Today is Friday, July 22, the 203rd day of 2011. There are 162 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History

On July 22, 1861, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution declaring the Civil War was being waged to preserve the Union rather than to end slavery, a stance that would shift as the conflict continued. (The Senate passed a similar resolution three days later.)

On this date

In 1587, an English colony fated to vanish under mysterious circumstances was established on Roanoke Island off North Carolina.

In 1796, Cleveland, Ohio, was founded by Gen. Moses Cleaveland.

In 1893, Wellesley College professor Katharine Lee Bates visited the summit of Pikes Peak, where she was inspired to write the original version of her poem “America the Beautiful.”

In 1916, a bomb went off during a Preparedness Day parade in San Francisco, killing 10 people.

In 1934, bank robber John Dillinger was shot to death by federal agents outside Chicago’s Biograph Theater, where he had just seen the Clark Gable movie “Manhattan Melodrama.”

In 1943, American forces led by Gen. George Patton captured Palermo, Sicily, during World War II.

In 1946, Jewish extremists blew up a wing of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, killing 90 people.

In 1975, the House of Representatives joined the Senate in voting to restore the American citizenship of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.

In 1991, police in Milwaukee arrested Jeffrey Dahmer, who later confessed to murdering 17 men and boys. (Dahmer ended up being beaten to death by a fellow prison inmate.)

In 1995, Susan Smith was convicted by a jury in Union, S.C., of first-degree murder for drowning her two sons. (She was later sentenced to life in prison, and will not be eligible for parole until 2024.)

Five years ago

Israeli tanks, bulldozers and armored personnel carriers knocked down a fence and barreled over the Lebanese border as forces seized the village of Maroun al-Ras from the Hezbollah guerrilla group.

One year ago

President Hugo Chavez severed Venezuela’s diplomatic relations with neighboring Colombia over claims he was harboring leftist guerrillas. Six people were killed when a Greyhound bus crashed into an overturned SUV on a highway in Fresno, Calif. (Authorities later said the SUV driver, who died in the collision, was drunk.)

Today’s Birthdays

Former Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole, R-Kan., is 88. Actor-comedian Orson Bean is 83. Fashion designer Oscar de la Renta is 79. Actress Louise Fletcher is 77. Rhythm-and-blues singer Chuck Jackson is 74. Actor Terence Stamp is 73. Game show host Alex Trebek is 71. Singer George Clinton is 70. Actor-singer Bobby Sherman is 68. Movie writer-director Paul Schrader is 65. Actor Danny Glover is 65. Actor-comedian-director Albert Brooks is 64. Rock singer Don Henley is 64. Movie composer Alan Menken is 62. Singer-actress Lonette McKee is 58. Jazz musician Al Di Meola is 57. Actor Willem Dafoe is 56. Rhythm-and-blues singer Keith Sweat is 50. Actress Joanna Going is 48. Actor Rob Estes is 48. Folk singer Emily Saliers (Indigo Girls) is 48. Actor John Leguizamo is 47. Actor-comedian David Spade is 47. Actor Patrick Labyorteaux is 46. Rock musician Pat Badger is 44. Actress Irene Bedard is 44. Actor Rhys Ifans is 44. Actor Colin Ferguson is 39. Rock musician Daniel Jones is 38. Singer Rufus Wainwright is 38. Actress Franka Potente is 37. Actress A.J. Cook is 33. Actress Selena Gomez is 19.

Thought for Today

“Life is the art of drawing without an eraser.”

— John W. Gardner, American government official (1912-2002)