Today's Highlight in History:
On July 25th, 1866, Ulysses S. Grant was named General of the Army, the first officer to hold the rank.
On this date:
In 1593, France's King Henry the Fourth converted from Protestantism to Roman Catholicism.

In 1868, Congress passed an act creating the Wyoming Territory.

In 1909, French aviator¹ Louis Bleriot flew across the English Channel in a monoplane, traveling from Calais to Dover in 37 minutes.

In 1944, Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters recorded Cole Porter's "Don't Fence Me In" in Los Angeles for Decca Records.

In 1946, the United States detonated an atomic bomb at Bikini Atoll in the Pacific in the first underwater test of the device.

In 1952, Puerto Rico became a self-governing commonwealth² of the United States.

In 1956, 51 people died when the Italian liner "Andrea Doria" sank after colliding with the Swedish ship "Stockholm" off the New England coast.

In 1978, Louise Joy Brown, the first "test tube baby," was born in Oldham, England; she'd been conceived through the technique of in-vitro fertilization.

In 1985, a spokeswoman for Rock Hudson confirmed that the actor, hospitalized in Paris, was suffering from "AIDS." (Hudson died the following October.)

In 1994, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Jordan's King Hussein signed a declaration at the White House ending their countries' 46-year-old formal state of war.

Ten years ago: The US ambassador to Iraq, April Glaspie, met with Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to discuss Iraq's economic dispute with Kuwait. The Senate formally denounced Senator Dave Durenberger (Republican, Minnesota) for financial improprieties. Comedian³ Roseanne Barr sparked controversy⁴ with an off-key rendition of the "Star-Spangled Banner" during a double-header at Jack⁵ Murphy Stadium in San Diego.

Five years ago: A bomb exploded on a Paris subway, killing⁶ seven people and injuring at least 60. A UN war crimes tribunal indicted⁷ Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, army commander General Ratko Mladic, and 22 other Serbs for war crimes.

One year ago: The Woodstock '99 music festival in Rome, New York, ended in fires and looting. Lance Armstrong rode to victory in the Tour de France. Morocco held a funeral for King Hassan the Second.