TODAY IN HISTORY
Today is Monday, July 31, the 212th day of 2017. There are 153 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History
On July 31, 1777, during the Revolutionary War, the Marquis de Lafayette, a 19-year-old French nobleman, was made a major-general in the American Continental Army.
On this date
1556 — St. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Society of Jesus, died in Rome. 1875 — The 17th president of the United States, Andrew Johnson, died in Carter County, Tennessee, at age 66. 1919 — Germany’s Weimar Constitution was adopted by the republic’s National Assembly. 1930 — The radio character “The Shadow” made his debut as narrator of the “Detective Story Hour” on CBS Radio. 1942 — Oxfam International had its beginnings as the Oxford Committee for Famine Relief was founded in England. 1954 — Pakistan’s K2 was conquered as two members of an Italian expedition, Achille Compagnoni and Lino Lacedelli, reached the summit. 1957 — The Distant Early Warning Line, a system of radar stations designed to detect Soviet bombers approaching North America, went into operation. 1964 — The American space probe Ranger 7 reached the moon, transmitting pictures back to Earth before impacting the lunar surface. 1989 — A pro-Iranian group in Lebanon released a grisly videotape showing the body of American hostage William R. Higgins, a Marine lieutenant-colonel, dangling from a rope. 1991 — President George H.W. Bush and Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev signed the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty in Moscow. 1992 — The former Soviet republic of Georgia was admitted to the United Nations as its 179th member. Thai Airways Flight 311, an Airbus A310, crashed while approaching Tribhuvan International Airport in Nepal; all 113 people aboard died.
Five years ago
Three Indian electric grids collapsed in a cascade, cutting power to 620 million people in the world’s biggest blackout.
Today’s Birthdays
Actor Don Murray is 88. Actress Susan Flannery is 78. Singer Lobo is 74. Actress Geraldine Chaplin is 73. Former movie studio executive Sherry Lansing is 73. Singer Gary Lewis is 72. Actor Barry Van Dyke is 66. Actor Alan Autry is 65. Actor James Read is 64. Rock singer-musician Daniel Ash (Love and Rockets) is 60. Actor Dirk Blocker is 60. Entrepreneur Mark Cuban is 59. Rock musician Bill Berry is 59. Actor Wally Kurth is 59. Actor Wesley Snipes is 55. Country singer Chad Brock is 54. Musician Fatboy Slim is 54. Author J.K. Rowling is 52. Actor Ben Chaplin is 48. Actor Loren Dean is 48. Actress Eve Best is 46. Actress Annie Parisse is 42. Country singer-musician Zac Brown is 39. Actor Eric Lively is 36. Actor Reese Hartwig is 19. Actor Rico Rodriguez is 19.