Today is Friday, July 1, the 183rd day of 2016. There are 183 days left in the year. This is Canada Day.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On July 1, 1966, the Medicare federal insurance program went into effect.
On this date:
In 1535, Sir Thomas More went on trial in England, charged with high treason for rejecting the Oath of Supremacy. (More was convicted, and executed.)
In 1863, the pivotal, three-day Civil War Battle of Gettysburg, resulting in a Union victory, began in Pennsylvania.
In 1867, Canada became a self-governing dominion of Great Britain as the British North America Act took effect.
In 1916, during World War I, France and Britain launched the Somme Offensive against the German army; the 4 1/2-month battle resulted in heavy casualties and produced no clear winner. Dwight D. Eisenhower married Mary (“Mamie”) Geneva Doud in Denver.
In 1934, Hollywood began enforcing its Production Code subjecting motion pictures to censorship review.
In 1946, the United States exploded a 20-kiloton atomic bomb near Bikini Atoll in the Pacific.
In 1961, Diana, the princess of Wales, was born in Sandringham, England. (She died in a 1997 car crash in Paris at age 36.)
In 1974, the president of Argentina, Juan Peron, died; he was succeeded by his wife, Isabel Martinez de Peron.
In 1980, “O Canada” was proclaimed the national anthem of Canada.
In 1991, President George H.W. Bush nominated federal appeals court judge Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court, beginning an ultimately successful confirmation process marked by allegations of sexual harassment. The Warsaw Pact formally disbanded. Actor Michael Landon, 54, died in Malibu, California.
In 1996, actress Margaux Hemingway was found dead in her Santa Monica, California, apartment; she was 42.
In 2004, actor Marlon Brando died in Los Angeles at age 80.
Ten years ago: Thunderstorms forced NASA to call off the launch of Discovery, delaying the first space shuttle flight in a year. (Discovery was launched three days later, on the Fourth of July.) A huge car bomb exploded at a bustling outdoor market in a Shiite (SHEE’-eyet) district of Baghdad, killing more than 60 people.
Five years ago: Leon Panetta took over as U.S. secretary of defense after 2ฝ years as director of the CIA. Six weeks after ex-California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger revealed that he’d fathered a child with a member of his household staff, Maria Shriver filed divorce papers seeking to end their 25-year marriage. The Minnesota state government shut down after legislators could not agree on a budget; the shutdown lasted nearly three weeks. The NBA locked out its players, a long-expected move that put the 2011-12 season in jeopardy. (The lockout ended in Dec. 2011 with the adoption of a new collective bargaining agreement.)
One year ago: After more than a half-century of hostility, the United States and Cuba declared they would reopen embassies in each other’s capitals, marking a historic full restoration of diplomatic relations between the Cold War foes. Episcopalians voted overwhelmingly at their General Convention in Salt Lake City to allow religious weddings for same-sex couples. San Francisco resident Kate Steinle, 32, was fatally shot in the back while walking along the city’s popular waterfront; shooting suspect Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez, a Mexican national who was in the U.S. illegally, pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder in a case that rekindled the national debate over illegal immigration.
Today’s Birthdays: Actress Olivia de Havilland is 100. Actress-dancer Leslie Caron is 85. Actress Jean Marsh is 82. Actor Jamie Farr is 82. Bluesman James Cotton is 81. Actor David Prowse is 81. Cookiemaker Wally Amos is 80. Dancer-choreographer Twyla Tharp is 75. Actress Genevieve Bujold is 74. Rock singer-actress Deborah Harry is 71. Movie-TV producer-director Michael Pressman is 66. Actor Daryl Anderson is 65. Actor Trevor Eve is 65. Actor Terrence Mann is 65. Rock singer Fred Schneider (B-52’s) is 65. Pop singer Victor Willis (Village People) is 65. Actor-comedian Dan Aykroyd is 64. Actress Lorna Patterson is 60. Actor Alan Ruck is 60. Rhythm-and-blues singer Evelyn “Champagne” King is 56. Olympic gold medal track star Carl Lewis is 55. Country singer Michelle Wright is 55. Actor Andre Braugher is 54. Actor Dominic Keating is 54. Actress Pamela Anderson is 49. Rock musician Mark Pirro is 46. Rock musician Franny Griffiths (Space) is 46. Actor Henry Simmons is 46. Hip-hop artist Missy Elliott is 45. Actress Julianne Nicholson is 45. Actress Melissa Peterman is 45. Rock musician Bryan Devendorf (The National) is 41. Actor Thomas Sadoski is 40. Actress Liv Tyler is 39. Bluegrass musician Adam Haynes (Dailey & Vincent) is 37. Actress Hilarie Burton is 34. Actress Lynsey Bartilson is 33. Actress Lea Seydoux (LEE’-uh say-DOO’) is 31. Actor Evan Ellingson is 28. Actors Andrew and Steven Cavarno are 24.
Thought for Today: “The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.” — L.P. Hartley, British author (1895-1972).
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