TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON: JULY 28
1540 Henry VIII of England marries Catherine Howard; Thomas Cromwell is beheaded on Tower Hill in England.
1586 Sir Thomas Harriot introduces potatoes to Europe
1615 French explorer Samuel de Champlain discovers Lake Huron on his seventh voyage to the New World.
1794 French Revolutionary figure Maximilien Robespierre and 22 other leaders of “the Terror” guillotined to thunderous cheers in Paris
1821 Peru declared its independence from Spain.
1866 Metric system becomes a legal measurement system in US
1868 The 14th Amendment to the Constitution, which guarantees citizenship to all those born or naturalized in the United States, is adopted.
1914 Austria-Hungary decides against mediation and declares war on Serbia – first declaration of war of WWI
1920 Pancho Villa surrenders to the Mexican government.
1932 Herbert Hoover ordered Douglas MacArthur to evict the Bonus Marchers, impoverished World War I veterans, from their camps in Washington DC
1941 Plans for the Pentagon were approved by the U.S. House of Representatives.
1943 Pres FDR announces end of coffee rationing in US
1943 Operation Gomorrah: RAF bombing over Hamburg causes a firestorm that kills 42,600 German civilians
1945 A U.S. Army bomber crashed into the 79th floor of New York City’s Empire State Building. 14 people were killed and 26 were injured.
1958 National Aeronautics and Space Act is passed by the US Congress. The act established the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
1965 1965 – U.S. President Johnson announced he was increasing the number of American troops in South Vietnam from 75,000 to 125,000..
1986 NASA releases transcript from doomed Challenger, pilot Michael Smith could be heard saying, “Uh-oh!” as spacecraft disintegrated
1990 A fire at an electrical substation causes a blackout in Chicago. Some 40,000 people were without power for up to three days.
1998 Monica Lewinsky received blanket immunity from prosecution to testify before a grand jury about her relationship with U.S. President Clinton.
2002 Nine Pennsylvania coal miners were rescued after 77 hours of being trapped in a mine shaft.
2005 The Irish Republican Army (IRA) announces an end to its 30-year armed campaign in Northern Ireland.
REFERENCE: history.net, onthisday.com, thepeopleshistory.com, timeanddate.com, scopesys.com, on-this-day.com
