YEARS AGO FOR JULY 21

Today is Saturday, July 21, the 202nd day of 2018. There are 163 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1861: During the Civil War, the first Battle of Bull Run is fought at Manassas, Va., resulting in a Confederate victory.

1930: President Herbert Hoover signs an executive order establishing the Veterans Administration (later the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs).

1961: Capt. Virgil “Gus” Grissom becomes the second American to rocket into a sub-orbital pattern around the Earth, flying aboard the Liberty Bell 7.

1969: Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin blast off from the moon aboard the ascent stage of the lunar module for docking with the command module.

1980: Draft registration begins in the United States for 19- and 20-year-old men.

1999: Navy divers find and recover the bodies of John F. Kennedy Jr., his wife, Carolyn, and sister-in-law, Lauren Bessette, in the wreckage of Kennedy’s plane in the Atlantic Ocean off Martha’s Vineyard.

2011: The 30-year-old space shuttle program ends as Atlantis lands at Cape Canaveral, Fla., after the 135th shuttle flight.

VINDICATOR FILES

1993: John McBride, 19, who works at the Belmont Avenue Giant Eagle, wins the regional “best bagger” competition and will compete for the Ohio title at the state fair in Columbus.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency urges parents not to smoke in their homes and said nonsmokers should be protected from secondhand smoke in public places and on the job.

The Pension Benefit Guarantee Corp., the federal agency that insures private pension plans, says it will file $100 million in claims against Wean Inc., which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

1978: U.S. Rep. Charles J. Carney announces that the U.S. Department of the Treasury is allocating $382,964 to local governments in Mahoning and Trumbull counties under the Anti-Recession Fiscal Assistance Program.

Seven employees at Republic Steel Corp.’s Warren plant have been fired and several others suspended in connection with a two-day wildcat strike.

The Youngstown Area Chamber of Commerce urges area state legislators to pursue a 100 percent increase in license-plate fees to help raise money needed for road and bridge rehabilitation. Letters are sent to state Sens. Thomas E. Carney and Harry Meshel, and state Reps. Thomas J. Carney, Michael Del Bene, Thomas Gilmartin and George Tablack.

1968: General Motors’ Fisher Body plant at Lordstown, along with other plants throughout the nation, mark the 60th anniversary of a GM division that employs 95,000 people at 34 plants and has built more than 100 million auto bodies.

Saturday window service ends at Youngstown district post offices. The general delivery window will be open two hours on Saturday.

Area secondary school officials attend Ohio University’s pupil transportation workshop: William Beichler, Frank D’Apolito, Jack Wilster, Russell Burns and Gerald Corlew.

1943: The Most Rev. James McFadden, first bishop of the Youngstown Diocese, arrives in Youngstown and will be presented to Youngstowners at a civic reception in Stambaugh Auditorium.

Ralph G. Callahan, 22, of Youngstown, a Navy fireman first class, is among 161 survivors of the U.S.S. Helena who were rescued from a Japanese-held island in the South Pacific by an American destroyer force. Callahan also survived the sinking of the cruiser Chicago last January.