28 July: Today In History

Today is Friday, July 28th, the 209th day of 2017. There are 156 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlights in History:

Events:

1945:  A U.S. Army B-25 bomber flying in heavy fog crashed into the 79th floor of New York’s Empire State Building, killing all three people in the plane and 11 people in the building. The U.S. Senate ratified the United Nations Charter by a vote of 89-2.

1540:  King Henry VIII’s chief minister, Thomas Cromwell, was executed, the same day Henry married his fifth wife, Catherine Howard.

1794:  Maximilien Robespierre, a leading figure of the French Revolution, was sent to the guillotine.

1821:  Peru declared its independence from Spain.

1914:  World War I began as Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia.

1932:  Federal troops forcibly dispersed the so-called “Bonus Army” of World War I veterans who had gathered in Washington to demand payments they weren’t scheduled to receive until 1945.

1959:  In preparation for statehood, Hawaiians voted to send the first Chinese-American, Republican Hiram L. Fong, to the U.S. Senate and the first Japanese-American, Democrat Daniel K. Inouye, to the U.S. House of Representatives.

1965:  President Lyndon B. Johnson announced he was increasing the number of American troops in South Vietnam from 75,000 to 125,000 “almost immediately.”

1976:  In earthquake devastated northern China, killing at least 242,000 people, according to an official estimate.

1977:  Roy Wilkins turned over leadership of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People to Benjamin L. Hooks.

1984:  The Los Angeles Summer Olympics opened.

1995:  The jury in Union, South Carolina, rejected the death penalty for Susan Smith, sentencing her to life in prison for drowning her two young sons (Smith will be eligible for parole in 2024).

2002:  Nine coal miners trapped in the flooded Quecreek (KYOO’-kreek) Mine in Somerset, Pennsylvania, were rescued after 77 hours underground.

Birthdays:

Actor Darryl Hickman is 86.

Ballet dancer-choreographer Jacques d’Amboise is 83.

Musical conductor Riccardo Muti is 76.

Former Senator and NBA Hall of Famer Bill Bradley is 74.

“Garfield” creator Jim Davis is 72.

Singer Jonathan Edwards is 71.

Actress Linda Kelsey is 71.

TV producer Dick Ebersol is 70.

Actress Sally Struthers is 70.

Quotes Of The Day:

It takes courage to love, but pain through love is the purifying fire which those who love generously know. We all know people who are so much afraid of pain that they shut themselves up like clams in a shell and, giving out nothing, receive nothing and therefore shrink until life is a mere living death.

Anyone who falls in love is searching for the missing pieces of themselves. So anyone who’s in love gets sad when they think of their lover. It’s like stepping back inside a room you have fond memories of, one you haven’t seen in a long time.