TUESDAY, AUGUST 7, 2007

Today is Tuesday, August 7, the 218th day of 2007. There are 147 days left in the year.

768 _ Stephen III begins his reign as Catholic pope

1498 _ Columbus arrives in Caribbean

1782 _ George Washington creates the Order of the Purple Heart

1789 _ The U.S. War Department established

1934 _ The U.S. Court of Appeals upheld lower court ruling striking down government’s attempt to ban controversial James Joyce novel ``Ulysses"

1941 _ 551 Jews are shot in Kishnev ghetto in Romania

1942 _ The first American offensive in Pacific in WWII, Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands

1960 _ Ivory Coast gains independence from France

1964 _ U.S. Congress approves a Gulf of Tonkin resolution

1976 _ U.S. Viking 2 goes into Martian orbit after 11-month flight from Earth

1990 _ Desert Shield begin; the U.S. deploys troops to Saudi Arabia

1991 _ A court rules Manuel Noriega, may access some secret U.S. documents