Today is Friday, July 10, the 192nd day of 2020. There are 174 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
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.)
On this date:
In 1908, William Jennings Bryan was nominated for president by the Democratic national convention in Denver.
In 1919, President Woodrow Wilson personally delivered the Treaty of Versailles to the Senate and urged its ratification. (However, the Senate rejected it.)
In 1925, jury selection took place in Dayton, Tennessee, in the trial of John T. Scopes, charged with violating the law by teaching Darwin’s Theory of Evolution. (Scopes was convicted and fined, but the verdict was overturned on a technicality.)
In 1951, armistice talks aimed at ending the Korean War began at Kaesong.
In 1992, a New York jury found Pan Am guilty of willful misconduct and responsible for allowing a terrorist bomb to destroy Flight 103 in 1988, killing 270 people, opening the way for civil lawsuits.
In 2002, The House approved, 310-113, a measure to allow airline pilots to carry guns in the cockpit to defend their planes against terrorists (President George W. Bush later signed the measure into law).
In 2004, President George W. Bush said in his weekly radio address that legalizing gay marriage would redefine the most fundamental institution of civilization, and that a constitutional amendment was needed to protect traditional marriage.
In 2018, a daring rescue mission in Thailand was completed successfully, as the last four of the 12 boys who were trapped in a flooded cave for more than two weeks were brought to safety along with their soccer coach; the other eight had been brought out in the two preceding days.
Today’s Birthdays: Former New York City Mayor David N. Dinkins is 93. Actor William Smithers is 93. Actor Lawrence Pressman is 81. Singer Mavis Staples is 81. Actor Mills Watson is 80. Actor Robert Pine is 79. Rock musician Jerry Miller (Moby Grape) is 77. International Tennis Hall of Famer Virginia Wade is 75. Folk singer Arlo Guthrie is 73. Rock musician Dave Smalley is 71. Country-folk singer-songwriter Cheryl Wheeler is 69. Rock singer Neil Tennant (Pet Shop Boys) is 66. Banjo player Bela Fleck is 62. Country singer Gary LeVox (Rascal Flatts) is 50. Actor Aaron D. Spears is 49. Actress Sofia Vergara is 48.
