to his home continent for the first time as pontiff, embarking on a seven-day visit. The Duchess of Cambridge, the former Kate Middleton, gave birth to a son, Prince George, who became third in line to the British throne after Prince Charles and Prince William. 2011 National League MVP Ryan Braun was suspended without pay for the rest of the season and the postseason, the start of sanctions involving players reportedly tied to a Florida clinic accused of distributing performance-enhancing drugs.
Five years ago: A man walking along a Toronto street fired a handgun into restaurants and cafes, killing two people and wounding 13 others; authorities said Faisal Hussain, described as an emotionally disturbed loner, fatally shot himself after the rampage. The 17 people killed when a tourist boat sank in a Missouri lake three days earlier were remembered at a service attended by hundreds in the tourism community of Branson. For the first time in nine years, Tiger Woods took the lead in the final round of a major golf tournament before finishing in a tie for sixth at the British Open; the event was won by Francesco Molinari in the first-ever major golf championship for an Italian.
One year ago: Steve Bannon, a longtime ally of former President Donald Trump, was convicted of contempt charges for defying a congressional subpoena from the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Russia and Ukraine signed separate agreements with Turkey and the United Nations clearing the way for the export of millions of tons of desperately needed Ukrainian grain — as well as some Russian grain and fertilizer — across the Black Sea. World Wrestling Entertainment impresario Vince McMahon announced his retirement amid an investigation into alleged misconduct involving the flamboyant businessman and showman who transformed a small wrestling company into a global entertainment business. (McMahon would return to the WWE board six months later.)
Today’s Birthdays: Author Tom Robbins is 91. Actor Terence Stamp is 85. Singer George Clinton is 82. Actor-singer Bobby Sherman is 80. Former Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, is 80. Movie writer-director Paul Schrader is 77. Actor Danny Glover is 77. Singer Mireille Mathieu is 77. Actor-comedian-director Albert Brooks is 76. Rock singer Don Henley is 76. Movie composer Alan Menken is 74. Singer-actor Lonette McKee is 70. Jazz musician Al Di Meola (mee-OH’-lah) is 69. Actor Willem Dafoe is 68. Actor John Leguizamo is 63. R&B singer Keith Sweat is 62. Actor Joanna Going is 60. Actor Rob Estes is 60. Folk singer Emily Saliers (Indigo Girls) is 60. Actor-comedian David Spade is 59. Actor Patrick Labyorteaux (LAH’-bor-toh) is 58. Rock musician Pat Badger is 56. Actor Irene Bedard is 56. Actor Rhys Ifans (rees EYE’-fanz) is 56. Actor Diana Maria Riva is 54. Actor Colin Ferguson is 51. Actor/singer Jaime Camil is 50. Singer Rufus Wainwright is 50. Actor Franka Potente (poh-TEN’-tay) is 49. Actor Parisa Fitz-Henley is 46. Actor A.J. Cook is 45. Actor Keegan Allen is 36. Actor Camila Banus is 33. Actor Selena Gomez is 31. Britain’s Prince George of Cambridge is 10.
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