TODAY IN HISTORY
Today is Sunday, July 30, the 211th day of 2017. There are 154 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History
On July 30, 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.
On this date
1619 — The first representative assembly in America convened in Jamestown in the Virginia Colony. 1792 — The French national anthem “La Marseillaise,” by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle, was first sung in Paris by troops arriving from Marseille. 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. 1916 — German saboteurs blew up a munitions plant on Black Tom, an island near Jersey City, New Jersey, killing about a dozen people. 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. 1956 — President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed a measure making “In God We Trust” the national motto, replacing “E Pluribus Unum” (Out of many, one). 1965 — President Lyndon B. Johnson signed a measure creating Medicare, which began operating the following year. 1975 — Former Teamsters union president Jimmy Hoffa disappeared in suburban Detroit; although presumed dead, his remains have never been found. 1997 — Two men bombed Jerusalem’s most crowded outdoor market, killing themselves and 16 others.
One year ago
Sixteen people died when a hot air balloon caught fire and exploded after hitting power lines before crashing into a pasture near Lockhart, about 60 miles northeast of San Antonio.
Luke Aikins, a 42-year-old skydiver with more than 18,000 jumps, made history when he became the first person to make a planned leap without a parachute or wingsuit, landing in a net at the Big Sky movie ranch on the outskirts of Simi Valley, California.
Today’s Birthdays
Actor Edd “Kookie” Byrnes is 84. Former Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig is 83. Blues musician Buddy Guy is 81. Movie director Peter Bogdanovich is 78. Singer Paul Anka is 76. Former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is 70. Actor Jean Reno is 69. Actor Ken Olin is 63. Actress Delta Burke is 61. Law professor Anita Hill is 61. Singer-songwriter Kate Bush is 59. Movie director Richard Linklater is 57. Actor Laurence Fishburne is 56. Actress Lisa Kudrow is 54. Actress Vivica A. Fox is 53. Actor Simon Baker is 48. Actor Donnie Keshawarz is 48. Movie director Christopher Nolan is 47. Actor Tom Green is 46. Actress Hilary Swank is 43. Actress Jaime Pressly is 40. Soccer player Hope Solo is 36. Actress Gina Rodriguez is 33. Actor Nico Tortorella is 29. Actress Joey King is 18.