YEARS AGO FOR AUG. 7

Today is Wednesday, Aug. 7, the 219th day of 2019. There are 146 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

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

1789: The U.S. Department of War is established by Congress.

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. (Japanese forces abandoned the island the following February.)

1959: The United States launches the Explorer 6 satellite, which sends back images of Earth.

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.

1971: The Apollo 15 moon mission ends successfully as its command module splashes down in the Pacific Ocean.

1998: Terrorist bombs at U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania kill 224 people, including 12 Americans.

2000: Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore selects Connecticut Sen. Joseph Lieberman as his running mate; Lieberman becomes the first Jew on a major party’s presidential ticket.

2005: ABC News anchorman Peter Jennings dies in New York at age 67.

2010: Elena Kagan is sworn in as the 112th justice and fourth woman to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court.

VINDICATOR FILES

1994: More than 2,000 people attend a performance by the Youngstown Symphony Orchestra at the new Leo P. Morley Performing Arts Pavilion in Mill Creek Park.

Todd Nadenichek, 14, of Howland says he found a new appreciation for washing machines after washing clothes by hand during a 21-day tour of Russia and the Baltic states with 12 other Trumbull and Mahoning county high school students. Among the other students were Jamie Harper, Patrick Vukovich and Ted Dellesky.

The 50/50 Role Model Club, with McCullough Williams Jr. as president, employs five youths from various Youngstown schools cutting lawns in the city, while learning the value of work.

1979: The General Motors Corp. purchases an option on a 50-acre parcel in Cortland and will build a $7 million plant for its Packard Electric Division.

A $23-million distribution center for Kmart in Bazetta Township will be abandoned unless Warren City Council votes by Aug. 17 to provide water to the site.

At the Kenley Players at E.J. Thomas Hall in Akron: Tom & Dick Smothers in “I Love My Wife.” Tickets are $5 and $7, with a $2 senior discount at the Saturday matinee.

1969: Dedamarino Riley, 13, of East Alliance drowns in a pool at Suntan Acres while on an outing organized by the Sebring-Craig Beach Community Action Program.

The Youngstown Board of Education names Merle Rosselle principal of North High and Salvatore Traficant principal of Scienceville Junior High.

Three Youngstown area men are captured – two at gunpoint – at the Watson Hereford Farm recreation building on Route 46. A burglar alarm alerted Joseph Chuey to the break-in.

1944: Mrs. Alice Tod, wife of industrialist John Tod and president of the Youngstown Hospital Association, dies at the age of 73.

Nearly 16,000 people gather at Idora Park for the 18th annual Hungarian Day celebration. The Rev. Rittman Wolfgang of Pittsburgh addressed the crowd and says that while Hungary is fighting on the side of the Nazis, the “common people’s hearts aren’t in this war.”

Playing at the Palace: “Double Indemnity,” starring Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck and Edward G. Robinson.