TODAY IN HISTORY
On July 30, 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.
Also on this date
In 1792,
the French national anthem “La Marseillaise,” by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle, was first sung in Paris by troops arriving from Marseille.
In 1908,
the first round-the-world automobile race, which had begun in New York in February, ended in Paris with the drivers of the American car, a Thomas Flyer, declared the winners over teams from Germany and Italy.
In 1916,
German saboteurs blew up a munitions plant on Black Tom, an island near Jersey City, New Jersey, killing about a dozen people.
In 1956,
President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed a measure making “In God We Trust” the national motto, replacing “E Pluribus Unum” (Out of many, one).
In 1960,
the recently founded American Football League saw its first pre-season game, in which the Boston Patriots defeated the host Buffalo Bills, 28-7.
In 1965,
President Lyndon B. Johnson signed a measure creating Medicare, which began operating the following year.
In 1975,
former Teamsters union president Jimmy Hoffa disappeared in suburban Detroit; his remains have never been found.
In 2003,
President George W. Bush took personal responsibility for using discredited intelligence in his State of the Union address, but predicted he would be vindicated for going to war against Iraq.
Ten years ago:
A 12-year-old Florida girl was seriously injured when she plunged about 100 feet to the ground from an amusement park free-fall ride in Lake Delton, Wisconsin. (Nets and air bags that were supposed to catch Teagan Marti had not been deployed.)
Five years ago:
The Associated Press released the results of a fivemonth independent study it had commissioned which found that athletes competing in the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro would be swimming and boating in waters so rife with sewage bacteria and viruses, they faced the risk of becoming seriously ill.
One year ago:
President Donald Trump marked the 400th anniversary of American democracy at an event in Jamestown, Virginia; it was boycotted by Black Virginia lawmakers angered by Trump’s disparagement of veteran Black congressman Elijah Cummings.