Today in History
Today is Sunday, July 23, the 204th day of 2023. There are 161 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On July 23, 1983, an Air Canada Boeing 767 ran out of fuel while flying from Montreal to Edmonton; the pilots were able to glide the jetliner to a safe emergency landing in Gimli, Manitoba. (The near-disaster occurred because the fuel had been erroneously measured in pounds instead of kilograms at a time when Canada was converting to the metric system.)
On this date:
In 1958, Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II named the first four women to peerage in the House of Lords.
In 1967, five days of deadly rioting erupted in Detroit as an early morning police raid on an unlicensed bar resulted in a confrontation with local residents, escalating into violence that spread into other parts of the city; 43 people were killed.
In 1982, actor Vic Morrow and two child actors, 7-year-old Myca Dinh Le and 6-year-old Renee Shin-Yi Chen, were killed when a helicopter crashed on top of them during filming of a Vietnam War scene for “Twilight Zone: The Movie.” (Director John Landis and four associates were later acquitted of manslaughter charges.)
In 1990, President George H.W. Bush announced his choice of Judge David Souter of New Hampshire to succeed the retiring Justice William J. Brennan on the U.S. Supreme Court.
In 1996, at the Atlanta Olympics, Kerri Strug made a heroic final vault despite torn ligaments in her left ankle as the U.S. women gymnasts clinched their first-ever Olympic team gold medal.
In 1997, the search for Andrew Cunanan, the suspected killer of designer Gianni Versace and others, ended as police found his body on a houseboat in Miami Beach, an apparent suicide.
In 1999, the space shuttle Columbia blasted off with the world’s most powerful X-ray telescope and Eileen Collins became the first woman to command a U.S. space flight.
In 2003, Massachusetts’ attorney general issued a report saying clergy members and others in the Boston Archdiocese had probably sexually abused more than 1,000 people over a period of six decades.
In 2006, Tiger Woods became the first player since Tom Watson in 1982-83 to win consecutive British Open titles.
In 2011, singer Amy Winehouse, 27, was found dead in her London home from accidental alcohol poisoning.
In 2019, Boris Johnson won the contest to lead Britain’s governing Conservative Party, putting him in line to become the country’s prime minister the following day.
In 2020, the virus-delayed and shortened Major League Baseball season began with the World Series champion Washington Nationals hosting the New York Yankees at an empty Nationals Park; Dr. Anthony Fauci threw out the ceremonial first ball.
Ten years ago: With a high-stakes showdown vote looming in the House, the White House and congressional backers of the National Security Agency’s surveillance program warned that ending the massive collection of phone records from millions of Americans would put the nation at risk for another terrorist attack. (The next day, the House narrowly voted against halting the NSA program.) Nine people were killed in Cairo in fighting between opponents and supporters of former Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi.
Five years ago: The White House said President Donald Trump was considering revoking the security clearances of six former top national security officials who had been critical of his administration. The New York Daily News cut half of its newsroom staff, including the paper’s editor in chief. The Senate, by a vote of 86-9, confirmed Pentagon official Robert Wilkie to be secretary of Veterans Affairs. The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency suspended swimming star Ryan Lochte (LAHK’-tee) from competition for a year for violating anti-doping rules by getting an intravenous injection of vitamins.
One year ago: The World Health Organization said the expanding monkeypox outbreak in more than 70 countries was an “extraordinary” situation that qualified as a global emergency. Russian missiles hit Ukraine’s Black Sea port of Odesa just hours after Moscow and Kyiv signed deals to allow grain exports to resume from there. Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry denounced the airstrikes as a “spit in the face” to Turkey and the United Nations, which brokered the agreements.
Today’s Birthdays: Retired Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy is 87. Actor Ronny Cox is 85. Actor Larry Manetti is 80. Rock singer David Essex is 76. Singer-songwriter-politician John Hall is 75. Actor Belinda Montgomery is 73. Rock musician Blair Thornton (Bachman Turner Overdrive) is 73. Actor-writer Lydia Cornell is 70. Actor Woody Harrelson is 62. Rock musician Martin Gore (Depeche Mode) is 62. Actor Eriq Lasalle is 61. Rock musician Yuval Gabay is 60. Rock musician Slash is 58. Model-actor Stephanie Seymour is 55. Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., is 54. Actor Charisma Carpenter is 53. R&B singer Sam Watters is 53. Country singer Alison Krauss is 52. R&B singer Dalvin DeGrate is 52. Rock musician Chad Gracey (Live) is 52. Actor-comedian Marlon Wayans is 51. Country singer Shannon Brown is 50. Actor Kathryn Hahn is 50. Retired MLB All-Star Nomar Garciaparra is 50. Former White House intern Monica Lewinsky is 50. Actor Stephanie March is 49. Actor Shane McRae is 46. R&B singer Michelle Williams is 43. Actor Paul Wesley is 41. Actor Krysta Rodriguez is 39. Actor Daniel Radcliffe is 34. Actor Lili Simmons is 30.
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