Today is July 20. On this date in:
1921
Congresswoman Alice Mary Robertson of Oklahoma, the second woman to hold a seat in Congress, became the first woman to preside over the floor of U.S. House of Representatives.
1923
Mexican revolutionary leader Pancho Villa was assassinated by gunmen in Parral.
1942
The first detachment of the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps – later known as WACs – began basic training at Fort Des Moines, Iowa.
1944
An attempt by a group of German officials to assassinate Adolf Hitler with a bomb failed as the explosion only wounded the Nazi leader.
1960
A pair of Polaris missiles were fired from the submerged USS George Washington off Cape Canaveral, Fla., at a target more than 1,100 miles away.
1968
The first International Special Olympics Summer Games, organized by Eunice Kennedy Shriver, were held at Soldier Field in Chicago.
1969
Astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin became the first men to walk on the moon after reaching the surface in their Apollo 11 lunar module.
1973
Martial-arts expert and actor Bruce Lee died at age 32, one month before his film “Enter the Dragon” was released in the United States.
1976
NASA’s Viking 1 lander set down on Mars on the Chryse Planitia region, the first U.S. craft to land on the planet.
1977
A flash flood hit Johnstown, Pennsylvania, killing more than 80 people and causing $350 million worth of damage.
1982
Irish Republican Army bombs exploded in two London parks, killing eight British soldiers, along with seven horses belonging to the Queen’s Household Cavalry.
2012
Gunman James Holmes opened fire inside a crowded movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, killing 12 people and wounding 70 others.
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