On this day, July 28 ...

2009: The Senate Judiciary Committee approves Judge Sonia Sotomayor to be the U.S. Supreme Court's first Hispanic justice, over nearly solid Republican opposition.

Also on this day:

1609: The English ship Sea Venture, commanded by Adm. Sir George Somers, runs ashore on Bermuda, where the passengers and crew founded a colony.

1914: World War I begins as Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia.

1915: More than 300 American sailors and Marines arrive in Haiti to restore order following the killing of Haitian President Vilbrun Guillaume Sam by rebels, beginning a 19-year U.S. occupation.

More than 300 American sailors and Marines arrive in Haiti to restore order following the killing of Haitian President Vilbrun Guillaume Sam by rebels, beginning a 19-year U.S. occupation. 1945: A U.S. Army bomber crashes into the 79th floor of New York's Empire State Building, killing 14 people.

1965: President Lyndon B. Johnson announces he's increasing the number of American troops in South Vietnam from 75,000 to 125,000 "almost immediately."

1976: An earthquake devastates northern China, killing at least 242,000 people, according to an official estimate.

An earthquake devastates northern China, killing at least 242,000 people, according to an official estimate. 1984: The Los Angeles Summer Olympics opens.

The Los Angeles Summer Olympics opens. 2006: Mel Gibson goes into an anti-Semitic tirade as he is being arrested on the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu, Calif., on suspicion of driving while drunk; Gibson would later apologize and be sentenced to probation and alcohol treatment.

Mel Gibson goes into an anti-Semitic tirade as he is being arrested on the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu, Calif., on suspicion of driving while drunk; Gibson would later apologize and be sentenced to probation and alcohol treatment. 2017: The Senate votes 51-49 to reject Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's last-ditch effort to dismantle President Obama's health-care overhaul with a trimmed-down bill. John McCain, who was about to begin treatments for a brain tumor, joins two other GOP senators in voting against the repeal effort.