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On July 20, 1969, Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin ``Buzz'' Aldrin became the first men to walk on the moon after landing their lunar module. As he set foot on the lunar surface, Armstrong spoke his famous line, ``That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.'' Aldrin, who followed, described the scene as ``magnificent desolation.''
In 1810, Colombia declared independence from Spain.
In 1861, the Congress of the Confederate States began holding sessions in Richmond, Va.
In 1871, British Columbia entered Confederation as a Canadian province.
In 1917, the draft lottery in World War I went into operation.
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. President Franklin D. Roosevelt was nominated for an unprecedented fourth term of office at the Democratic convention in Chicago.
In 1954, the Geneva Accords divided Vietnam into northern and southern entities.
In 1976, America's Viking 1 robot spacecraft made a successful, first-ever landing on Mars.
In 1977, a flash flood hit Johnstown, Pa., killing more than 80 people and causing $350 million worth of damage.
In 1982, Irish Republican Army bombs exploded in two London parks, killing 11 soldiers, along with seven horses belonging to the Queen's Household Cavalry.
In 1988, Massachusetts Gov. Michael S. Dukakis received the Democratic presidential nomination at the party's convention in Atlanta.
Ten years ago: After 38 years at the bottom of the Atlantic, astronaut Gus Grissom's Liberty Bell 7 Mercury capsule was lifted to the surface.
Five years ago: Former national security adviser Sandy Berger quit as an informal adviser to Democrat John Kerry's presidential campaign after disclosure of a criminal investigation into whether he had mishandled classified terrorism documents. Iraqi militants freed a Filipino truck driver after the Philippines government gave in to their demands to withdraw troops from Iraq. The head of slain American hostage Paul M. Johnson Jr. was found in a raid in Saudi Arabia. The U.N. General Assembly demanded that Israel tear down the barrier it was building to seal off the West Bank; Israel vowed to continue construction.
One year ago: Pope Benedict XVI wrapped up a six-day World Youth Day Festival in Sydney by challenging young people to shed the greed and cynicism of their time to create a new age of hope for humankind. Padraig Harrington became the first European in more than a century to win the British Open two years in a row.
Slàinte,
Patch
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Today In History.
