By The Associated Press

Today in History

Today is Saturday, July 11, the 193rd day of 2020. There are 173 days left in the year.

Todayís Highlight in History:

On July 11, 1804, Vice President Aaron Burr mortally wounded former Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton during a pistol duel in Weehawken, New Jersey. (Hamilton died the next day.)

On this date:

In 1533, Pope Clement VII issued a bull of excommunication against Englandís King Henry VIII for the annulment of the kingís marriage to Catherine of Aragon and subsequent marriage to second wife Anne Boleyn.

In 1798, the U.S. Marine Corps was formally re-established by a congressional act that also created the U.S. Marine Band.

In 1859, Big Ben, the great bell inside the famous London clock tower, chimed for the first time.

In 1915, the Chicago Sunday Tribune ran an article titled, ìBlues Is Jazz and Jazz Is Blues.î (Itís believed to be one of the earliest, if not the earliest, uses of the word ìjazzî as a musical term by a newspaper.)

In 1936, New York Cityís Triborough Bridge (now officially the Robert F. Kennedy Bridge) linking Manhattan, Queens and The Bronx was opened to traffic.

In 1955, the U.S. Air Force Academy swore in its first class of cadets at its temporary quarters at Lowry Air Force Base in Colorado.

In 1960, the novel ìTo Kill a Mockingbirdî by Harper Lee was first published by J.B. Lippincott and Co.

In 1972, the World Chess Championship opened as grandmasters Bobby Fischer of the United States and defending champion Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union began play in Reykjavik, Iceland. (Fischer won after 21 games.)

In 1974, the House Judiciary Committee released volumes of evidence it had gathered in its Watergate inquiry.

In 1979, the abandoned U.S. space station Skylab made a spectacular return to Earth, burning up in the atmosphere and showering debris over the Indian Ocean and Australia.

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