Today In History

In 1915: Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan resigned in a disagreement over U.S. handling of the sinking of the Lusitania.

In 1953: The Supreme Court ruled that restaurants in the District of Columbia could not refuse to serve blacks.

In 1967: 34 U.S. servicemen were killed when Israeli warplanes attacked the Liberty, a Navy ship stationed in the Mediterranean. (Israel called the attack a tragic mistake.)

In 1968: Authorities announced the capture in London of James Earl Ray, the suspected assassin of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

In 1978: A jury in Clark County, Nev., ruled the so-called “Mormon will,” purportedly by the late billionaire Howard Hughes, was a forgery.

In 1982: President Reagan became the first American chief executive to address a joint session of the British Parliament.