July 22nd

Today's Highlight in History:
On July 22nd, 1942, gasoline rationing involving the use of coupons began along the Atlantic seaboard.

On this date:
In 1796, Cleveland, Ohio, was founded by General Moses Cleaveland.

In 1916, a bomb went off during a Preparedness Day parade in San Francisco, killing ten people.

In 1933, American aviator Wiley Post completed the first solo flight around the world in seven days, 18 and three-quarter hours.

In 1934, a man identified as bank robber John Dillinger was shot to death by federal agents outside Chicago's Biograph Theater.

In 1937, the Senate rejected President Roosevelt's proposal to add more justices to the Supreme Court.

In 1943, American forces led by General George S. Patton captured Palermo, Sicily.

In 1946, Jewish extremists blew up a wing of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, killing 90 people.

In 1975, the House of Representatives joined the Senate in voting to restore the American citizenship of Confederate General Robert E. Lee.

In 1981, Turkish extremist Mehmet Ali Agca was sentenced in Rome to life in prison for shooting Pope John Paul the Second. (However, Agca was pardoned by Italy last month and sent to Turkey, where he will serve time for a killing that took place before the attack on the pope.)

In 1996, friends and families gathered on a Long Island, New York, beach for a tearful memorial service dedicated to the 230 victims of the crash of TWA Flight 800.

Ten years ago: Voters in Mongolia began casting ballots in their Communist-ruled nation's first multiparty election ever. American Greg Lemond won his third Tour de France title.

Five years ago: Susan Smith was convicted by a jury in Union, South Carolina, of first-degree murder for drowning her two sons. (She was later sentenced to life in prison.)

One year ago: Family members watched mournfully from the deck of a Navy destroyer as the ashes of John F. Kennedy Junior, his wife, Carolyn, and her sister, Lauren Bessette, were cast into the sea off Martha's Vineyard, consigned to the depths where they died.

"The truth is all things seen under the form of eternity."

-- George Santayana, Spanish-American philosopher (1863-1952).