Today’s
Birthdays July 4th, 2009:
Actress Gloria Stuart is 99.
Conductor Mitch Miller is 98.
Advice columnist Pauline
Phillips (the original “Dear Abby”) is 91.
Actress Eva Marie Saint is 85.
Actress Gina Lollobrigida is 82.
Playwright Neil Simon is 82.
Baseball team owner George Steinbrenner is 79.
Country singer Ray Pillow is 72.
Singer Bill Withers is 71.
Actor Ed Bernard is 70.
Actress Karolyn Grimes is 69.
Broadcast journalist Geraldo Rivera is 66.
Rhythm-andblues musician Ralph Johnson (Earth, Wind and Fire) is 58.
Rock musician Domingo Ortiz (Widespread Panic) is 57.
Singer John Waite is 54.
Graphic Designer Steve Garson is 53.
Rock musician Kirk Pengilly (INXS) is 51.
Country musician Teddy Carr is 49.
Rock DJ Zonka is 47.
Tennis Hall of Famer Pam Shriver is 47.
Rock musician Matt Malley is 46.
Actor Al Madrigal is 38.
Actress Jenica Bergere is 35.
Actor-singer John Lloyd Young is 34.
Actress Becki Newton (TV: “Ugly Betty”) is 31.
Presidential daughter Malia Obama is 11.
Thought for Today:
“If the American Revolution had produced nothing but the Declaration
of Independence, it would have been worthwhile.” — Samuel Eliot
Morison, American historian (1887-1976).
Today is Saturday, July
4, the 185th day of 2009. There are 180 days left in the year.
This is
Independence Day.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT: On July 4, 1776, the Continental Congress
adopted the Declaration of Independence.
On this date:
In 1802, the United States Military Academy officially opened at West
Point, N.Y.
In 1826, 50 years to the day after the Declaration of Independence was
adopted, former presidents John Adams and Thomas Jefferson both died.
In 1831, the fifth president of the United States, James Monroe, died
in New York City.
In 1872, the 30th president of the United States, Calvin Coolidge, was
born in Plymouth, Vt.
In 1919, Jack Dempsey won the world heavyweight boxing title by defeating
Jess Willard in Toledo,
Ohio.
In 1939, baseball’s “Iron Horse,” Lou Gehrig, said
farewell to his fans at New York’s Yankee Stadium.
In 1959, America’s 49-star flag, honoring Alaskan statehood,
was officially unfurled.
In 1960, America’s 50-star flag, honoring Hawaiian statehood,
was officially unfurled.
In 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Freedom of Information
Act, which went into effect the following year.
In 1976, Israeli commandos raided Entebbe airport in Uganda, rescuing
almost all of the passengers and crew of an Air France jetliner seized
by pro-Palestinian hijackers.
Ten years ago:
White supremacist Benjamin Nathaniel Smith shot himself
to death as police closed in on him in southern Illinois, hours after
he’d
apparently shot and killed a Korean man outside a church in Bloomington,
Ind.; authorities believe Smith was also responsible for killing former
college basketball coach Ricky Byrdsong during a three-day rampage
targeting minorities.
Pete Sampras and Lindsay Davenport won the singles titles at Wimbledon,
defeating Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf.
Five years ago:
A 20-ton slab of granite, inscribed to honor “the enduring spirit
of freedom,” was laid at the World Trade Center site as the cornerstone
of the Freedom Tower skyscraper that will replace the destroyed twin
towers.
Defending the war in Iraq, President George W. Bush told a cheering
crowd outside the West Virginia state capitol that America was safer
because Saddam Hussein was in a prison cell.
Roger Federer overcame Andy Roddick’s power game to win his second
straight Wimbledon title, 4-6, 7-5, 7-6 (3), 6-4.
Meg Mallon won the Women’s U.S. Open with a 6-under 65.
One year ago:
Former Sen. Jesse Helms, an unyielding champion of the conservative
movement who’d spent three combative and sometimes caustic decades
in Congress, died in Raleigh, N.C., at age 86.
Dara Torres completed her improbable Olympic comeback at age 41, making
the U.S. team for the fifth time by winning the 100 freestyle at the
trials in Omaha, Neb.
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