Moments in Time – July 12, 2023

#MiddleburyCT

• On July 24, 1959, the popularly termed “kitchen debates” took place between U.S. Vice President Richard Nixon and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev in Moscow, where Nixon was visiting a house built as part of an exhibit in the American National Exhibition.
• On July 25, 1976, Viking 1, the first space probe to successfully land on Mars, took the famous photo of the Cydonia region that included a 1.2-mile mesa with the striking appearance of a humanoid face. The image has since been accepted by scientists as an optical illusion.
• On July 26, 1863, Confederate cavalry leader John Hunt Morgan, along with 360 of his men, were captured at Salineville, Ohio, during a raid on the North. Starting in the previous July, Morgan made four major raids on Northern or Northern-held territory in a year, which, though of limited strategic importance, bolstered Southern morale while capturing badly needed supplies.
• On July 27, 1981, 6-year-old Adam John Walsh was abducted from a mall in Hollywood, Florida, after following an older boy outside, and later found murdered. In the aftermath of the still-unsolved crime, his father, John Walsh, became a leading victims’ rights activist and host of the long-running television show “America’s Most Wanted.”
• On July 28, 1945, in a freak accident caused by heavy fog, a U.S. military plane crashed into New York City’s Empire State Building, killing 14 people, including the two pilots and a single passenger, and resulting in $1 million in damages.
• On July 29, 2012, rap singer Snoop Dogg (real name Calvin Broadus) was banned from Norway for two years after being caught attempting to bring a small amount of marijuana into the country in his luggage, as well as more cash than legally allowed, the previous month.
• On July 30, 1733, the first Masonic Grand Lodge in the future United States, now known as St. John’s Lodge, was constructed in Massachusetts. It claims to be the third-oldest such lodge in existence, though this has been disputed by the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania and the Grand Lodge of Virginia.

© 2023 King Features Synd., Inc.