Today's Highlight in History:
On July 21, 1861, the first Battle of Bull Run was fought at Manassas, Va., resulting in a Confederate victory.
On this date:
In 1831, Leopold I was proclaimed King of the Belgians.
In 1899, author Ernest Hemingway was born in Oak Park, Ill.; poet Hart Crane was born in Garrettsville, Ohio.
In 1925, the so-called "Monkey Trial" ended in Dayton, Tenn., with John T. Scopes convicted of violating state law for teaching Darwin's Theory of Evolution. (The conviction was later overturned on a technicality.)
In 1930, President Herbert Hoover signed an executive order establishing the Veterans Administration.
In 1944, American forces landed on Guam during World War II.
In 1949, the U.S. Senate ratified the North Atlantic Treaty.
In 1955, during the Geneva summit, President Dwight D. Eisenhower presented his "open skies" proposal under which the U.S. and the Soviet Union would trade information on each other's military facilities and allow aerial reconnaissance.
In 1961, Capt. Virgil "Gus" Grissom became the second American to rocket into a sub-orbital pattern around the Earth, flying aboard the Liberty Bell 7.
In 1969, Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin blasted off from the moon aboard the lunar module.
In 1980, draft registration began in the U.S. for 19- and 20-year-old men.
Ten years ago: The USS Constitution, which defended the U.S. during the War of 1812, set sail under its own power for first time in 116 years, leaving its temporary anchorage at Marblehead, Mass., for a one-hour voyage marking its 200th anniversary. (The actual anniversary was in October 1997.)
