JULY 11TH

***

Today is Friday, July 11, the 193rd day of 2008. There are 173 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

• On July 11, 1804, Vice President Aaron Burr mortally wounded former Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton during a pistol duel in Weehawken, N.J.

On this date:

• In 1767, John Quincy Adams, the sixth president of the United States, was born in Braintree, Mass.
• In 1798, the U.S. Marine Corps was formally re-established by a congressional act that also created the U.S. Marine Band.
• In 1864, Confederate forces led by Gen. Jubal Early began an abortive invasion of Washington, D.C., turning back the next day.
• In 1934, President Franklin D. Roosevelt became the first incumbent chief executive to travel through the Panama Canal.
• In 1952, the Republican National Convention, meeting in Chicago, nominated Dwight D. Eisenhower for president and Richard M. Nixon for vice president.
• In 1955, the U.S. Air Force Academy swore in its first class of cadets at its temporary quarters, Lowry Air Force Base in Colorado.
• In 1978, 216 people were immediately killed when a tanker truck overfilled with propylene gas exploded on a coastal highway south of Tarragona, Spain.
• In 1979, the abandoned U.S. space station Skylab made a spectacular return to Earth, burning up in the atmosphere and showering debris over the Indian Ocean and Australia.
• In 1988, nine people were killed when five Palestinian gunmen attacked hundreds of tourists aboard a Greek cruise ship, the City of Poros, which was steaming toward a marina in suburban Athens.
• In 1995, the United States normalized relations with Vietnam.

Ten years ago:

• Air Force Lt. Michael Blassie, a casualty of the Vietnam War, was laid to rest near his Missouri home, after the positive identification of his remains, which had been enshrined at the Tomb of the Unknowns in Arlington, Va.

Five years ago:

• President Bush put responsibility squarely on the CIA for his disputed claim that Iraq had tried to acquire nuclear material from Africa, prompting Director George Tenet to publicly accept full blame for the miscue.
• The World Trade Organization ruled that heavy duties on steel imports imposed by the United States violated global trade rules.
• Thousands marked the anniversary of the 1995 massacre at Srebrenica in Bosnia, burying 282 newly identified victims.

One year ago:

• Lady Bird Johnson, the former first lady who'd championed conservation and worked tenaciously for the political career of her husband, former President Lyndon Baines Johnson, died in Austin, Texas, at age 94.
• Pakistani army commandos captured the Red Mosque from militants following a 35-hour battle.

Today's Birthdays:

• Actor Tab Hunter is 77.
• Actress Susan Seaforth Hayes is 65.
• Singer Jeff Hanna (Nitty Gritty Dirt Band) is 61.
• Ventriloquist-actor Jay Johnson is 59.
• Actor Bruce McGill is 58.
• Singer Bonnie Pointer is 58.
• Actor Stephen Lang is 56.
• Actress Mindy Sterling is 55.
• Actress Sela Ward is 52.
• Reggae singer Michael Rose (Black Uhuru) is 51.
• Singer Peter Murphy is 51.
• Actor Mark Lester is 50.
• Jazz musician Kirk Whalum is 50.
• Singer Suzanne Vega is 49.
• Rock guitarist Richie Sambora (Bon Jovi) is 49.
• Actress Lisa Rinna is 45.
• Rock musician Scott Shriner (Weezer) is 43.
• Actress Debbe Dunning is 42.
• Actor Greg Grunberg is 42.
• Wildlife expert Jeff Corwin is 41.
• Actor Justin Chambers is 38.
• Actor Michael Rosenbaum is 36.
• Country singer Scotty Emerick is 35.
• Rapper Lil' Kim is 33.
• Rock singer Ben Gibbard is 32.
• Rapper Lil' Zane is 26.
• Pop-jazz singer-musician Peter Cincotti is 25.
• Actor David Henrie is 19.

Thought for Today:

"False democracy shouts Every man down to the level of the average. True democracy cries All men up to the height of their fullest capacity for service and achievement."
Nicholas Murray Butler, American educator (1862-1947)

"Let's all be careful out there!"