Years Ago

Today is Wednesday, July 27, the 208th day of 2011. There are 157 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1789: President George Washington signs a measure establishing the Department of Foreign Affairs, forerunner of the Department of State.

1866: Cyrus W. Field finishes laying out the first successful underwater telegraph cable between North America and Europe (a previous cable in 1858 burned out after only a few weeks’ use).

1909: During the first official test of a U.S. Army airplane, Orville Wright flies himself and a passenger, Lt. Frank Lahm, above Fort Myer, Va., for one hour and 12 minutes.

1921: Canadian researcher Frederick Banting and his assistant, Charles Best, succeed in isolating the hormone insulin at the University of Toronto.

1940: Bugs Bunny makes his “official” debut in the Warner Bros. animated cartoon “A Wild Hare.”

1953: The Korean War armistice is signed at Panmunjom.

1981: Six-year-old Adam Walsh is abducted from a department store in Hollywood, Fla., and is later murdered. (His father, John Walsh, becomes a well-known crime victims’ advocate.)

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1986: Trumbull County’s Republican Party Chairman John Kurtz says the party must rebuild if it is to compete with Democrats.

A crowd of more than 500 LTV retirees and their families hold a two-hour information and protest meeting on Federal Plaza over the loss of their medical and life insurance.

Dr. Martin Greenman, professor and chairman of the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies at Youngstown State University, announces his retirement after 18 years at YSU.

1971: Gov. John J. Gilligan names Albert J. Shipka, long-time labor leader in the Mahoning Valley, to the Youngstown State University board of trustees.

The national Salvation Army headquarters has purchased St. Patrick School on Glenwood Avenue from the Diocese of Youngstown for $325,000.

Dr. Lawrence A. DiRusso is named chairman of the new Department of Guidance Counseling and Pupil Personnel at Youngstown State University.

Niles City Council accepts annexation of 52 acres of Howland Township property adjacent to the Eastwood Mall at Route 422 and Niles-Cortland Road.

1961: Gov. Michael V. DiSalle says he will ask Atty. Gen. Robert F. Kennedy to launch a federal grand jury investigation into 75 unsolved bombings and racket operations in the Youngstown area.

Area draft board lines are busy, mostly from women calling to find out how President Kennedy’s planned draft increase might affect their sons and husbands.

Several area police chiefs who had agreed to appear on a WFMJ-TV “Spotlight” show on area rackets cancel at the last minute. Warren Chief Manley English tells a reporter he was asked by another chief to cancel his appearance and did so because he did not want to antagonize brother officers in neighboring cities.

1936: The National Youth Administration announces summer work for 200 young people in Warren, Niles, Girard, Newton Falls, Mineral Ridge and Hubbard.

“Mussolini has created a new Italy – an Italy with a new, fresh spirit,” Stefano Miele of New York, Supreme Venerable of the Sons of Italy, says during a speech at the 11th annual Italian Day at Idora Park, attended by 30,000.

Campbell Councilman John Lyhsoski Jr. says the “town is running wild with bug salesmen, slot machines and traffic violators” and calls on the police department to wage war on all of them.