Today in History

Today is Sunday, July 15, the 196th day of 2018. There are 169 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On July 15, 1971, President Richard Nixon delivered a televised address in which he announced that he had accepted an invitation to visit the People's Republic of China.

On this date:

In 1799, French soldiers in Egypt discovered the Rosetta Stone, which proved instrumental in deciphering ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs.

In 1870, Georgia became the last Confederate state to be readmitted to the Union. Manitoba entered confederation as the fifth Canadian province.

In 1910, the term "Alzheimer's disease" was used to describe a progressive form of presenile dementia in the book "Clinical Psychiatry" by German psychiatrist Emil Kraepelin, who credited the work of his colleague, Alois Alzheimer, in identifying the condition.

In 1932, President Herbert Hoover announced he was slashing his own salary by 20 percent, from $75,000 to $60,000 a year; he also cut Cabinet members' salaries by 15 percent, from $15,000 to $12,750 a year.

In 1964, Sen. Barry M. Goldwater of Arizona was nominated for president by the Republican national convention in San Francisco.

In 1976, a 36-hour kidnap ordeal began for 26 schoolchildren and their bus driver as they were abducted near Chowchilla, California, by three gunmen and imprisoned in an underground cell. (The captives escaped unharmed; the kidnappers were caught.)

In 1979, President Jimmy Carter delivered his "malaise" speech in which he lamented what he called a "crisis of confidence" in America.

In 1985, a visibly gaunt Rock Hudson appeared at a news conference with actress Doris Day (it was later revealed Hudson was suffering from AIDS).

In 1992, Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton was nominated for president at the Democratic national convention in New York.

In 1997, fashion designer Gianni Versace, 50, was shot dead outside his Miami Beach home; suspected gunman Andrew Phillip Cunanan, 27, was found dead eight days later, a suicide. (Investigators believed Cunanan killed four other people before Versace in a cross-country spree that began the previous March.)

In 2002, John Walker Lindh, an American who'd fought alongside the Taliban in Afghanistan, pleaded guilty in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, to two felonies in a deal sparing him life in prison.

In 2010, after 85 days, BP stopped the flow of oil from a blown-out well in the Gulf of Mexico using a 75-ton cap lowered onto the wellhead earlier in the week.

Ten years ago: President George W. Bush said the nation's troubled financial system was "basically sound," and he urged lawmakers to quickly enact legislation to prop up mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. A judge in Los Angeles sentenced Helen Golay, 77, and Olga Rutterschmidt, 75, to two consecutive life terms each for murdering two indigent men to collect insurance policies taken out on their lives. In an All-Star game that began at dusk and ended at 1:37 a.m. the next morning, the American League defeated the National League 4-3 in 15 innings at Yankee Stadium.

Five years ago: Two days after a Florida jury acquitted George Zimmerman in the death of Trayvon Martin, Attorney General Eric Holder called the killing a "tragic, unnecessary shooting," and said the Justice Department would follow "the facts and the law" as it reviewed evidence to see whether federal criminal charges were warranted. (Federal authorities have yet to reach a decision in the case.) Miguel Angel Trevino Morales, the notoriously brutal leader of the feared Zetas drug cartel, was captured in the first major blow against an organized crime leader by Mexican officials.

One year ago: After twice being rejected for U.S. visas, an all-girl robotics team from Afghanistan arrived in Washington for an international competition after President Donald Trump used a rare "parole" mechanism to sidestep the visa system. The case had become a flashpoint in the debate about Trump's efforts to tighten entrance to the U.S. Garbine Muguruza beat Venus Williams 7-5, 6-0 to win the Wimbledon title. Two former high-ranking Penn State administrators surrendered to serve jail sentences for how they responded to a 2001 complaint about assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky showering with a boy. Oscar-winning actor Martin Landau died at the age of 89.

Today's Birthdays: Author Clive Cussler is 87. Actor Ken Kercheval is 83. Actor Patrick Wayne is 79. Actor Jan-Michael Vincent is 74. Rhythm-and-blues singer Millie Jackson is 74. Rock singer-musician Peter Lewis (Moby Grape) is 73. Singer Linda Ronstadt is 72. Rock musician Artimus Pyle is 70. Arianna Huffington, co-founder of The Huffington Post, is 68. Actress Celia Imrie is 66. Actor Terry O'Quinn is 66. Rock singer-musician David Pack is 66. Rock musician Marky Ramone is 62. Rock musician Joe Satriani is 62. Country singer-songwriter Mac McAnally is 61. Model Kim Alexis is 58. Actor Willie Aames is 58. Actor-director Forest Whitaker is 57. Actress Lolita Davidovich is 57. Actress Shari Headley is 55. Actress Brigitte Nielsen is 55. Rock musician Jason Bonham is 52. Actress Amanda Foreman is 52. Actor Kristoff St. John is 52. Rock musician Phillip Fisher is 51. Rhythm-and-blues singer Stokley (Mint Condition) is 51. Actor-comedian Eddie Griffin is 50. Actor Stan Kirsch is 50. Actor Reggie Hayes is 49. Actor-screenwriter Jim Rash is 47. Rock musician John Dolmayan is 46. Actor Scott Foley is 46. Actor Brian Austin Green is 45. Rapper Jim Jones is 42. Actress Diane Kruger is 42. Actress Lana Parrilla is 41. Rock musician Ray Toro (My Chemical Romance) is 41. Actress Laura Benanti is 39. Actor Travis Fimmel is 39. Actor Taylor Kinney is 37. Rhythm-and-blues singer Kia Thornton (Divine) is 37. Actor-singer Tristan "Mack" Wilds is 29. Actress Medalion Rahimi is 26. Actor Iain Armitage (TV: "Big Little Lies" ''Young Sheldon") is ten.

Thought for Today: "If you have knowledge, let others light their candles with it." -- Margaret Fuller, American journalist and social critic (1810-1850).