Today in 1947, President Harry S. Truman signed the National Security Act, which established the Central Intelligence Agency, Department of Defense, National Security Council and Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Today in 1980, a world record for stilt-walking was set as Joe Bowen completed a 5-month, 3010-mile trip from Los Angeles to Bowen, Kentucky.
Today in 1987, Billy Williams, Catfish Hunter and Ray Dandridge were inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.
Today in 1989, 29-year-old paraplegic Mark Wellman reached the summit of El Capitan in Yosemite National Park after hauling himself up the 3,569-feet of granite cliff six-inches at a time over eight days.
Today in 1990, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control publicly reported that a young woman, later identified as Kimberly Bergalis, had been infected with the AIDS virus, apparently by her dentist. She was one of six patients infected with HIV after visiting David J. Acer, a dentist who had AIDS. This incident was the first known case of clinical transmission of HIV.
Today in 1996, Amy Van Dyken became the first American woman to win four gold medals at a single Olympics as she captured the 50-meter freestyle Atlanta. In all, she’s won six Olympic gold medals in her career (four of which she won at the 1996 Summer Games). Tragically, Van Dyken was in a severe ATV accident in June 2014, that severed her spinal cord, leaving her paralyzed from the waist down. Still, her fighting spirit has remained. She’s since returned to the slopes and can walk with the help of an exoskeleton.
Today in 1999, Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright, and her Russian counterpart, Igor Ivanov, announced a second Washington-Moscow "hot line" would be installed to help avoid misunderstandings like those that had developed over Kosovo.
Today in 2005, Space Shuttle program celebrated the STS-114 Mission – the Launch of Discovery, NASA's first scheduled flight mission after 2003’s Columbia Disaster.
Today in 2017, President Donald Trump announced plans to ban transgendered people from the military. That’s since been put on hold – with America’s military leaders joining forces and asking the federal order pausing the policy from going into effect be upheld.
Today in 2018, the "Journal Astronomy & Astrophysics " published observation of a black hole by The Very Large Telescope in Chile, which proved Albert Einstein's prediction of "gravitational redshift.”
Today in 2018, Facebook has the single worst day of any public company on the stock market – losing 19% or $119-billion market value.