On This Day: July 8

Updated July 8, 2014, 9:28 am

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On July 8, 1950, Gen. Douglas MacArthur was named commander-in-chief of United Nations forces in Korea.
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On July 8, 1839, John D. Rockefeller, who founded the Standard Oil Co. and gave more than $500 million to charitable causes, was born. Following his death on May 23, 1937, his obituary appeared in The Times.

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On This Date

1663 King Charles II of England granted a charter to Rhode Island.
1776 Col. John Nixon gave the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence to a crowd gathered at Independence Square in Philadelphia.
1853 An expedition led by Commodore Matthew Perry arrived in Yedo Bay, Japan, on a mission to seek diplomatic and trade relations with the Japanese.
1889 The Wall Street Journal was first published.
1891 Warren G. Harding married Florence K. DeWolfe in Marion, Ohio.
1907 Florenz Ziegfeld staged his first "Follies," on the roof of the New York Theater in New York City.
1919 President Woodrow Wilson received a tumultuous welcome in New York City after his return from the Versailles Peace Conference in France.
1950 Gen. Douglas MacArthur was named commander-in-chief of United Nations forces in Korea.
1986 Kurt Waldheim was inaugurated as president of Austria despite controversy over his alleged ties to Nazi war crimes.
1994 Kim Il Sung, North Korea's communist leader since 1948, died at age 82.
2004 Enron founder and former chairman Kenneth Lay pleaded innocent to charges related to the energy company's collapse. (He was convicted, but died while the case was on appeal.)
2010 During an ESPN prime-time special, basketball free agent LeBron James announced he was leaving the Cleveland Cavaliers to join the Miami Heat.
2011 Former first lady Betty Ford died in Rancho Mirage, Calif., at age 93.

Historic Birthdays

78 Samuel Gross 7/8/1805 - 5/6/1884
American surgeon, teacher and author
54 Alfred Binet 7/8/1857 - 10/18/1911
French psychologist; developed measures of intelligence
77 Kathe Kollwitz 7/8/1867 - 4/22/1945
German graphic artist and sculptor
78 Percy Grainger 7/8/1882 - 2/28/1961
Australian-born American composer, pianist and conductor
92 Ernst Bloch 7/8/1885 - 8/4/1977
German Marxist philosopher
83 Alec Waugh 7/8/1898 - 9/3/1981
English novelist and travel writer
81 David Lilienthal 7/8/1899 - 1/15/1981
American businessman and government official
70 Nelson Rockefeller 7/8/1908 - 1/26/1979
American politician; New York governor (1959-73) and U.S. vice president (1974-7)
66 Louis Jordan 7/8/1908 - 2/4/1975
American singer, saxophonist and bandleader
78 Billy Eckstine 7/8/1914 - 3/8/1993
American singer and bandleader