SUNDAY IN HISTORY

Today is Sunday, July 31, the 213th day of 2016. There are 153 days left in the year.

Highlight in History:

On July 31, 1991, President GeorgeH.W. Bush and Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev signed the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty in Moscow.

On this date:

In 1715, a fleet of Spanish ships carrying gold, silver and jewelry sank during a hurricane off the east Florida coast; of some2,500 crewmembers, more than 1,000 died.

In 1777, the Marquis de Lafayette, a 19-year-old French nobleman, was made a major-general in the American Continental Army.

In 1875, the 17th president of the United States, Andrew Johnson, died in Carter County, Tenn., at age 66.

In 1942, Oxfam International had its beginnings as the Oxford Committee for Famine Relief was founded in England.

In 1954, Pakistan’s K2 was conquered as twomembers of an Italian expedition, Achille Compagnoni and Lino Lacedelli, reached thesummit.

In 1964, the American space probeRanger 7 reached the moon, transmitting pictures back to Earth before impacting the lunar surface.

In 1972, Democratic vice-presidential candidate Thomas Eagleton withdrew from the ticket with George McGovern following disclosures that Eagleton had once undergone psychiatric treatment.

Ten years ago: Cuban President Fidel Castro ceded provisional power to his brother, Raul, after gastrointestinal surgery.

Five years ago: Ending a stalemate, President Barack Obama and congressional leaders announced an agreement on emergency legislation to avert the nation’s first-ever financial default.

One year ago: A firebombing in the West Bank village of Duma killed 18-monthold Ali Dawabsheh and his parents; AmiramBen-Uliel, a Jewish settler, has been charged with murder.

Today’s Birthdays: Jazz composer-musician Kenny Burrell is 85. Actress France Nuyen is 77. International Tennis Hall of Famer Evonne Goolagong Cawley is 65. Entrepreneur Mark Cuban is 58. Actor Wesley Snipes is 54. Musician Fatboy Slim is 53. Author J.K. Rowling is 51. ActorDeanCainis 50. Retired NFLquarterbackGus Frerotte is 45. Country singer-musician Zac Brown is 38.

Thought for Today: “Only government can take perfectly good paper, cover it with perfectly good ink and make the combination worthless.” — Milton Friedman, American economist (born this date in 1912, died in 2006).