July 20th
Today in America's Present Past
1591 | Cleric Anne Hutchison was born.
1636 | Indian Wars: Pequot War begins.
1738 | Explorer Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, sieur de La Vérendrye, reaches the western shore of Lake Michigan.
1793 | Explorer Alexander Mackenzie completes the first European east-to-west crossing of America north of Mexico.
1848 | Civil Rights: The “Declaration of Sentiments,” advocating suffrage rights for women, was signed at the Seneca Falls Convention.
1850 | Entrepreneur John G. Shedd was born.
1889 | The Johnson County, Wyoming War starts.
1907 | A train wreck on the Pere Marquette Railroad near Salem, Michigan, kills thirty and injures seventy more.
1917 | WW I: Draft lottery held.
1921 | Congress: Congresswoman Alice Mary Robertson becomes the first woman to preside over the floor.
1929 | Entrepreneur Mike Ilitch was born.
1932 | Civil Rights: In Washington, D.C., police fire tear gas on World War I veterans part of the Bonus Expeditionary Force who attempt to march to the White House for veterans’ aid.
1933 | Author Cormac McCarthy was born.
1938 | Actress Natalie Wood was born.
1947 | Musician Carlos Santana was born.
1948 | Civil Rights: American Communist Party chairman William Forster was arrested under the Smith Act.
1954 | Journalist and politician Blair Moody died.
1959 | Admiral William D. Leahy died.
1968 | The first Special Olympics for children and adults with intellectual disabilities is held in Chicago, Illinois.
1969 | Apollo 11 lands on the moon carrying Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin.
1973 | Actor Bruce Lee died.
1973 | Congress: The US Senate passes the War Powers Act.
1990 | SCOTUS: Justice William Brennan resigns.