Today in History

Today is Thursday, July 12, the 193rd day of 2007. There are 172 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On July 12, 1862, Congress authorized the Medal of Honor.

On this date:

In 100 B.C., Roman dictator Julius Caesar was born.

In 1543, England's King Henry VIII married his sixth and last wife, Catherine Parr.

In 1690, forces led by William of Orange defeated the army of James II at the Battle of the Boyne in Ireland.

In 1812, U.S. forces led by Gen. William Hull entered Canada during the War of 1812 against Britain. (However, Hull retreated shortly thereafter to Detroit.)

In 1817, naturalist-author Henry David Thoreau was born in Concord, Mass.

In 1854, George Eastman, inventor of the Kodak camera and film, was born in Waterville, N.Y.

In 1948, the Democratic National Convention opened in Philadelphia.

In 1977, President Jimmy Carter defended Supreme Court decisions limiting government payments for poor women's abortions, saying, "There are many things in life that are not fair."

In 1984, Democratic presidential candidate Walter F. Mondale announced he had chosen U.S. Rep. Geraldine A. Ferraro of New York to be his running-mate; Ferraro was the first woman to run for vice president on a major-party ticket.

In 1993, some 200 people were killed when an earthquake measuring a magnitude of 7.8 struck northern Japan and triggered a tsunami.

Ten years ago: In Copenhagen, the last stop of an eight-day European tour, President Bill Clinton said political divisions in Europe were closing. In Spain, kidnapped Basque politician Miguel Angel Blanco was found mortally wounded shortly after a deadline set by his militant Basque captors.

Five years ago: The Senate adopted a ban on personal loans from companies to their top officials, a practice that had benefited executives from Enron to WorldCom. The U.N. Security Council agreed to exempt U.S. peacekeepers from war crimes prosecution for a year, ending a threat to U.N. peacekeeping operations.

One year ago: Hezbollah guerrillas kidnapped two Israeli soldiers and killed eight others in a cross-border raid; Israel sent ground troops into Lebanon in response. World powers agreed to send Iran before the U.N. Security Council for possible punishment, saying Tehran had given no sign it would bargain in earnest over its disputed nuclear program.

Thought for Today: "We think according to nature. We speak according to rules. We act according to custom." — Francis Bacon, English philosopher (1561-1626).