A bit of July 31st history…

30 BC - Battle of Alexandria: Mark Anthony achieves minor victory over Octavian, but most of his army subsequently deserts, leading to Octavian’s invasion of Egypt

1792 - Cornerstone laid for 1st US Government building - US Mint in Philadelphia

1989 - The Game Boy handheld video game was released in US (pictured)

1991 - Russia and US sign long range nuclear weapons reduction pact

1991 - US Senate votes to allow women to fly combat aircraft

2012 - Michael Phelps becomes greatest medal winner in Olympic history (overall career: 28 medals, 23 of them gold) 

On July 31, 1816, George H. Thomas was born in Southampton County, Virginia.  Continue reading.

Patrick Francis Healy, SJ, was inaugurated as president of Georgetown University on July 31, 1874.  Continue reading.

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A bit of July 30th history…

101 BC - Battle of Vercellae: Roman army under Gaius Marius defeats the Cimbri in Cisalpine Gaul, ending the Celto-Germanic threat on Italy’s border with over 100,000 Cimbri killed

1619 - House of Burgesses form in Virginia - 1st elective American body(pictured)

1863 - President Lincoln issues “eye-for-eye” order - to shoot a rebel prisoner for every black prisoner shot

1928 - George Eastman shows 1st amateur color motion picture to guests at his NY house including Thomas Edison

1932 - Walt Disney’s “Flowers and Trees” premiers; 1st academy award winning cartoon and 1st cartoon short to use Technicolor

1935 - 1st penguin book is published, starting the paperback revolution

1945 - After delivering the Atomic Bomb across the Pacific, the cruiser USS Indianapolis is torpedoed and sunk by Japanese submarine; only 316 out of 1196 survived, most were attacked by sharks (see Jaws)

1965 - US President Johnson signed into law Social Security Act that established Medicare and Medicaid; went into effect following year

1974 - US House of Reps Judiciary Committee voted to impeach Nixon for blocking Watergate investigation and for abuse of power

2006 - World’s longest running music show “Top of the Pops”is broadcast for the last time - aired for 42 years 

On July 30, 1932, United States Vice President Charles Curtis declared, "I proclaim open the Olympic Games of Los Angeles, celebrating the tenth Olympiad of the modern era."   Continue reading.

Automobile manufacturer Henry Ford was born on July 30,1863, on his family's farm in what is present-day Dearborn, Michigan.  Continue reading.

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A bit of July 29th history…

1609 - Samuel de Champlain shoots and kills 2 Iroquois chiefs at Ticonderoga, NY setting stage for French-Iroquois conflicts for next 150 years

1848 - Irish Potato Famine: Tipperary Revolt - an unsuccessful nationalist revolt against British rule put down by police

1907 - Sir Robert Baden-Powell forms Boy Scouts in England

1920 - Mexican rebel Pancho Villa surrenders (pictured)

1951 - “Fellowship of the Ring”, 1st volume of “Lord of the Rings” by JRR Tolkien is published

1958 - US President Eisenhower signs into law National Aeronautics ans Space Act (NASA) of 1958

1968 - Pope Paul VI declares any artificial forms of birth control prohibited

2019 - “Old Town Road” by Lil Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus gained record for longest running #1 single on US charts - 17 weeks 

On July 29, 1858, the United States and Japan signed the Treaty of Amity and Commerce (the Harris Treaty).  Continue reading.

Don Carter, one of the greatest professional bowlers of all time, was born in St. Louis, Missouri, on July 29, 1926.  Continue reading.

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A bit of July 28th history…

1586 - Sir Thomas Harriot introduces potatoes to Europe on return to England

1794 - French Revolutionary figure Maximilien Robespierre and 22 other leaders of “the Terror” guillotined in Paris(pictured) 

1858 - 1st use of fingerprints as a means of identification is made

1868 - 14th Amendment is ratified - due process of law

1914 - Austria-Hungary decides against mediation and declares war on Serbia - 1st declaration of war of WWI

1932 - US President Hoover uses federal troops to evict the Bonus Army (WWI veterans and their families) from their encampment, 4 die

On July 28, 1868, Secretary of State William Seward issued a proclamation certifying without reservation that the Fourteenth Amendment was a part of the United States Constitution.  Continue reading.

One of America's most prominent first ladies, Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis was born on July 28, 1929.   Continue reading. 

On July 28, 1932, veterans known as the "Bonus Army",  who had gathered in the nation's capital to demand certain benefits for their military service during World War I, were confronted by Federal troops on the orders of President Herbert Hoover.  Continue reading.

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A bit of July 27th history…

1586 - Walter Raleigh brings 1st tobacco to England from Virginia

1789 - US Congress establishes Department of Foreign Affairs, now referred to as State Department

1866 - Atlantic telegraph cable successfully laid - 1686 miles long

1890 - Dutch painter Vincent Van Gogh shoots himself, dies of injuries 2 days later (pictured)

1921 - Insulin is isolated

1940 - Bugs Bunny first debuts in “Wild Hare”

1953 -  North Korea and the United Nations sign armistice to stop fighting and divide Korea at the 38th parallel

1965 - Federal Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act was signed into law - requires health warnings on all cigarette packages

2003 - It was reported by the BBC that there was no monster in Loch Ness; The investigation used 600 separate sonar beams and satellite navigation technology to trawl the Loch 

Architect Cyrus Lazelle Warner Eidlitz was born on July 27, 1853, in New York City.  Continue reading.

On July 27, 1946, American avant-garde writer and art connoisseur Gertrude Stein died in France.  Continue reading.

Click here to search Today in History for other historic moments.