TODAY IN HISTORY

Today is Friday, July 31, the 212th day of 2015. There are 153 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History

On July 31, 1715, a fleet of Spanish ships carrying gold, silver and jewelry sank during a hurricane off the east Florida coast, scattering most of their treasure along the ocean floor. Of some 2,500 crew members, more than 1,000 died.

On this date

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

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.

1964 — The American space probe Ranger 7 reached the moon, transmitting pictures back to Earth before impacting the lunar surface.

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

1973 — Delta Air Lines Flight 723, a DC-9, crashed while trying to land at Boston’s Logan International Airport, killing all 89 people on board.

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.