Today in History - July 19

Today is Wednesday, July 19, the 200th day of 2006. There are 165 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History

On July 19, 1848, a pioneer women's rights convention convened in Seneca Falls, N.Y.

On this date:

In 1553, 15-year-old Lady Jane Grey was deposed as Queen of England after claiming the crown for nine days. King Henry VIII's daughter Mary was proclaimed Queen.

In 1870, the Franco-Prussian war began.

In 1941, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill launched his "V for Victory" campaign in Europe.

In 1943, Allied air forces raided Rome during World War II.

In 1969, Apollo 11 and its astronauts, Neil Armstrong, Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin and Michael Collins, went into orbit around the moon.

In 1975, the Apollo and Soyuz space capsules that were linked in orbit for two days separated.

In 1980, the Moscow Summer Olympics began, minus dozens of nations that were boycotting the games because of the Soviet military intervention in Afghanistan.

In 1984, U.S. Rep. Geraldine A. Ferraro, D-N.Y., won the Democratic nomination for vice president by acclamation at the party's convention in San Francisco.

In 1986, Caroline Kennedy, daughter of President John F. Kennedy, married Edwin A. Schlossberg in Centerville, Mass.

In 1989, 112 people were killed when a United Air Lines DC-10 crashed while making an emergency landing at Sioux City, Iowa; 184 other people survived.

Ten years ago: Opening ceremonies were held in Atlanta for the 26th Summer Olympic Games. A Food and Drug Administration advisory committee recommended, with some conditions, that the abortion-inducing drug RU-486 be approved. Bosnian Serb official Radovan Karadzic yielded to international pressure to give up all political power.

Five years ago: Japanese prosecutors charged a U.S. airman with rape in an alleged attack on a woman in Okinawa. (Air Force Staff Sgt. Timothy Woodland was later convicted and sentenced to nearly three years in prison.) Circus animal trainer Gunther Gebel-Williams died in Venice, Fla., at age 66.

One year ago: President Bush announced his choice of federal appeals court judge John G. Roberts Jr. to replace Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor (Roberts ended up succeeding Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, who died in September 2005).

Today's Birthdays

Former Sen. George McGovern is 84. Actor Pat Hingle is 82. Actress Helen Gallagher is 80. Country singer Sue Thompson is 80. Country singer George Hamilton IV is 69. Actor Dennis Cole is 66. Singer Vikki Carr is 65. Country singer-musician Commander Cody is 62. Actor George Dzundza is 61. Rock singer-musician Alan Gorrie (Average White Band) is 60. Rock musician Brian May is 59. Rock musician Bernie Leadon is 59. Actress Beverly Archer is 58. Actor Peter Barton is 50. Rock musician Kevin Haskins (Love and Rockets; Bauhaus) is 46. Movie director Atom Egoyan is 46. Actor Campbell Scott is 45. Actor Anthony Edwards is 44. Country singer Kelly Shiver is 43. Classical singer Urs Buhler (Il Divo) is 35. Actor Andrew Kavovit is 35. Actress Rachel Miner is 26. Actor Jared Padalecki is 24. Actor Steven Anthony Lawrence is 16.

Thought for Today

"No written law has ever been more binding than unwritten custom supported by popular opinion." -- Carrie Chapman Catt, American feminist (1859-1947).