Today in history
On July 5, 1801, American naval hero David Farragut was born near Knoxville, Tenn.
In 1810 Phineas Taylor Barnum, the circus showman known as “P.T.,” was born in Bethel, Conn.
In 1935 President Franklin Roosevelt signed the National Labor Relations Act, which provided for a National Labor Relations Board, and authorized labor to organize for the purpose of collective bargaining.
In 1947 Larry Doby became the second black player in modern major league baseball and the first in the American League when he signed a contract with the Cleveland Indians. (The signing came 81 days after Jackie Robinson had signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers.)
In 1948 Britain’s National Health Service Act took effect, providing government-funded medical and dental care.
In 1954 Elvis Presley’s first commercial recording session took place at Sun Records in Memphis. The result was “That’s All Right (Mama).”
In 1969 Walter Gropius, the German architect who founded the Bauhaus school of design, died in Boston; he was 86.
In 1980 Sweden’s Bjorn Borg won the Wimbledon men’s singles title for the fifth consecutive year.
In1995 more than 100 Grateful Dead fans were injured when a deck on which they were gathered collapsed at a campground near Wentzville, Mo.
In 1997 for the first time in human history, a mechanism produced on earth roamed the surface of Mars when a robot rover began creeping away from its mothership, the U.S.-launched Pathfinder, which had landed on the planet the previous day. Also in 1997, Martina Hingis, 16, defeated Jana Novotna for the women’s crown at Wimbledon, making her the British tennis tournament’s youngest singles champion of this century.
In 2000 at the United Nations, President Bill Clinton signed an international agreement to ban the forcible recruitment of youths as soldiers in armed conflict, and a companion accord to protect children from being forced into slavery, prostitution and pornography. Also in 2000, the UN Security Council imposed a diamond ban on Sierra Leone’s rebels in a bid to strangle their ability to finance a civil war.
In 2002 Ted Williams, the Boston Red Sox slugger who was the last major leaguer to bat more than .400 for a season (.406 in 1941), died in Inverness, Fla.; he was 83.
In 2003 suicide bombers killed 14 people at a Moscow rock festival. Also in 2003, Serena Williams beat sister Venus for her second straight Wimbledon title. Also in 2003, police in Namibia reported the death of N!xau, the diminutive bushman who starred in “The Gods Must Be Crazy”; he was thought to be 59 years old.
In 2005 retired Vice Adm. James Stockdale, a war hero who was Ross Perot’s 1992 presidential running mate, died in Coronado, Calif.; he was 81.
In 2007 in a setback to President George W. Bush’s war strategy, GOP stalwart Sen. Pete Domenici said he wanted to see an end to combat operations and U.S. troops heading home from Iraq by spring 2008. Also in 2007, French opera great Regine Crespin died in Paris at age 80.