On This Day, July 27: Truce ends Korean War

A U.S. Marine orders captured North Korean soldiers to keep their hands up in 1950. On July 27, 1953, a truce officially ended the Korean War, which had begun June 25, 1950. UPI File Photo
A U.S. Marine orders captured North Korean soldiers to keep their hands up in 1950. On July 27, 1953, a truce officially ended the Korean War, which had begun June 25, 1950. UPI File Photo
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.

July 27 (UPI) -- On this date in history:

In 1794, Maximilien Robespierre, architect of the French Revolution's Reign of Terror, was overthrown and arrested by the National Convention. Robespierre, who encouraged the execution, mostly by guillotine, of more than 17,000 enemies of the revolution, was himself guillotined the following day.

In 1909, Orville Wright set a record by staying aloft in a plane for 1 hour, 12 minutes, 40 seconds.

In 1921, at the University of Toronto, Canadian scientists Frederick Banting and Charles Best successfully isolated insulin -- a hormone they believed could prevent diabetes -- for the first time.

In 1953, a truce officially ended the Korean War, which had begun June 25, 1950.

Fireworks go off prior to the Olympic flame lighting at the opening ceremony at the London 2012 Summer Olympic Games on July 27, 2012. File Photo by Ron Sachs/UPI
Fireworks go off prior to the Olympic flame lighting at the opening ceremony at the London 2012 Summer Olympic Games on July 27, 2012. File Photo by Ron Sachs/UPI
File Photo courtesy of the Harry S. Truman Library & Museum
File Photo courtesy of the Harry S. Truman Library & Museum

In 1974, the House judiciary committee voted to recommend impeachment of President Richard Nixon in the Watergate scandal. The 37th president resigned less than two weeks later.

On July 27, 1996, a bomb exploded at Olympic Park in Atlanta during the Summer Games, killing two people and injuring more than 100 other people. File Photo by Michael Barera/Wikimedia
On July 27, 1996, a bomb exploded at Olympic Park in Atlanta during the Summer Games, killing two people and injuring more than 100 other people. File Photo by Michael Barera/Wikimedia

In 1986, Greg LeMond, 25, of Sacramento, became the first American to win cycling's most famous contest, the Tour de France.

File Photo by Steve Selwood/Wikimedia Commons
File Photo by Steve Selwood/Wikimedia Commons
On July 27, 1974, the House judiciary committee voted to recommend impeachment of President Richard Nixon in the Watergate scandal. The 37 president resigned less than two weeks later. (File Photo by Darryl Heikes/UPI
On July 27, 1974, the House judiciary committee voted to recommend impeachment of President Richard Nixon in the Watergate scandal. The 37 president resigned less than two weeks later. (File Photo by Darryl Heikes/UPI

In 1989, a Korean Air DC-10 crashed in heavy fog while attempting to land at Tripoli airport in Libya, killing 82 people, four of them on the ground.

In 1996, a bomb exploded at Olympic Park in Atlanta during the Summer Games, killing two people and injuring more than 100 other people.

Orville Wright, Charles Lindbergh and Howard Hughe attend the 1934 Aircraft Engineering Research Conference at Langley Research Center's Full-Scale Tunnel. On July 27, 1909, Wright set a record by staying aloft in a plane for 1 hour, 12 minutes, 40 seconds. File Photo courtesy of NASA
Orville Wright, Charles Lindbergh and Howard Hughe attend the 1934 Aircraft Engineering Research Conference at Langley Research Center's Full-Scale Tunnel. On July 27, 1909, Wright set a record by staying aloft in a plane for 1 hour, 12 minutes, 40 seconds. File Photo courtesy of NASA

In 2012, the Summer Olympics opened in London, with 10,820 athletes representing 204 countries.

In 2020, Rep. John Lewis became the first Black lawmaker to lay in state in the Capitol Rotunda 10 days after his death from cancer.

In 2021, Carissa Moore of the United States and Italo Ferreira of Brazil took home the inaugural gold medals in surfing at the Tokyo Summer Olympic Games.

In 2022, a rare pink diamond weighing 170 carats was unearthed in Angola. The gem, dubbed the Lulo Rose, was the largest discovered in 300 years.