20th July: Today In History

Today is Thursday, July 20, the 201st day of 2017. There are 164 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlights in History:

Events:

1917:  America’s World War I draft lottery began as Secretary of War Newton Baker, wearing a blindfold, reached into a glass bowl and pulled out a capsule containing the number 258 during a ceremony inside the Senate office building. (The drawing of numbers by various officials continued until shortly after 2:00 a.m. the next day.) The Corfu Declaration called for creation of a unified Yugoslav state.

1861:  The Congress of the Confederate States convened in Richmond, Virginia.

1871:  British Columbia entered Confederation as a Canadian province.

1923:  Mexican revolutionary leader Pancho Villa was assassinated by gunmen in Parral.

In 1942, the first detachment of the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps — later known as WACs — began basic training at Fort Des Moines, Iowa. The Legion of Merit was established by an Act of Congress.

1944:  An attempt by a group of German officials to assassinate Adolf Hitler with a bomb failed as the explosion only wounded the Nazi leader. President Franklin D. Roosevelt was nominated for a fourth term of office at the Democratic convention in Chicago.

1954:  The Geneva Accords divided Vietnam into northern and southern entities.

1968:  The first International Special Olympics Summer Games, organized by Eunice Kennedy Shriver, were held at Soldier Field in Chicago.

1969:  Astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin became the first men to walk on the moon after reaching the surface in their Apollo 11 lunar module.

1976:  America’s Viking 1 robot spacecraft made a successful, first-ever landing on Mars.

1977:  A flash flood hit Johnstown, Pennsylvania, killing more than 80 people and causing $350 million worth of damage. The U.N. Security Council voted to admit Vietnam to the world body.

1982:  Irish Republican Army bombs exploded in two London parks, killing eight British soldiers, along with seven horses belonging to the Queen’s Household Cavalry.

1990:   Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan, one of the court’s most liberal voices, announced he was stepping down.

Birthdays:

Actress-singer Sally Ann Howes is 87. Author Cormac McCarthy is 84.

Rockabilly singer Sleepy LaBeef is 82.

Former Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski, D-Md., is 81.

Actress Diana Rigg is 79.

Artist Judy Chicago is 78.

Rock musician John Lodge (The Moody Blues) is 74. 

Quotes Of The Day:

There is always some madness in love. But there is also always some reason in madness.

I’m here. I love you. I don’t care if you need to stay up crying all night long, I will stay with you. There’s nothing you can ever do to lose my love. I will protect you until you die, and after your death I will still protect you. I am stronger than depression and I am braver than loneliness and nothing will ever exhaust me.