Today in History: July 24, Apollo 11 returns home

Today in History

Today is Sunday, July 24, the 205th day of 2022. There are 160 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On July 24, 1915, the SS Eastland, a passenger ship carrying more than 2,500 people, rolled onto its side while docked at the Clark Street Bridge on the Chicago River; an estimated 844 people died in the disaster.

On this date:

In 1847, Mormon leader Brigham Young and his followers arrived in the Great Salt Lake Valley in present-day Utah.

In 1866, Tennessee became the first state to be readmitted to the Union after the Civil War.

In 1911, Yale University history professor Hiram Bingham III found the “Lost City of the Incas,” Machu Picchu, in Peru.

In 1937, the state of Alabama dropped charges against four of the nine young Black men accused of raping two white women in the “Scottsboro Case.”

In 1959, during a visit to Moscow, Vice President Richard Nixon engaged in his famous “Kitchen Debate” with Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev.

In 1969, the Apollo 11 astronauts — two of whom had been the first men to set foot on the moon — splashed down safely in the Pacific.

In 1974, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled that President Richard Nixon had to turn over subpoenaed White House tape recordings to the Watergate special prosecutor.

In 1975, an Apollo spacecraft splashed down in the Pacific, completing a mission which included the first-ever docking with a Soyuz capsule from the Soviet Union.

In 1998, the motion picture “Saving Private Ryan,” starring Tom Hanks and directed by Steven Spielberg, was released.

In 2010, a stampede inside a tunnel crowded with techno music fans left 21 people dead and more than 500 injured at the famed Love Parade festival in western Germany.

In 2016, Ken Griffey Jr. and Mike Piazza were inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

In 2019, in a day of congressional testimony, Robert Mueller dismissed President Donald Trump’s claim of “total exoneration” in Mueller’s probe of Russia’s 2016 election interference.

Ten years ago: In his first foreign policy speech since emerging as the likely Republican presidential nominee, Mitt Romney called for an independent investigation into claims the White House had leaked national security information for President Barack Obama’s political gain; the White House replied that the president “has made abundantly clear that he has no tolerance for leaks.” Actor Chad Everett died in Los Angeles at age 75. Actor Sherman Hemsley died in El Paso, Texas, at age 74.

Five years ago: In a speech to a national Boy Scout gathering in West Virginia, President Donald Trump railed against his enemies and promoted his political agenda, bringing an angry reaction from some parents and former Scouts from both parties. Trump’s son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner answered questions from Senate investigators for four hours about contacts with Russians during and after Trump’s campaign for the White House; he said he “did not collude with Russia” and that all of his actions “were proper.” A Taliban suicide bomber killed 24 people in an early morning assault in a neighborhood of the Afghan capital where prominent politicians lived.

One year ago: Jackie Mason, a rabbi-turned-comedian who took his sharp wit and piercing social commentary to Catskills nightclubs, West Coast talk shows and Broadway stages, died at 93.

Today’s Birthdays: Actor John Aniston is 89. Political cartoonist Pat Oliphant is 87. Comedian Ruth Buzzi is 86. Actor Mark Goddard is 86. Actor Dan Hedaya is 82. Actor Chris Sarandon is 80. Comedian Gallagher is 76. Actor Robert Hays is 75. Former Republican national chairman Marc Racicot (RAWS’-koh) is 74. Actor Michael Richards is 73. Actor Lynda Carter is 71. Movie director Gus Van Sant is 70. Former Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., is 69. Country singer Pam Tillis is 65. Actor Paul Ben-Victor is 60. Basketball Hall of Famer Karl Malone is 59. Retired MLB All-Star Barry Bonds is 58. Actor Kadeem Hardison is 57. Actor-singer Kristin Chenoweth is 54. Actor Laura Leighton is 54. Actor John P. Navin Jr. is 54. Actor-singer Jennifer Lopez is 53. Basketball player-turned-actor Rick Fox is 53. Director Patty Jenkins (“Wonder Woman”) is 51. Actor Jamie Denbo (TV: “Orange is the New Black”) is 49. Actor Eric Szmanda is 47. Actor Rose Byrne is 43. Country singer Jerrod Niemann is 43. Actor Summer Glau is 41. Actor Sheaun McKinney is 41. Actor Elisabeth Moss is 40. Actor Anna Paquin is 40. Actor Sarah Greene is 38. NHL center Patrice Bergeron is 37. Actor Megan Park is 36. Actor Mara Wilson is 35. Actor Sarah Steele is 34. Rock singer Jay McGuiness (The Wanted) is 32. Actor Emily Bett Rickards is 31. Actor Lucas Adams is 29. TV personality Bindi Irwin is 24.

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