Today in History
Today is Monday, July 30, the 211th day of 2018. There are 154 days left in the year.
Today's Highlight in History:
On July 30, 1945, the Portland class heavy cruiser USS Indianapolis, having just delivered components of the atomic bomb to Tinian in the Mariana Islands, was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine; only 317 out of nearly 1,200 men survived.
On this date:
In 1619, the first representative assembly in America convened in Jamestown in the Virginia Colony.
In 1864, during the Civil War, Union forces tried to take Petersburg, Virginia, by exploding a gunpowder-laden mine shaft beneath Confederate defense lines; the attack failed.
In 1916, German saboteurs blew up a munitions plant on Black Tom, an island near Jersey City, New Jersey, killing about a dozen people.
In 1932, the Summer Olympic Games opened in Los Angeles.
In 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed a bill creating a women's auxiliary agency in the Navy known as "Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service" — WAVES for short.
In 1956, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed a measure making "In God We Trust" the national motto, replacing "E Pluribus Unum" (Out of many, one).
In 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed a measure creating Medicare, which began operating the following year.
In 1975, former Teamsters union president Jimmy Hoffa disappeared in suburban Detroit; although presumed dead, his remains have never been found.
In 1980, Israel's Knesset passed a law reaffirming all of Jerusalem as the capital of the Jewish state.
In 2001, Robert Mueller (MUHL'-ur), President George W. Bush's choice to head the FBI, promised the Senate Judiciary Committee that if confirmed, he would move forcefully to fix problems at the agency. (Mueller became FBI director on Sept. 4, 2001, a week before the 9/11 attacks.)
In 2002, WNBA player Lisa Leslie of the Los Angeles Sparks became the first woman to dunk in a professional game, jamming on a breakaway in the first half of the Sparks' 82-73 loss to the Miami Sol.
In 2003, President George W. Bush took personal responsibility for the first time for using discredited intelligence in his State of the Union address, but predicted he would be vindicated for going to war against Iraq.
Ten years ago: Ex-Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic (RA'-doh-van KA'-rajich) was extradited to The Hague to face genocide charges after nearly 13 years on the run. President George W. Bush quietly signed a housing bill he'd once threatened to veto; it was intended to rescue some cash-strapped homeowners in fear of foreclosure. Amid corruption allegations and his own plummeting popularity, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert (EH'-hood OHL'-murt) announced he would resign.
Five years ago: U.S. Army Pfc. Bradley Manning was acquitted of aiding the enemy — the most serious charge he faced — but was convicted of espionage, theft and other charges at Fort Meade, Maryland, more than three years after he'd spilled secrets to WikiLeaks. (The former intelligence analyst, now known as Chelsea Manning, was later sentenced to up to 35 years in prison. The sentence was commuted by President Barack Obama in his final days in office.) Former Sen. Harry F. Byrd Jr., 98, died in Winchester, Virginia.