Today is Friday, July 28, the 209th day of 2017. There are 156 days left in the year.
Today's Highlights in History:
On July 28, 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.
On this date:
In 1540, King Henry VIII's chief minister, Thomas Cromwell, was executed, the same day Henry married his fifth wife, Catherine Howard.
In 1794, Maximilien Robespierre, a leading figure of the French Revolution, was sent to the guillotine.
In 1821, Peru declared its independence from Spain.
In 1914, World War I began as Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia.
In 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.
In 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.
In 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."
In 1976, an earthquake devastated northern China, killing at least 242,000 people, according to an official estimate.
In 1977, Roy Wilkins turned over leadership of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People to Benjamin L. Hooks.
In 1984, the Los Angeles Summer Olympics opened.
In 1995, a 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).
In 2002, nine coal miners trapped in the flooded Quecreek (KYOO'-kreek) Mine in Somerset, Pennsylvania, were rescued after 77 hours underground.
