Today in 1865, Horace Greeley advised his readers to "Go west, young man.” While the phrase often is credited to Greeley, in regards to America's expansion westward (and was related to the then-popular concept of Manifest Destiny), it was actually first stated by John Babsone Lane Soule in an 1851 editorial in the “Terre Haute Express.” Greeley favored westward expansion of the nation as he saw the fertile farmland in the region as an ideal place for people willing to work hard for the opportunity to succeed. The phrase came to symbolize the idea that agriculture could solve many of the nation's problems of poverty and unemployment characteristic of the big cities of the East. It is one of the most commonly quoted sayings from the nineteenth century and may have had some influence on the course of American history.
Today in 1960, Senator John Kennedy of Massachusetts was nominated for President at the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles.
Today in 1967, race riots broke out in Newark, New Jersey. By the time the violence ended on July 17th, 27 people had been killed.
Today in 1977, a power blackout hit the New York City area after lightning struck upstate power lines. The city went without electricity for over 25 hours.
Today in 1985, Arthur Ashe became the first African-American to be inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.
Today in 1994, Jeff Gillooly, Tonya Harding's ex-husband, was sentenced in Portland, Oregon to two years in prison for his role in the attack on Nancy Kerrigan.
Today in 1998, a jury in Poughkeepsie, New York, ruled that the Reverend Al Sharpton and two others had defamed a former prosecutor in a highly-charged case by accusing him of raping Tawana Brawley.
Today in 2015, Sandra Bland was found dead in Waller County jail, Texas after spending weekend in jail after a traffic offence. Her family disputed her supposed suicide. While a grand jury declined to indict the county sheriff or the jail staff for a felony relating to Bland's death, arresting state trooper Brian Encinia was indicted for perjury for making false statements about the circumstances surrounding Bland's arrest in January 2016. He was later fired. Then in September 2016, Bland's mother settled a wrongful death lawsuit against the county jail and police department for $1.9-million and some procedural changes. The perjury charge against Encinia has since been dropped in return for his agreement to end his law enforcement career.
Today in 2108, Johnson & Johnson ordered to pay record $4.7 billion in damages in talc cancer case by jury in US state of Missouri.