Good morning, today is Friday, July 27, 2012...TGIF!

On this date in:

1694 The Bank of England received a royal charter as a commercial institution.

1789 Congress established the Department of Foreign Affairs, the forerunner of the Department of State.

1861 Union Gen. George B. McClellan was put in command of the Army of the Potomac.

1866 After two failures, Cyrus W. Field succeeded in laying the first underwater telegraph cable between North America and Europe.

1940 Bugs Bunny made his official debut in the Warner Bros. animated cartoon ''A Wild Hare.''

1967 In the wake of urban rioting, President Johnson appointed the Kerner Commission to assess the causes of the violence. The same day, black militant H. Rap Brown said violence was ''as American as cherry pie.''

1974 The House Judiciary Committee voted 27-11 to recommend President Nixon's impeachment on a charge that he had personally engaged in a ''course of conduct'' designed to obstruct justice in the Watergate case.

1992 Boston Celtics star Reggie Lewis died after collapsing on a Brandeis University basketball court during practice; he was 27.

1995 The Korean War Veterans Memorial was dedicated in Washington, D.C., by President Clinton and South Korean President Kim Young-sam.

1996 Terror struck the Atlanta Olympics as a pipe bomb exploded at the public Centennial Olympic Park, killing one person and injuring more than 100.