TODAY IN HISTORY

THURSDAY JUL 29, 2021 1958

President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act, creating NASA.

1856

German composer Robert Schumann died in Endenich at age 46.

1890

Artist Vincent van Gogh, 37, died of an apparently selfinflicted gunshot wound in Auvers-sur-oise, France.

1914

Transcontinental telephone service in the U.S. became operational with the first test conversation between New York and San Francisco. Massachusetts’ Cape Cod Canal, offering a shortcut across the base of the peninsula, was officially opened to shipping traffic.

1965

The Beatles’ second feature film, “Help!,” had its world premiere in London.

1967

An accidental rocket launch on the deck of the supercarrier USS Forrestal in the Gulf of Tonkin resulted in a fire and explosions that killed 134 servicemen.

1968

Pope Paul the Sixth reaffirmed the Roman Catholic Church’s stance against artificial methods of birth control.

1974

Singer Cass Elliot died in a London hotel room at age 32.

1975

President Gerald R. Ford became the first U.S. president to visit the site of the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz in Poland.

1980

A state funeral was held in Cairo, Egypt, for the deposed Shah of Iran, who had died two days earlier at age 60.

1981

Britain’s Prince Charles married Lady Diana Spencer in a glittering ceremony at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS

Former Sen. Nancy Kassebaum-baker is 89. Actor Robert Fuller is 88. Former Sen. Elizabeth H. Dole is

85. Actor David Warner is

80. Actor Roz Kelly is 79. Rock musician Neal Doughty (REO Speedwagon) is 75. Marilyn Tucker Quayle, wife of former Vice President Dan Quayle, is 72. Actor Mike Starr is 71. Documentary maker Ken Burns is

68. Style guru Tim Gunn is

68. Rock singer-musician Geddy Lee (Rush) is 68. Rock singer Patti Scialfa (Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band) is 68. Actor Kevin Chapman is 59. Actor Alexandra Paul is 58.