Also on this date
“The Hobbit,” by J.R.R. Tolkien, was first published.
In 1937,
In 1938,
a hurricane struck parts of New York and New England, causing widespread damage and claiming some 700 lives.
In 1970,
“NFL Monday Night Football” made its debut on ABC as the Cleveland Browns defeated the visiting New York Jets, 31-21.
In 1976,
Orlando Letelier, onetime foreign minister to Chilean President Salvador Allende, was killed when a bomb exploded in his car in Washington D.C. (The bombing, which also killed Letelier’s assistant, Ronni Moffitt, was blamed on Chile’s secret police.)
In 1982,
National Football League players began a 57-day strike, their first regular-season walkout ever.
In 1985,
in North Korea and South Korea, family members who had been separated for decades were allowed to visit each other as both countries opened their borders in an unprecedented family-reunion program.
In 1987,
NFL players called a strike, mainly over the issue of free agency. (The 24-day walkout prompted football owners to hire replacement players.)
In 1989,
Hurricane Hugo crashed into Charleston, South Carolina (the storm was blamed for 56 deaths in the Caribbean and 29 in the United States).
In 1996,
President Bill Clinton signed the Defense of Marriage Act denying federal recognition of same-sex marriages, a day after saying the law should not be used as an excuse for discrimination, violence or intimidation against gays and lesbians. (Although never formally repealed, DoMA was effectively overturned by U.S. Supreme Court decisions in 2013 and 2015.)
The mayor and excity manager of the Los Angeles suburb of Bell were among eight current and former city officials arrested in a corruption scandal that authorities said cost the blue-collar city more than $5.5 million in excessive salaries and illegal personal loans.
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker abandoned his bid for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination.
In a tweet, President Donald Trump said his July conversation with Ukraine’s president was “perfectly fine and routine,” and added: “Nothing was said that was in any way wrong.”
Associated Press