Today In History

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Today In History

Sat, 08/01/2020 - 13:45
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Today in History

Today is Saturday, Aug. 1, the 214th day of 2020. There are 152 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On August 1, 1957, the United States and Canada announced they had agreed to create the North American Air Defense Command (NORAD).

On this date:

In 1714, Britain's Queen Anne died at age 49; she was succeeded by George I.

In 1907, the U.S. Army Signal Corps established an aeronautical division, the forerunner of the U.S. Air Force.

In 1912, the U.S. Marine Corps' first pilot, 1st Lt. Alfred A. Cunningham, went on his first solo flight as he took off in a Burgess/ Curtis Hydroplane from Marblehead Harbor in Massachusetts.

In 1914, Germany declared war on Russia at the onset of World War I.

In 1936, the Olympics opened in Berlin with a ceremony presided over by Adolf Hitler.

In 1944, an uprising broke out in Warsaw, Poland, against Nazi occupation; the revolt lasted two months before collapsing.

In 1966, Charles Joseph Whitman, 25, went on an armed rampage at the University of Texas in Austin that killed 14 people, most of whom were shot by Whitman while he was perched in the clock tower of the main campus building. (Whitman, who had also slain his wife and mother hours earlier, was finally gunned down by police.)

In 1981, the rock music video channel MTV made its debut.

In 2001, Pro Bowl tackle Korey Stringer, 27, died of heat stroke, a day after collapsing at the Minnesota Vikings' training camp on the hottest day of the year.

In 2007, the eight-lane Interstate 35W bridge, a major Minneapolis artery, collapsed into the Mississippi River during evening rush hour, killing 13 people.

In 2013, defying the United States, Russia granted Edward Snowden temporary asylum, allowing the National Security Agency leaker to slip out of the Moscow airport where he had been holed up for weeks.

In 2014, a medical examiner ruled that a New York City police officer's chokehold caused the death of Eric Garner, whose videotaped arrest and final pleas of "I can't breathe!" had sparked outrage.

Ten years ago: The United States announced that it would provide Pakistan with $10 million in humanitarian assistance in the wake of deadly flooding. Lolita Lebron, a Puerto Rico independence activist who'd spent 25 years in prison for participating in a gun attack on the U.S. Congress in 1954, died in San Juan at age 90.

Five years ago: Japan's Imperial Household Agency released a digital version of Emperor Hirohito's radio address on Aug. 15, 1945, announcing his country's surrender in World War II; the digital recording offered clearer audio, although Hirohito spoke in an arcane form of Japanese that many of his countrymen would have found difficult to comprehend. British singer and TV host Cilla Black, 72, died in Estepona (ehsteh-POH'-nah) in southern Spain.

One year ago: President Donald Trump intensified pressure on China to reach a trade deal by warning he would impose 10% tariffs on Sept. 1 on the remaining $300 billion in Chinese imports that he hadn't already taxed.

Today's Birthdays: Singer Ramblin' Jack Elliott is 89. Former Sen. Alfonse D'Amato, R-N.Y., is 83. Actor Giancarlo Giannini is 78. Basketball Hall of Fame coach Roy Williams is 70. Blues singermusician Robert Cray is 67. Singer Michael Penn is 62. Rock singer Joe Elliott (Def Leppard) is 61. Rock singer-musician Suzi Gardner (L7) is 60. Rapper Chuck D (Public Enemy) is 60. Actor Jesse Borrego is 58. Actor Demian Bichir is 57. Rapper Coolio is 57. Actor John Carroll Lynch is 57. Rock singer Adam Duritz (Counting Crows) is 56. Movie director Sam Mendes is 55. Country singer George Ducas is 54. Country musician Charlie Kelley is 52. Actress Jennifer Gareis is 50. Actor Charles Malik Whitfield is 48. Actress Tempestt Bledsoe is 47. Actor Jason Momoa is 41. Actress Honeysuckle Weeks is 41. Singer Ashley Parker Angel is 39. Actress Taylor Fry is 39. Actor Elijah Kelley is 34. Actor James Francis Kelly is 31. Actress Ella Wahlestedt is 22.