HISTORY FOR JULY 14

Today is Monday, July 14, the 196th day of 2008 with 170 to follow.

It is "Bastille Day" in France.

The moon is waxing. The morning stars are Neptune, Mercury and Uranus. The evening stars are Jupiter, Venus, Mars and Saturn.

This Day in History, July 14
On July 14th, 1902, the Campanile in Venice collapsed.

Other Notable Events, July 14
In 1789, French peasants stormed the Bastille prison in Paris, beginning the French Revolution. The event is commemorated as "Bastille Day," a national holiday in France.

In 1793, Jean Paul Marat, one of the most outspoken leaders of the French Revolution, was stabbed to death in his bath by Charlotte Corday, a Royalist sympathizer.

In 1914, Robert Goddard was granted the first patent for a liquid-fueled rocket design.

In 1933, all political parties except the Nazis were officially suppressed in Germany.

In 1966, eight nurses were found killed in Chicago. Drifter Richard Speck later was convicted of the slayings.

In 1991, Syrian President Hafez al-Assad accepted U.S. President George H.W. Bush's compromise proposal for a Middle East peace conference.

In 1999, the European Union ended its three-year ban on British beef imports. The ban had been prompted by fears of mad cow disease.

In 2000, a jury in Miami-Dade Co., Fla., ordered the tobacco industry to pay $144.8 billion to Florida smokers. It was the largest damage award in U.S. history.

Also in 2000, a U.S. government panel concluded that federal officials weren't liable in the deaths of Branch Davidian cult members in a massive confrontation near Waco, Texas, in April 1993.

In 2003, a U.S. government source confirmed North Korea had begun reprocessing spent nuclear fuel rods, a step toward making more nuclear arms.

Also in 2003, despite bad information that showed up in his State of the Union address, President George W. Bush said U.S. intelligence was "darn good."

In 2004, a British government committee concluded that British intelligence prior to the Iraq war had been "seriously flawed."

In 2006, U.S. crude oil futures recorded an all-time high closing price of $77.03 a barrel at the New York Mercantile Exchange.

In 2007, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that his country would suspend its participation in the Conventional Forces in Europe treaty, a Cold War agreement that limited deployment of heavy weaponry.


Notable Birthdays for July 14
Those born on this date include:
- British suffragist Emmeline Pankhurst in 1858
- Austrian Art Nouveau painter Gustav Klimt in 1862
- Actor Cliff Edwards in 1885
- Author Isaac Bashevis Singer in 1904
- British comedian Terry-Thomas in 1911
- Folk singer Woody Guthrie in 1912
- Gerald Ford, 38th president of the United States, in 1913
- Swedish film director Ingmar Bergman in 1918 (age 90)
- Actor Dale Robertson in 1923 (age 85)
- Actor Harry Dean Stanton in 1926 (age 82)
- Actress Polly Bergen in 1930 (age 78)
- TV news commentator John Chancellor in 1927
- Football star-turned-actor Roosevelt "Rosey" Grier in 1932 (age 76)
- Film producer Joel Silver in 1952 (age 56)
- Actor Matthew Fox ("Lost") in 1966 (age 42)


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