July 27, end of the Korean War

United Nations representative U.S. Lieutenant General William Harrison Jr. (left), Korean People’s Army General Nam Il (center) and Chinese People’s Liberation Army Marshal Peng Dehuai (right) sign the Korean War Armistice on July 27, 1953, at Panmunjom, located on the North Korean side of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). The Panmunjom Armistice was signed on July 27, 1953, between North Korea and China on one side and the United Nations on the other. – The Korean War between North Korea and South Korea began on June 25, 1950, when approximately 75,000 soldiers of the North Korean People’s Army crossed the 38th parallel, the border between the Soviet-backed Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to the north and the pro-Western Republic of Korea to the south. This invasion was the first military action of the Cold War. The war ended with an armistice on July 27, 1953. (Photo by AFP) (Photo by -/AFP via Getty Images)

Today is Friday, July 27, the 209th day of 2024. There are 157 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On July 27, 1953, the Korean Armistice Agreement was signed in Panmunjom, ending three years of fighting on the Korean Peninsula that had left an estimated four million people dead.

Also on this date:

In 1789, President George Washington signed an act establishing the Department of State, the forerunner of the State Department.

In 1866, Cyrus W. Field completed the laying of the first successful underwater telegraph cable between North America and Europe.

In 1909, during the first official test of the U.S. Army’s first airplane, Orville Wright flew with a passenger, Lieutenant Frank Lahm, for one hour and twelve minutes over Fort Myer, Virginia.

In 1940, Billboard magazine published its first “music popularity list” of the best-selling records in the store. In first place was “I’ll Never Smile Again,” recorded by Tommy Dorsey and His Orchestra, featuring Frank Sinatra as lead singer.

In 1974, the House Judiciary Committee voted 27-11 to adopt the first of three articles of impeachment against President Richard Nixon. The charges alleged that Nixon personally engaged in conduct calculated to obstruct justice in the Watergate case.

In 1980, on day 267 of the Iran hostage crisis, the deposed Shah of Iran died at the age of 60 in a military hospital outside Cairo, Egypt.

In 1981, 6-year-old Adam Walsh was abducted from a department store in Hollywood, Florida, and later murdered (Adam’s father, John Walsh, later became a victims’ rights activist and in 1988 launched and hosted the television program “America’s Most Wanted”).

In 1996, the Atlanta Olympics were rocked by terror when a pipe bomb exploded in Centennial Olympic Park, killing one person and injuring 111. (Anti-government extremist Eric Rudolph later pleaded guilty to the bombing, acquitting security guard Richard Jewell, who had been wrongly accused.)

In 2012, Britain opened the Olympic Games with an ode to old England, even brazenly using a stunt double of Queen Elizabeth II to parachute into the Olympic Stadium with James Bond.

In 2013, security forces and gunmen clashed with supporters of ousted Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi, killing at least 80 people.

In 2015, the Boy Scouts of America ended its outright ban on gay adult leaders, but church Scout groups were allowed to maintain the ban on religious grounds.

In 2018, the White House announced that North Korea had returned the remains of what it believed were American service members killed in the Korean War. A U.S. military plane made a rare flight to North Korea to retrieve 55 remains.

In 2020, the world’s largest COVID-19 vaccine trial began with the first of a planned 30,000 volunteers to help test vaccines developed by the National Institutes of Health and Moderna Inc.

In 2021, American gymnast Simone Biles withdrew from the gymnastics team competition at the Tokyo Olympics to focus on her mental well-being. She said that after an insecure vault, she realized she was not in the right frame of mind to compete.