Today in History

Today in History

Today is Sunday, July 30, the 211th day of 2017. There are 154 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On July 30, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed a bill creating a women's auxiliary agency in the Navy known as "Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service" -- WAVES for short.

On this date:

In 1619, the first representative assembly in America convened in Jamestown in the Virginia Colony.

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 1864, during the Civil War, Union forces tried to take Petersburg, Virginia, by exploding a gunpowder-laden mine shaft beneath Confederate defense lines; the attack failed.

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 1918, poet Joyce Kilmer, a sergeant in the 165th U.S. Infantry Regiment, was killed during the Second Battle of the Marne in World War I. (Kilmer is remembered for his poem "Trees.")

In 1932, the Summer Olympic Games opened in Los Angeles.

In 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.

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 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; although presumed dead, his remains have never been found.

In 1980, Israel's Knesset passed a law reaffirming all of Jerusalem as the capital of the Jewish state.

In 1997, two men bombed Jerusalem's most crowded outdoor market, killing themselves and 16 others. Eighteen people were killed in a landslide that swept one ski lodge onto another at the Thredbo Alpine Village in southeast Australia.

Ten years ago: President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, meeting at Camp David, forged a unified stand on Iraq, aiming to head off talk of a splintering partnership in the face of an unpopular war. Chief Justice John Roberts was taken to a hospital after a seizure caused him to fall on a dock near his summer home in Maine. A second South Korean hostage was slain by the Taliban in central Afghanistan. Death claimed Swedish movie director Ingmar Bergman at age 89; Italian filmmaker Michelangelo Antonioni at age 94; and Hall of Fame football coach Bill Walsh at age 75.

Five years ago: Republican presidential challenger Mitt Romney, on a visit to Israel, outraged Palestinians by telling Jewish donors that their culture was part of the reason Israel was more economically successful than the Palestinians. At the London Olympics, American teenager Missy Franklin won the women's 100-meter backstroke before Matt Grevers led a 1-2 finish for the U.S. in the men's race. The Chinese won their second straight Olympic title in men's gymnastics and third in four games after a dismal performance in qualifying.

One year ago: Sixteen people died when a hot air balloon caught fire and exploded after hitting high-tension power lines before crashing into a pasture near Lockhart, about 60 miles northeast of San Antonio. A gunman opened fire at a house party near Seattle, killing three 19-year-olds; a suspect pleaded guilty to aggravated first-degree murder and attempted murder and was sentenced to life without parole. Luke Aikins, a 42-year-old skydiver with more than 18,000 jumps, made history when he became the first person to make a planned leap without a parachute or wingsuit, landing in a net at the Big Sky movie ranch on the outskirts of Simi Valley, California. Actress-singer Gloria DeHaven, 91, died in Las Vegas.

Today's Birthdays: Actor Edd "Kookie" Byrnes is 84. Former Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig is 83. Blues musician Buddy Guy is 81. Movie director Peter Bogdanovich is 78. Feminist activist Eleanor Smeal is 78. Former U.S. Rep. Patricia Schroeder is 77. Singer Paul Anka is 76. Jazz musician David Sanborn is 72. Former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is 70. Actor William Atherton is 70. Actor Jean Reno (zhahn rih-NOH') is 69. Blues singer-musician Otis Taylor is 69. Actor Frank Stallone is 67. Actor Ken Olin is 63. Actress Delta Burke is 61. Law professor Anita Hill is 61. Singer-songwriter Kate Bush is 59. Country singer Neal McCoy is 59. Actor Richard Burgi is 59. Movie director Richard Linklater is 57. Actor Laurence Fishburne is 56. Actress Lisa Kudrow is 54. Bluegrass musician Danny Roberts (The Grascals) is 54. Country musician Dwayne O'Brien is 54. Actress Vivica A. Fox is 53. Actor Terry Crews is 49. Actor Simon Baker is 48. Actor Donnie Keshawarz is 48. Movie director Christopher Nolan is 47. Actor Tom Green is 46. Rock musician Brad Hargreaves (Third Eye Blind) is 46. Actress Christine Taylor is 46. Actor-comedian Dean Edwards is 44. Actress Hilary Swank is 43. Olympic gold medal beach volleyball player Misty May-Treanor is 40. Actress Jaime Pressly is 40. Alt-country singer-musician Seth Avett is 37. Actress April Bowlby is 37. Soccer player Hope Solo is 36. Actress Yvonne Strahovski is 35. Actor Martin Starr is 35. Actress Gina Rodriguez is 33. Actor Nico Tortorella is 29. Actress Joey King is 18.

Thought for Today: "Happiness is a reward that comes to those that have not looked for it." -- Emile Chartier, French philosopher (1868-1951).