Today in News History

On July 12, several notable moments in the history of News stand out. In 813, Byzantine emperor Michael I, under threat by conspiracies, abdicates in favor of his general Leo the Armenian, and becomes a monk (under the name Athanasius). In 911, Signing of the Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte between Charles the Simple and Rollo of Normandy. In 1760, Peggy Shippen, American wife of Benedict Arnold and American Revolutionary War spy (died 1804) was born. In 1893, A revolution led by the liberal general and politician José Santos Zelaya takes over state power in Nicaragua. In 1906, Murder of Grace Brown by Chester Gillette in the United States, inspiration for Theodore Dreiser's An American Tragedy. In 1921, A truce in the Irish War of Independence comes into effect. In 1960, Congo Crisis: The State of Katanga breaks away from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In 1962, Project Apollo: At a press conference, NASA announces lunar orbit rendezvous as the means to land astronauts on the Moon, and return them to Earth. In 1977, Martin Luther King Jr., assassinated in 1968, is awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. In 2015, Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán escapes from the maximum security Altiplano prison in Mexico, his second escape. Together, these milestones provide historical context for today's news news and ongoing narratives.