TODAY IN HISTORY
TODAY IS SATURDAY, JULY 29,
the 210th day of 2017. There are 155 days left in the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN HISTORY:
On this date in 1967, an accidental rocket launch on the deck of the supercarrier USS Forrestal in the Gulf of Tonkin resulted in a fire and explosions that killed 134 servicemen. Among the survivors was future U.S. Sen. John McCain of Arizona.
In 1030, the patron saint of Norway, King Olaf II, was killed in battle.
In 1588, the English attacked the Spanish Armada in the Battle of Gravelines, resulting in an English victory. In 1890, artist Vincent van Gogh, 37, died of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound in Auvers-sur-Oise, France. In 1914, transcontinental telephone service in the U.S. became operational with the first test conversation between New York and San Francisco.
In 1921, Adolf Hitler became the leader (“fuehrer”) of the National Socialist German Workers Party.
In 1948, Britain’s King George VI opened the Olympic Games in London.
In 1958, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act, creating NASA.
In 1975, President Gerald R. Ford became the first U.S. president to visit the site of the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz in Poland.
In 1981, Britain’s Prince Charles married Lady Diana Spencer at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London.
In 1994, abortion opponent Paul Hill shot and killed Dr. John Bayard Britton and Britton’s bodyguard, James H. Barrett, outside the Ladies Center clinic in Pensacola, Fla.
In 2004, Sen. John Kerry accepted the Democratic presidential nomination at the party’s convention in Boston.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Former Sen. Nancy Kassebaum-Baker is 85. Former Sen. Elizabeth H. Dole is 81. Rock musician Neal Doughty (REO Speedwagon) is 71. Marilyn Tucker Quayle, wife of former Vice President Dan Quayle, is 68. Documentary maker Ken Burns, style guru Tim Gunn, rock singer-musician Geddy Lee (Rush) and rock singer Patti Scialfa are 64. Country singer Martina McBride is 51. Actor Rodney Allen Rippy is 49. Actors Ato Essandoh and Wil Wheaton are 45. Rhythm-and-blues singer Wanya Morris (Boyz II Men) and actor Stephen Dorff are 44. Actor Josh Radnor is 43. Hip-hop DJ/music producer Danger Mouse is 40. Actress Rachel Miner is 37. Actor Matt Prokop is 27.