July 20th

Today's Highlight in History:
On July 20th, 1969, "Apollo Eleven" astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin became the first men to walk on the moon as they stepped out of their lunar module.

On this date:
In 1810, Colombia declared independence from Spain.

In 1861, the Congress of the Confederate States began holding sessions in Richmond, Virginia.

In 1871, British Columbia entered Confederation as a Canadian province.

In 1881, Sioux Indian leader Sitting Bull, a fugitive since the Battle of the Little Big Horn, surrendered to federal troops.

In 1942, the first detachment of the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps -- later known as WACs -- began basic training at Fort Des Moines, Iowa.

In 1944, an attempt by a group of German officials to assassinate Adolf Hitler with a bomb failed as the explosion at Hitler's Rastenburg headquarters only wounded the Nazi leader.

In 1944, President Roosevelt was nominated for an uNPRecedented fourth term of office at the Democratic convention in Chicago.

In 1951, Jordan's King Abdullah Ibn Hussein was assassinated in Jerusalem.

In 1976, America's "Viking One" robot spacecraft made a successful, first-ever landing on Mars.

In 1982, Irish Republican Army bombs exploded in two London parks, killing eight British soldiers, along with seven horses belonging to the Queen's Household Cavalry.

Ten years ago: Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan, one of the court's most liberal voices, announced he was stepping down. A federal appeals court set aside Oliver North's Iran-Contra convictions, reversing one outright.

Five years ago: Leaders of the University of California voted to drop affirmative action policies on admissions and hiring. Baseball Hall-of-Famers Duke Snider and Willie McCovey pleaded guilty in New York to tax evasion.

One year ago: After 38 years at the bottom of the Atlantic, astronaut Gus Grissom's "Liberty Bell Seven" Mercury capsule was lifted to the surface.

"Somehow a bachelor never quite gets over the idea that he is a thing of beauty and a boy forever."

-- Helen Rowland, American writer and humorist (1875-1950).