Today in History

Today is Tuesday, July 30, the 211th day of 2019. There are 154 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On July 30, 1956, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed a measure making "In God We Trust" the national motto, replacing "E Pluribus Unum" (Out of many, one).

On this date:

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

In 1729, Baltimore, Md. was founded.

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 1916, German saboteurs blew up a munitions plant on Black Tom, an island near Jersey City, New Jersey, killing about a dozen people.

In 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.

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 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 2001, Robert Mueller, President George W. Bush's choice to head the FBI, promised the Senate Judiciary Committee that if confirmed, he would move forcefully to fix problems at the agency. (Mueller became FBI director on Sept. 4, 2001, a week before the 9/11 attacks.)

In 2002, WNBA player Lisa Leslie of the Los Angeles Sparks became the first woman to dunk in a professional game, jamming on a breakaway in the first half of the Sparks' 82-73 loss to the Miami Sol.

In 2003, President George W. Bush took personal responsibility for the first time 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: Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Sgt. James Crowley, the Cambridge, Massachusetts, police officer who'd arrested him for disorderly conduct at his home, had beers with President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden at the White House to discuss the dispute that unleashed a furor over racial profiling in America.

Five years ago: The House overwhelmingly approved, 420-5, a landmark bill to refurbish the Veterans Affairs Department and improve veterans' health care. Three Israeli artillery shells slammed into a United Nations school in Gaza crowded with some 3,300 people; the shells, which Israel said came in response to mortar fire nearby, killed 17 people.

One year ago: Zimbabwe voted for the first time without Robert Mugabe on the ballot; there were long lines at some polling stations. President Donald Trump said he'd be willing to meet with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani "anytime" with "no preconditions." More than 27,000 people remained evacuated because of a Northern California wildfire that ranked as the ninth most destructive blaze in the state's history; the fire in the area of Redding had destroyed more than 800 homes and left two firefighters and four civilians dead. Ron Dellums, an anti-war activist who championed social justice as Northern California's first black congressman, died of cancer at his home in Washington at the age of 82.

Today's Birthdays: Actor Edd "Kookie" Byrnes is 86. Former Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig is 85. Blues musician Buddy Guy is 83. Movie director Peter Bogdanovich is 80. Feminist activist Eleanor Smeal is 80. Former U.S. Rep. Patricia Schroeder is 79. Singer Paul Anka is 78. Jazz musician David Sanborn is 74. Former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is 72. Actor William Atherton is 72. Actor Jean Reno is 71. Blues singer-musician Otis Taylor is 71. Actor Frank Stallone is 69. Actor Ken Olin is 65. Actress Delta Burke is 63. Law professor Anita Hill is 63. Singer-songwriter Kate Bush is 61. Country singer Neal McCoy is 61. Actor Richard Burgi is 61. Movie director Richard Linklater is 59. Actor Laurence Fishburne is 58. Actress Lisa Kudrow is 56. Bluegrass musician Danny Roberts (The Grascals) is 56. Country musician Dwayne O'Brien is 56. Actress Vivica A. Fox is 55. Actor Terry Crews is 51. Actor Simon Baker is 50. Actor Donnie Keshawarz is 50. Movie director Christopher Nolan is 49. Actor Tom Green is 48. Rock musician Brad Hargreaves (Third Eye Blind) is 48. Actress Christine Taylor is 48. Actor-comedian Dean Edwards is 46. Actress Hilary Swank is 45. Olympic gold medal beach volleyball player Misty May-Treanor is 42. Actress Jaime Pressly is 42. Alt-country singer-musician Seth Avett is 39. Actress April Bowlby is 39. Soccer player Hope Solo is 38. Actress Yvonne Strahovski is 37. Actor Martin Starr is 37. Actress Gina Rodriguez is 35. Actor Nico Tortorella is 31. Actress Joey King is 20.

Thought for Today: "An efficient bureaucracy is the greatest threat to liberty." -- Sen. Eugene McCarthy (1916-2005).