Today is Monday, July 19, the 200th day of 2010. There are 165 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History

On July 19, 1553, King Henry VIII’s daughter Mary was proclaimed Queen of England after teenage pretender Lady Jane Grey, who had claimed the monarchy for nine days, was deposed. (Lady Jane Grey was later executed for high treason.)

On this date

In 1848, a pioneer women’s rights convention convened in Seneca Falls, N.Y.

In 1870, the Franco-Prussian war began.

In 1943, allied air forces raided Rome during World War II.

In 1969, Apollo 11 and its astronauts, Neil Armstrong, Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin and Michael Collins, went into orbit around the moon.

In 1979, the Nicaraguan capital of Managua fell to Sandinista guerrillas, two days after President Anastasio Somoza fled the country.

In 1980, the Moscow Summer Olympics began, minus dozens of nations that were boycotting the games because of the Soviet military intervention in Afghanistan.

In 1984, U.S. Rep. Geraldine Ferraro of New York won the Democratic nomination for vice president by acclamation at the party’s convention in San Francisco.

In 1985, Christa McAuliffe of New Hampshire was chosen to be the first schoolteacher to ride aboard the space shuttle. (McAuliffe and six other crew members died when the Challenger exploded shortly after liftoff in January 1986.)

In 1989, 111 people were killed when a United Air Lines DC-10 crashed while making an emergency landing at Sioux City, Iowa; 185 other people survived.

In 1990, President George H.W. Bush joined former presidents Ronald Reagan, Gerald Ford and Richard Nixon at ceremonies dedicating the Nixon Library and Birthplace (since redesignated the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum) in Yorba Linda, Calif.

Baseball’s all-time hits leader, Pete Rose, was sentenced in Cincinnati to five months in prison for tax evasion.

Ten years ago

President Bill Clinton shuttled between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and his own experts during peace talks at Camp David after delaying his departure for an economic summit in Japan.

Five years ago

President George W. Bush announced his choice of federal appeals court judge John Roberts Jr. to replace Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. (Roberts ended up succeeding Chief Justice William Rehnquist, who died in September 2005; Samuel Alito followed O’Connor.)

One year ago

A Russian-owned civilian helicopter crashed shortly after takeoff from southern Afghanistan’s largest NATO base, killing 16 civilians. Israel rejected a U.S. demand to suspend a planned housing project in east Jerusalem. Stewart Cink won the British Open in a four-hole playoff with Tom Watson. Eighty-one-year-old Hershel McGriff became the oldest driver to take part in a national NASCAR series race, finishing 13th in a Camping World West Series event at Portland International Raceway. Author Frank McCourt, who’d won the Pulitzer Prize for his memoir “Angela’s Ashes,” died in New York at 78.

Today’s Birthdays

Former Sen. George McGovern is 88. Actress Helen Gallagher is 84. Country singer Sue Thompson is 84. Country singer George Hamilton IV is 73. Actor Dennis Cole is 70. Country singer-musician Commander Cody is 66. Actor George Dzundza is 65. Rock singer-musician Alan Gorrie (Average White Band) is 64. Rock musician Brian May is 63. Actress Beverly Archer is 62. Movie director Abel Ferrara is 59. Actor Peter Barton is 54. Rock musician Kevin Haskins (Love and Rockets; Bauhaus) is 50. Actor Campbell Scott is 49. Actor Anthony Edwards is 48. Country singer Kelly Shiver is 47. Country musician Jeremy Patterson is 40. Actor Andrew Kavovit is 39. Rock musician Jason McGerr (Death Cab for Cutie) is 36. Actor Jared Padalecki is 28. Actor Steven Anthony Lawrence is 20.

Thought for Today

“No written law has ever been more binding than unwritten custom supported by popular opinion.”

— Carrie Chapman Catt, American feminist (1859-1947)