Friday, July 15

This Day In History

• 1606   The painter Rembrandt was born in Leiden, Netherlands.
• 1870   Georgia became the last of the Confederate states to be readmitted to the Union.
• 1904   The first Buddhist temple in the United States was established in Los Angeles, CA.
• 1916   The Boeing Co., originally known as Pacific Aero Products, was founded in Seattle by William Boeing.
• 1948   President Harry S. Truman was nominated for another term by the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia.
• 1964   Sen. Barry M. Goldwater of Arizona was nominated for president at the Republican National Convention in San Francisco.
• 1971   President Richard Nixon announced he would visit the People's Republic of China to seek a ''normalization of relations.''
• 1976   A 36-hour kidnap ordeal began for 26 schoolchildren and their bus driver as they were abducted near Chowchilla, Calif., by three gunmen and imprisoned in an underground cell. The captives escaped unharmed.
• 1979   President Jimmy Carter delivered a speech in which he lamented what he called a ''crisis of confidence'' in America. Though he didn't use the word, it became known as the ''malaise'' speech.
• 1992   Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton claimed the Democratic presidential nomination at the party's convention in New York City.
• 1996   MSNBC, a 24-hour all-news network, made its debut on cable TV and the Internet.
• 1997   Fashion designer Gianni Versace was shot to death outside his home in Miami; suspected gunman Andrew Phillip Cunanan was found dead eight days later.
• 1999   The government acknowledged for the first time that thousands of workers were made sick while making nuclear weapons and announced a plan to compensate many of them.
• 1971   Sometime in the late 800s-900s, there lived a man named Swithun or Swithin. He was the Bishop of Winchester in Old England. For some unknown reason   since Bishop Swithin was not particularly famous   his remains were transferred to Winchester Cathedral on this day. It so happened that there was a heavy rainfall on this same day. Some say Bishop Swithin was angry about the move and caused the downpour. From then on, according to an old English adage, if it should rain on July 15th, it will rain for forty days thereafter. “St. Swithin’s day, gif ye do rain, for forty days it will remain; St. Swithin’s day, an ye be fair, for forty days ’twill rain nae mair.”

Happy Birthday To

• 1606   Rembrandt (Van Rijn)
• 1779   Clement Clarke Moore (poet, author: ’Twas the Night before Christmas [A Visit from St. Nicholas]; died in July 10, 1863)
• 1946   Linda Ronstadt (singer)