Today in History
Today is Thursday, July 7, the 188th day of 2022. There are 177 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On July 7, 1976, the United States Military Academy at West Point included female cadets for the first time as 119 women joined the Class of 1980.
On this date:
In 1846, U.S. annexation of California was proclaimed at Monterey (mahn-tuh-RAY’) after the surrender of a Mexican garrison.
In 1865, four people were hanged in Washington, D.C. for conspiring with John Wilkes Booth to assassinate President Abraham Lincoln: Lewis Powell (aka Lewis Payne), David Herold, George Atzerodt and Mary Surratt, the first woman to be executed by the federal government.
In 1898, the United States annexed Hawaii.
In 1930, construction began on Boulder Dam (later Hoover Dam).
In 1946, Jimmy Carter, 21, married Rosalynn (ROH’-zuh-lihn) Smith, 18, in Plains, Georgia.
In 1948, six female U.S. Navy reservists became the first women to be sworn in to the regular Navy.
In 1981, President Ronald Reagan announced he was nominating Arizona Judge Sandra Day O’Connor to become the first female justice on the U.S. Supreme Court.
In 1990, the first “Three Tenors” concert took place as opera stars Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo and Jose Carreras performed amid the brick ruins of Rome’s Baths of Caracalla on the eve of the World Cup championship.
In 2005, terrorist bombings in three Underground stations and a double-decker bus killed 52 victims and four bombers in the worst attack on London since World War II.
In 2010, Los Angeles police charged Lonnie Franklin Jr. in the city’s “Grim Sleeper” serial killings. (Franklin, who was sentenced to death for the killings of nine women and a teenage girl, died in prison in March 2020 at the age of 67.)
In 2013, Andy Murray became the first British man in 77 years to win the Wimbledon title, beating Novak Djokovic 6-4, 7-5, 6-4 in the final.
In 2016, Micah Johnson, a Black Army veteran who served in Afghanistan, opened fire on Dallas police, killing five officers in an act of vengeance for the fatal police shootings of Black men; the attack ended with Johnson being killed by a bomb delivered by a police robot.
Ten years ago: Jubilant Libyans chose a new parliament in their first nationwide vote in decades. The Obama administration declared Afghanistan the United States’ newest “major non-NATO ally.” Serena Williams beat Agnieszka Radwanska (ahg-nee-ESH’-kuh rahd-VAHN’-skuh) of Poland 6-1, 5-7, 6-2 to win a fifth Wimbledon singles championship; about five hours later, she and sister Venus were back on Centre Court to win the doubles final.
Five years ago: Islamic militants attacked a remote Egyptian army outpost in the Sinai Peninsula with a suicide car bomb and heavy machine gun fire, killing at least 23 soldiers in the deadliest attack in the turbulent region in two years. A federal appeals court dismissed Hawaii’s attempt to challenge Trump administration rules for a travel ban on citizens from six majority-Muslim countries, saying it didn’t have jurisdiction to address the issue.
One year ago: A squad of gunmen assassinated Haitian President Jovenel Moïse and wounded his wife in an overnight raid on their home. (More than 40 suspects have been arrested, including at least 18 Colombian soldiers and 20 Haitian police officers.) Former President Donald Trump sued Facebook, Twitter and Google’s YouTube, claiming that he and other conservatives had been wrongfully censored. A federal judge ruled that the Air Force was mostly responsible for a former serviceman killing more than two dozen people at a Texas church in 2017 because it failed to submit his criminal history into a database, which should have prevented him from purchasing firearms. The Tampa Bay Lightning won the Stanley Cup for the second consecutive season, beating the Montreal Canadiens 1-0 to wrap up the series four games to one.
Today’s Birthdays: Musician-conductor Doc Severinsen is 95. Pulitzer Prize-winning author David McCullough is 89. Rock star Ringo Starr is 82. Comedian Bill Oddie is 81. Singer-musician Warren Entner (The Grass Roots) is 79. Actor Joe Spano is 76. Pop singer David Hodo (The Village People) is 75. Country singer Linda Williams is 75. Actor Shelley Duvall is 73. Actor Roz Ryan is 71. Actor Billy Campbell is 63. Rock musician Mark White (Spin Doctors) is 60. Singer-songwriter Vonda Shepard is 59. Actor-comedian Jim Gaffigan is 56. R&B musician Ricky Kinchen (Mint Condition) is 56. Actor Amy Carlson is 54. Actor Jorja Fox is 54. Actor Cree Summer is 53. Actor Robin Weigert is 53. Actor Kirsten Vangsness is 50. Actor Troy Garity is 49. Actor Berenice Bejo (BEH’-ruh-nees BAY’-hoh) is 46. Actor Hamish Linklater is 46. Olympic silver and bronze medal figure skater Michelle Kwan is 42. Rapper Cassidy is 40. Country singer Gabbie Nolen is 40. Actor Ross Malinger is 38. Actor-comedian Luke Null (TV: “Saturday Night Live”) is 32. Pop singer Ally Hernandez (Fifth Harmony) (TV: “The X Factor”) is 29. Pop musician Ashton Irwin (5 Seconds to Summer) is 28. Country singer Maddie Font (Maddie and Tae) is 27.
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