By The Associated Press

Today in History

Today is Thursday, July 15, the 196th day of 2021. There are 169 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On July 15, 1834, the Spanish Inquisition was abolished more than 3 1/2 centuries after its creation.

On this date:

In 1870, Georgia became the last Confederate state to be readmitted to the Union. Manitoba entered confederation as the fifth Canadian province.

In 1910, the term “Alzheimer’s disease” was used to describe a progressive form of presenile dementia in the book “Clinical Psychiatry” by German psychiatrist Emil Kraepelin, who credited the work of his colleague, Alois (al-WAH’) Alzheimer, in identifying the condition.

In 1913, Augustus Bacon, D-Ga., became the first person elected to the U.S. Senate under the terms of the recently ratified 17th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, providing for popular election of senators.

In 1916, Boeing Co., originally known as Pacific Aero Products Co., was founded in Seattle.

In 1918, the Second Battle of the Marne, resulting in an Allied victory, began during World War I.

In 1975, three American astronauts blasted off aboard an Apollo spaceship hours after two Soviet cosmonauts were launched aboard a Soyuz spacecraft for a mission that included a linkup of the two ships in orbit.

In 1976, a 36-hour kidnap ordeal began for 26 schoolchildren and their bus driver as they were abducted near Chowchilla, California, by three gunmen and imprisoned in an underground cell. (The captives escaped unharmed; the kidnappers were caught.)

In 1985, a visibly gaunt Rock Hudson appeared at a news conference with frequent co-star Doris Day (it was later revealed Hudson was suffering from AIDS).

In 1997, fashion designer Gianni Versace (ver-SAH’-chay), 50, was shot dead outside his Miami Beach home; suspected gunman Andrew Phillip Cunanan (koo-NAN’-an), 27, was found dead eight days later, a suicide. (Investigators believed Cunanan killed four other people before Versace in a cross-country rampage that began the previous March.)

In 2002, John Walker Lindh, an American who’d fought alongside the Taliban in Afghanistan, pleaded guilty in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, to two felonies in a deal sparing him life in prison.

In 2018, President Donald Trump arrived in Finland for a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Earlier, in an interview with CBS News, Trump named the European Union as a top adversary of the United States.

In 2019, avowed white supremacist James Alex Fields Jr. was sentenced to life in prison plus 419 years for killing one and injuring dozens of others when he deliberately drove his car into a crowd of anti-racism protesters during a rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Ten years ago: Rupert Murdoch accepted the resignation of The Wall Street Journal’s publisher, Les Hinton, and the chief of his British operations, Rebekah Brooks, as the once-defiant media mogul struggled to control an escalating phone hacking scandal. Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony announced they were breaking up after seven years of marriage.

Five years ago: Donald Trump chose Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, an experienced politician with deep Washington connections, as his running mate.

One year ago: George Floyd’s family filed a lawsuit against the city of Minneapolis and the four police officers charged in his death, alleging the officers violated Floyd’s rights when they restrained him and that the city allowed a culture of excessive force, racism and impunity to flourish in its police force. (The city would agree to pay $27 million to settle the lawsuit in March 2021.) As coronavirus cases surged to record levels in the Los Angeles area, organizers canceled the 2021 New Year’s Day Rose Parade in Pasadena for the first time in 75 years. Walmart became the largest retailer to require customers to wear face coverings at all of its stores. Thousands of auto racing fans gathered at Bristol Motor Speedway in Tennessee for a NASCAR All-Star race, the nation’s largest sporting event since the pandemic began; it was won by Chase Elliott.

Today’s Birthdays: Actor Patrick Wayne is 82. R&B singer Millie Jackson is 77. Rock singer-musician Peter Lewis (Moby Grape) is 76. Singer Linda Ronstadt is 75. Rock musician Artimus Pyle is 73. Arianna Huffington, co-founder of The Huffington Post, is 71. Actor Celia Imrie is 69. Actor Terry O’Quinn is 69. Rock singer-musician David Pack is 69. Rock musician Marky Ramone is 69. Rock musician Joe Satriani is 65. Country singer-songwriter Mac McAnally is 64. Model Kim Alexis is 61. Actor Willie Aames is 61. Actor-director Forest Whitaker is 60. Actor Lolita Davidovich is 60. Actor Shari Headley is 58. Actor Brigitte Nielsen is 58. Rock musician Jason Bonham is 55. Actor Amanda Foreman is 55. R&B singer Stokley (Mint Condition) is 54. Actor-comedian Eddie Griffin is 53. Actor Reggie Hayes is 52. Actor-screenwriter Jim Rash is 50. Rock musician John Dolmayan is 49. Actor Scott Foley is 49. Actor Brian Austin Green is 48. Rapper Jim Jones is 45. Actor Diane Kruger is 45. Actor Lana Parrilla (LAH’-nuh pa-REE’-uh) is 44. Rock musician Ray Toro (My Chemical Romance) is 44. Actor Laura Benanti is 42. Actor Travis Fimmel is 42. Actor Taylor Kinney is 40. Actor-singer Tristan “Mack” Wilds is 32. Actor Medalion Rahimi is 29. Actor Iain Armitage (TV: “Big Little Lies” “Young Sheldon”) is 13.