This day in history - August 7

[seamusTX]

1782 - George Washington created the Order of the Purple Heart.

1789 - Congress established the Department of War, the remote ancestor of the Department of Defense.

1964 - Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin resolution, giving the Johnson administration authority to escalate the war in Vietnam.

1974 - Philippe Petit performed a totally unauthorized tightrope walk between the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York.

Authorities couldn't find anything to charge him with, so they gave him an award.

1998 - Terrorist vehicle bombers sent by Al Qaeda struck the U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, killing 224 people and injuring more than 5,500.

- Jim