This day in history

In 1862, David G. Farragut became the first rear admiral in the U.S. Navy.

In 1907, 100 years ago, actress Barbara Stanwyck was born in New York.

In 1907, "Popcorn King” Orville Redenbacher was born in Brazil, Ind.

In 1964, in accepting the Republican presidential nomination in San Francisco, Barry M. Goldwater said "extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice” and that "moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.”

In 1969, Apollo 11 blasted off from Cape Kennedy, Fla., on the first manned mission to the surface of the moon.

In 1973, during the Senate Watergate hearings, former White House aide Alexander P. Butterfield publicly revealed the existence of President Richard Nixon’s secret taping system.

In 1979, Saddam Hussein became president of Iraq.

In 1999, John F. Kennedy Jr., his wife, Carolyn, and her sister, Lauren Bessette, died when their single-engine plane, piloted by Kennedy, plunged into the Atlantic Ocean near Martha’s Vineyard, Mass.

Ten years ago: Hundreds of FBI agents, some handing out photos in gay bars and hotels, blanketed South Florida in the continuing hunt for alleged prostitute-turned-serial killer Andrew Phillip Cunanan, suspected of gunning down designer Gianni Versace.

Five years ago: The Irish Republican Army issued an unprecedented apology for hundreds of civilian deaths over 30 years. The body of Samantha Runnion, the 5-year-old who had been kidnapped from her home in Stanton, Calif., was found in a heavily forested area about 50 miles away.

One year ago: President Bush and other Group of Eight world leaders meeting in St. Petersburg, Russia, urged Israel to show "utmost restraint” and blamed Hezbollah and Hamas for escalating violence in the Middle East. Claiming election fraud had robbed him of the presidency, leftist candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador led hundreds of thousands of marchers through Mexico’s capital. Robert Brooks, chairman of Hooters of America, died in Myrtle Beach, S.C., at age 69.

Birthdays:

Former Attorney General Dick Thornburgh is 75. Soul singer William Bell is 68. Actor Corin Redgrave is 68. Former tennis player Margaret Court is 65. Violinist Pinchas Zukerman is 59. Rock composer-musician Stewart Copeland is 55. Dancer Michael Flatley is 49. Country singer Craig Morgan is 43. Actor-comedian Will Ferrell is 40. Actor Corey Feldman is 36. Rock musician Ed Kowalczyk (Live) is 36. Actor Mark Indelicato ("Ugly Betty”) is 13.