From the ArcaMax Publishing, History & Quotes Newsletter:
http://www.arcamax.com/news/quotes/s-568384-573765
In 1788, the U.S. Constitution became effective when the ninth state,
New Hampshire, ratified it.
In 1945, Japanese defenders of Okinawa Island surrendered to U.S.
troops.
In 1964, three civil rights workers disappeared on their way to
investigate a church burning in Philadelphia, Miss. Their bodies were
found buried in an earthen dam Aug. 4.
In 1982, John Hinckley Jr. was found innocent by reason of insanity in
the March 1981 shooting of U.S. President Ronald Reagan and three
other people.
In 1972, Hurricane Agnes hit the eastern seaboard, wreaking havoc
across seven states. A total of 118 people died in the storm.
In 1984, the United States said that an explosion in May at a Soviet
navy supply depot 900 miles north of Moscow apparently killed more
than 200 people.
In 1985, international experts in Sao Paulo, Brazil, conclusively
identified the bones of a 1979 drowning victim as the remains of Nazi
war criminal Dr. Josef Mengele, ending a 40-year search for the "angel
of death" of the Auschwitz concentration camp.
In 1990, an earthquake measuring 7.7 on the Richter scale struck
northwestern Iran, killing as many as 50,000 people.
In 1997, Cambodia announced the capture of former Khmer Rouge leader
Pol Pot.
In 1998, opposition leader Andres Pastrana Arango was elected
president of Colombia by a narrow margin.
In 2000, NASA announced that its Mars Global Surveyor had spotted
grooved surface features, suggesting a relatively recent water flow on
the planet.
In 2003, "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," fifth book in
J.K. Rowling's blockbuster series about a young wizard, hit the book
stores and sold 5 million copies the first day.
Also in 2003, an Arizona wildfire that had exceeded 6,300 acres
threatened the resort town of Oracle for a time with more than 700
firefighters on the scene.
In 2004, Connecticut Gov. John Rowland resigned as he faced possible
impeachment charges in a scandal involving state contractors.
Also in 2004, guerrillas stormed three towns in the Russian republic
of Ingushetta, killing a reported 97 people.
In 2005, a Mississippi jury convicted an 80-year-old former Ku Klux
Klan leader of manslaughter in the 1964 killings of three civil rights
workers. Edgar Ray Killen was sentenced to 60 years in prison.
In 2006, the U.S. military charged seven Marines and a Navy corpsman
with kidnapping and killing an Iraqi civilian in the town of Hamdaniya
two months earlier.
In 2007, U.S. President George Bush's public approval rating hit a
low, 26 percent, in the latest Newsweek poll, while Congress' rating
was 25 percent. In the past 35 years, only Richard Nixon had a lower
Newsweek approval rating -- 23 percent in 1974.
Also in 2007, the U.S. Senate approved a bill requiring auto makers to
raise fuel-economy averages to 35 miles per gallon by 2020.
In 2008, more than 1,000 people were reported killed when Typhoon
Fengshen struck the Philippines. Of the victims, nearly 800 were
reported to have died when the storm hit a ferry causing it to run
aground off Sibuyan Island and capsize.