Today is Wednesday, July 24th, the 206th day of 2024. There are 160 days left this year.
Today’s History Highlights:
On July 24, 1969, the two astronauts of Apollo 11, the first humans to set foot on the Moon, landed safely in the Pacific Ocean.
This day too:
In 1567, Mary, Queen of Scots, was forced to abdicate the throne to her one-year-old son, James.
In 1847, Mormon leader Brigham Young and his followers arrived in the Salt Lake Valley in what is now Utah.
In 1866, Tennessee became the first state to be readmitted to the Union after the Civil War.
In 1915, the passenger ship SS Eastland, carrying more than 2,500 people, capsized while anchored on the Clark Street Bridge on the Chicago River. An estimated 844 people died in the accident.
In 1932, thousands of World War I veterans and their supporters, known as the “Bonus Army,” gathered in Washington, DC to protest the U.S. government’s refusal to cash bonus certificates issued to veterans. Clashes with DC police resulted in the shooting and death of two protesting veterans.
In 1959, during a visit to Moscow, Vice President Richard Nixon had a famous “kitchen debate” with Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev.
In 1974, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled that President Richard Nixon must turn over White House tapes to the Watergate special prosecutor under subpoena.
In 1975, the Apollo spacecraft splashed down in the Pacific Ocean, completing a mission that included the first docking with a Soviet Soyuz spacecraft.
In 2010, 21 people were killed and more than 500 injured when a crowd stampede in a tunnel packed with techno music fans at the famous Love Parade festival in western Germany.
In 2013, a high-speed train crash occurred near Santiago de Compostela in northwestern Spain, killing 79 people.
Today’s birthdays: Comedian Ruth Budge is 88. Actor Dan Hedaya is 84. Actor Chris Sarandon is 82. Actor Robert Hayes is 77. Actor Michael Richards is 75. Actor Lynda Carter is 73. Film director Gus Van Sant is 72. Former Senator Claire McCaskill is 71. Country singer Pam Tillis is 67. Basketball Hall of Famer Karl Malone is 61. Retired MLB All-Star Barry Bonds is 60. Actor Kadeem Hardison is 59. Actor and singer Kristin Chenoweth is 56. Actor Laura Leighton is 56. Actor and singer Jennifer Lopez is 55. Director Patty Jenkins (Wonder Woman) is 53. Actor Eric Szmanda is 49. Actor Rose Byrne is 45. Country singer Jerrod Niemann is 45. Actress Elisabeth Moss is 42. Actress Anna Paquin is 42. Former NHL centre Patrice Bergeron is 39. Actor Mara Wilson is 37. TV personality Bindi Irwin is 26.
