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This Week in History for July 5-11

By Staff | Jul 4, 2020

U.S. President Bill Clinton, left, and Russian President Boris Yeltsin exchange greetings as they meet for breakfast at the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo, Saturday morning, July 10, 1993. (AP Photo/Boris Yurchenko)

Today is Sunday, July 5, the 187th day of 2020. There are 179 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight

in History

On July 5, 1947, Larry Doby made his debut with the Cleveland Indians, becoming the first Black player in the American League three months after Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in the National League. In the game against the Chicago White Sox at Comiskey Park, Doby, pinch-hitting for Bryan Stephens, struck out in his first at-bat during the seventh inning; Chicago won 6-5.

Thick smoke and flames still rise from the mangled remains of the Piper Alpha oil platform in the North Sea off the coast of Scotland in Aberdeen, July, 8, 1988. One-hundred-sixty oil workers were killed when a massive explosion and fire ripped through the platform Wednesday night. (AP Photo/Dave Caulkin)

On this date

In 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the National Labor Relations Act.

In 1943, the Battle of Kursk began during World War II; in the weeks that followed, the Soviets were able to repeatedly repel the Germans, who eventually withdrew in defeat.

In 1946, the bikini, created by Louis Reard (ray-AHRD’), was modeled by Micheline Bernardini during a poolside fashion show in Paris.

British actors, left to right, Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint, Trafalgar Square, in central London, for the World Premiere of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2" the last film in the series, Thursday, July 7, 2011. Harry Potter's saga is ending, but his magic spell remains. Thousands of fans from around the world massed in London Thursday for the premiere of the final film in the magical adventure series. (AP Photo/Joel Ryan)

In 1948, Britain’s National Health Service Act went into effect, providing publicly-financed medical and dental care.

In 1954, Elvis Presley’s first commercial recording session took place at Sun Records in Memphis, Tennessee; the song he recorded was “That’s All Right.”

In 1971, President Richard Nixon certified the 26th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which lowered the minimum voting age from 21 to 18.

In 1975, Arthur Ashe became the first Black man to win a Wimbledon singles title as he defeated Jimmy Connors, 6-1, 6-1, 5-7, 6-4.

In 1977, Pakistan’s army, led by General Mohammad Zia ul-Haq, seized power from President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (ZUL’-fih-kahr ah-LEE’ BOO’-toh). (Bhutto was executed in 1979.)

Oliver North waves to photographers as he leaves his attorney’s office flanked by police in Washington on Wednesday July 5, 1989. Earlier North was given a three-year suspended prison sentence and fined $150,000 for his involvement in the Iran-Contra affair. (AP Photo/Marcy Nighswander)

In 2003, Serena Williams beat sister Venus 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 for her second straight Wimbledon title.

In 2009, a bankruptcy judge ruled that General Motors Corp. could sell the bulk of its assets to a new company, clearing the way for the automaker to emerge from bankruptcy protection. Roger Federer won his record 15th Grand Slam title when he outlasted Andy Roddick 5-7, 7-6 (6), 7-6 (5), 3-6, 16-14 in a marathon match for his sixth Wimbledon championship.

In 2011, a jury in Orlando, Florida, found Casey Anthony, 25, not guilty of murder, manslaughter and child abuse in the 2008 disappearance and death of her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee.

In 2018, James Alex Fields Jr. pleaded not guilty to federal hate crime charges in a car attack on a crowd of protesters opposing a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, on Aug. 12, 2017; a 32-year-old woman died and dozens were injured. (Fields later pleaded guilty to 29 federal hate crime charges under a plea deal in which prosecutors agreed not to seek the death penalty.)

Ten years ago: Israel eased its blockade of Hamas-ruled Gaza to allow virtually all consumer goods; the move was welcomed by the White House, but Gaza business leaders and rights activists said the measures were far short of what Gaza needed. Opera singer Cesare Siepi, 87, died in Atlanta. David Fanshawe, a widely traveled British musical explorer best known as the composer of “African Sanctus,” died in Wiltshire, England, at age 68.

Five years ago: Greek voters overwhelmingly rejected demands by international creditors for more austerity measures in exchange for a bailout of their bankrupt economy. The first pope from Latin America, Francis, landed in Ecuador, returning to South America for the first time bearing a message of solidarity with the region’s poor. The United States won its third Women’s World Cup title and first since 1999 with a 5-2 victory over Japan behind a first-half hat trick by Carli Lloyd.

One year ago: An earthquake with a magnitude of 7.1 jolted much of California, setting fires, breaking roads and causing several injuries; it was the largest Southern California quake in at least 20 years. Sudan’s ruling military council and its pro-democracy movement reached agreement on a power-sharing arrangement, hoping to end a three-month political crisis.

JULY 6

On July 6, 1942, Anne Frank, her parents and sister entered a “secret annex” in an Amsterdam building where they were later joined by four other people; they hid from Nazi occupiers for two years before being discovered and arrested.

In 1777, during the American Revolution, British forces captured Fort Ticonderoga (ty-kahn-dur-OH’-gah).

In 1854, the first official meeting of the Republican Party took place in Jackson, Michigan.

In 1962, Nobel Prize-winning author William Faulkner, one of the giants of Southern literature, died in Byhalia (beye-HAYL’-yuh), Mississippi, at age 64.

JULY 7

On July 7, 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 1954, Elvis Presley made his radio debut as Memphis, Tennessee, station WHBQ played his first recording for Sun Records, “That’s All Right.”

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.

JULY 8

On July 8, 2000, Venus Williams beat Lindsay Davenport 6-3, 7-6 (3) for her first Grand Slam title, becoming the first Black female champion at Wimbledon since Althea Gibson in 1957-58.

In 1947, a New Mexico newspaper, the Roswell Daily Record, quoted officials at Roswell Army Air Field as saying they had recovered a “flying saucer” that crashed onto a ranch; officials then said it was actually a weather balloon. (To this day, there are those who believe what fell to Earth was an alien spaceship carrying extra-terrestrial beings.) Demolition work began in New York City to make way for the new permanent headquarters of the United Nations.

JULY 9

On July 9, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was read aloud to Gen. George Washington’s troops in New York.

In 1982, Pan Am Flight 759, a Boeing 727, crashed in Kenner, Louisiana, shortly after takeoff from New Orleans International Airport, killing all 145 people aboard and eight people on the ground.

In 1992, Democrat Bill Clinton tapped Tennessee Sen. Al Gore to be his running mate. Former CBS News commentator Eric Sevareid died in Washington at age 79.

JULY 10

On July 10, 1940, during World War II, the Battle of Britain began as the Luftwaffe started attacking southern England. (The Royal Air Force was ultimately victorious.)

In 1919, President Woodrow Wilson personally delivered the Treaty of Versailles (vehr-SY’) to the Senate and urged its ratification. (However, the Senate rejected it.)

JULY 11

On July 11, 1804, Vice President Aaron Burr mortally wounded former Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton during a pistol duel in Weehawken, New Jersey. (Hamilton died the next day.)

In 1533, Pope Clement VII issued a bull of excommunication against England’s King Henry VIII for the annulment of the king’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon and subsequent marriage to second wife Anne Boleyn.

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