Just a whiff of the essense of the full AP story from Boston.com LINK

In 1542, Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto died while searching for gold along the Mississippi River.

In 1961, Chrysler Corporation put an end to the DeSoto Automobile. LINK

In 1832, the first Democratic National Convention got under way, in Baltimore. 

In 1881, Clara Barton founded the American Red Cross. 

In 1892, the opera “Pagliacci," by Ruggero Leoncavallo, was first performed, in Milan. 

In 1927, Charles A. Lindbergh landed his Spirit of St. Louis near Paris, completing the first solo airplane flight across the Atlantic Ocean in 33 1/2 hours. 

In 1956, the United States exploded the first airborne hydrogen bomb over Bikini Atoll in the Pacific. 

In 1979, former San Francisco City Supervisor Dan White was convicted of voluntary manslaughter in the slayings of Mayor George Moscone and openly gay Supervisor Harvey Milk. (White was sentenced to seven years and eight months in prison; he ended up serving five years and committed suicide in 1985.) 

In 1980, Ensign Jean Marie Butler became the first woman to graduate from a US service academy as she accepted her degree and commission from the Coast Guard Academy in New London, Conn. 

In 2009, former Private First Class Steven Dale Green, convicted of raping a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and killing her and her family, was spared the death penalty after jurors in Paducah, Ky., couldn’t agree unanimously on a punishment. A 66-year-old woman with terminal cancer became the first person to die under Washington state’s new assisted suicide law.

Today’s birthdays: R&B singer Ron Isley (The Isley Brothers) is 69. Rock musician Hilton Valentine (The Animals) is 67. Actor Richard Hatch is 65. Musician Bill Champlin is 63. Singer Leo Sayer is 62. Actress Carol Potter is 62. Senator Al Franken (D-Minn.) is 59, and you're not. Actor Mr. T is 58. Music producer Stan Lynch is 55. Actor Judge Reinhold is 53. Actor-director Nick Cassavetes is 51. Actor Brent Briscoe is 49. Actress Lisa Edelstein is 42. Actress Fairuza Balk is 36. Rapper Havoc is 36. Actress Ashlie Brillault is 23. Actor Scott Leavenworth is 20. Actress Sarah Ramos is 19.