Years Ago

Today is Tuesday, Aug. 7, the 220th day of 2012. There are 146 days left in the year.

Associated Press

On this date:

1782: Gen. George Washington creates the Order of the Purple Heart, a decoration to recognize merit in enlisted men and non-commissioned officers.

1882: The famous feud between the Hatfields of West Virginia and the McCoys of Kentucky erupts into full-scale violence.

1912: Theodore Roosevelt is nominated for president by the Progressive Party (also known as the Bull Moose Party) in Chicago. New Jersey Gov. Woodrow Wilson accepted the Democratic presidential nomination at his summer home in Sea Girt.

1927: The already opened Peace Bridge connecting Buffalo, N.Y., and Fort Erie, Ontario, Canada, is dedicated.

1942: U.S. and other allied forces land at Guadalcanal, marking the start of the first major allied offensive in the Pacific during World War II.

1962: President John F. Kennedy awards FDA official Dr. Frances O. Kelsey the Distinguished Federal Civilian Service Medal for her diligence in blocking approval of thalidomide, a sedative found to cause severe birth defects.

1964: Congress passes the Gulf of Tonkin resolution, giving President Lyndon B. Johnson broad powers in dealing with reported North Vietnamese attacks on U.S. forces.

Vindicator files

1987: The U.S. Department of Energy expects to complete negotiations on the $225 million coal liquification plant that is projected to be completed in Warren in 1988 and run by Ohio-Ontario Clean Fuels Inc.

LTV Corp. reports a second quarter profit of $122.7 million on the same day that an agreement is announced between the company and the United Steelworkers that will save about $50 million per year, allowing the company to begin repaying billions of dollars in debt.

1972: The Youngstown Park and Recreation Commission asks the Army Corps of Engineers to lower the level of Lake Milton to four feet below the top of the spillway due to concern over deterioration of the dam.

1962: The Joseph Dempsey Co. of Cleveland, a steel fabricator, is negotiating to take over the idle Youngstown Steel Car Corp. plant on Hunter Street in Niles.

Four Youngstown residents are rescued after 45 minutes in Pymatuning Lake after their boat capsized during a storm. Safe are John and William Schinker, 17-year-old twins, their brother, George, 25, and his wife, Norma.

1937: Youngstown Mayor Lionel Evans says the city has reduced its debt by $1 million since he took office in January 1936, but should approve a two-mill levy to allow further debt reduction and savings on interest payments.

Youngstown’s slum clearance project, inaugurated in 1935 to remove scores of dilapidated and condemned buildings, is suspended because of an acute housing shortage in the city.