[ T O D A Y I N H I S T O R Y ]
On this day in …
* 1665, England installed a municipal government in New York,
formerly the Dutch settlement of New Amsterdam
* 1776, Virginia's colonial legislature became the first to adopt a
Bill of Rights
* 1898, Philippine nationalists declared independence from Spain
* 1939, the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum was dedicated
in Cooperstown, N.Y.
* 1963, civil rights leader Medgar Evers was fatally shot in front
of his home in Jackson, Miss.; he was 37. (In 1994, Byron De La
Beckwith was convicted of murdering Evers and sentenced to life in
prison; he died in 2001.)
* 1978, David Berkowitz was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison
for each of the six "Son of Sam" .44-caliber killings that had
terrified New Yorkers
* 1981, major league baseball players began a 49-day strike over the
issue of free-agent compensation. (The season did not resume until
Aug. 10.)
* 1987, President Reagan, during a visit to the divided German city
of Berlin, publicly challenged Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to
"tear down this wall."
* 1997, the Treasury Department unveiled a new $50 bill meant to be
more counterfeit-resistant. ALSO: Baseball began interleague play,
ending a 126-year tradition of separating the major leagues until
the
World Series.
* 2006, Al-Qaida in Iraq named a successor to slain leader Abu Musab
al-Zarqawi, identified by the nom de guerre Abu Hamza al-Muhajer
On this day in …
* 1665, England installed a municipal government in New York,
formerly the Dutch settlement of New Amsterdam
* 1776, Virginia's colonial legislature became the first to adopt a
Bill of Rights
* 1898, Philippine nationalists declared independence from Spain
* 1939, the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum was dedicated
in Cooperstown, N.Y.
* 1963, civil rights leader Medgar Evers was fatally shot in front
of his home in Jackson, Miss.; he was 37. (In 1994, Byron De La
Beckwith was convicted of murdering Evers and sentenced to life in
prison; he died in 2001.)
* 1978, David Berkowitz was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison
for each of the six "Son of Sam" .44-caliber killings that had
terrified New Yorkers
* 1981, major league baseball players began a 49-day strike over the
issue of free-agent compensation. (The season did not resume until
Aug. 10.)
* 1987, President Reagan, during a visit to the divided German city
of Berlin, publicly challenged Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to
"tear down this wall."
* 1997, the Treasury Department unveiled a new $50 bill meant to be
more counterfeit-resistant. ALSO: Baseball began interleague play,
ending a 126-year tradition of separating the major leagues until
the
World Series.
* 2006, Al-Qaida in Iraq named a successor to slain leader Abu Musab
al-Zarqawi, identified by the nom de guerre Abu Hamza al-Muhajer