This Day in History

[Gravdigr]

July 8

There are 169 days until Christmas.

Events

1730 – An estimated magnitude 8.7 earthquake causes a tsunami that damages more than 1,000 km (620 mi) of Chile's coastline.

1889 – The first issue of The Wall Street Journal is published.

1898 – The death of crime boss Soapy Smith,



killed in the Shootout on Juneau Wharf, releases Skagway, Alaska from his iron grip.

1932 – The Dow Jones Industrial Average reaches its lowest level of the Great Depression, closing at 41.22.

1947 – Reports are broadcast that a UFO crash landed in Roswell, New Mexico in what became known as the Roswell UFO incident.

1970 – Richard Nixon delivers a special congressional message enunciating Native American self-determination as official US Indian policy, leading to the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act of 1975.

1994 – Kim Jong-il



begins to assume supreme leadership of North Korea upon the death of his father, Kim Il-sung.

2011 – Space Shuttle Atlantis



is launched in the final mission of the U.S. Space Shuttle program.