Today is the 242nd day of 2021 and the 72nd day of summer.
TODAY’S HISTORY: In 1945, British forces ended Japan’s occupation of Hong Kong.
In 1963, a United States-Soviet diplomatic teletype “hotline,” intended to prevent accidental war, was installed.
In 1967, the U.S. Senate confirmed the appointment of Thurgood Marshall as the first Black Supreme Court justice.
In 1996, Russian and Chechen leaders agreed to a ceasefire, ending the First Chechen War.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (1797- 1851), author; Huey Long (1893-1935), politician; Shirley Booth (1898-1992), actress; Roy Wilkins (1901-1981), civil rights activist; Fred MacMurray (1908-1991), actor; Ted Williams (1918-2002), baseball player; Warren Buffett (1930- ), businessman/philanthropist; Robert Crumb (1943- ), writer/illustrator; Peggy Lipton (1946-2019), actress; Lewis Black (1948- ), comedian; Robert Parish (1953- ), basketball player; Cameron Diaz (1972- ), actress; Andy Roddick (1982- ), tennis player; Bebe Rexha (1989- ), singer-songwriter.
TODAY’S FACT: The average U.S. adult spent 7 hours and 50 minutes each day viewing digital content in 2020; it was the first year in which that number surpassed the amount of time the average U.S. adult spends sleeping each night, which is about 7 hours and 36 minutes.
TODAY’S SPORTS: In 1905, Ty Cobb made his major-league debut for the Detroit Tigers.
TODAY’S QUOTE: “The talk of winning our share is not the easy one of disengagement and flight, but the hard one of work, of short as well as long jumps, of disappointments, and of sweet success.” — Roy Wilkins
