TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT

July 31, 1991

President George H.W. Bush and Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev signed the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty in Moscow.

ALSO ON THIS DATE

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.

1919

Germany’s Weimar Constitution was adopted by the republic’s National Assembly.

1954

Pakistan’s K2was 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 7reached the moon, transmitting pictures back to Earth before impacting the lunar surface.

1971

Apollo 15crew members David Scott and James Irwin became the first astronauts to use a lunar rover on the surface of the moon.

1992

The former Soviet republic of Georgia was admitted to the United Nations as its 179th member.

2008

Scientists reported the Phoenix spacecraft had confirmed the presence of frozen water in Martian soil.

2013

President Barack Obama’s national security team acknowledged for the first time that, when investigating one suspected terrorist, it could read and store the phone records of millions of Americans.

Actor Don Murray is 89. Jazz composer-musician Kenny Burrell is 87. Actress France Nuyen is 79. Singer Lobo is 75. Entrepreneur Mark Cuban is 60. Actor Wesley Snipes is 56. Country singer Chad Brock is 55. Musician Fatboy Slim is 55. Author J.K. Rowling is 53. Actor Dean Cain is 52. Retired NFL quarterback Gus Frerotte is 47. Country singer-musician Zac Brown is 40. Actor-producer-writer B.J. Novak is 39.