Today is Tuesday, July 26, the 207th day of 2005. There are 158 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On July 26, 1945, Winston Churchill resigned as Britain’s prime minister after his Conservatives were soundly defeated by the Labor Party. (Clement Attlee became the new prime minister.)
On this date:
In 1775, Benjamin Franklin became Postmaster-General.
In 1788, New York became the 11th state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.
In 1908, U.S. Attorney General Charles J. Bonaparte issued an order creating an investigative agency that was a forerunner of the FBI.
In 1947, President Truman signed the National Security Act, creating the Department of Defense, the National Security Council, the Central Intelligence Agency and the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
In 1952, Adlai E. Stevenson was nominated for president by the Democratic National Convention in Chicago; John J. Sparkman was nominated for vice president.
In 1952, Argentina’s first lady, Eva Peron, died in Buenos Aires at age 33.
In 1952, King Farouk I of Egypt abdicated in the wake of a coup led by Gamal Abdel Nasser.
In 1953, Fidel Castro began his revolt against Fulgencio Batista with an unsuccessful attack on an army barracks in eastern Cuba. (Castro ousted Batista in 1959.)
In 1971, Apollo 15 was launched from Cape Kennedy in Florida.
In 1990, President Bush signed into law the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Ten years ago: The Senate voted 69-29 to unilaterally lift the U.N. embargo on arms shipments to Bosnia. Former Michigan Gov. George W. Romney died at age 88.
Five years ago: George W. Bush and his just-chosen running mate, Dick Cheney, set out on their first campaign excursion together as they visited Cheney’s former hometown of Casper, Wyo. A federal judge in New York approved a $1.25 billion settlement between Swiss banks and more than a half million plaintiffs who alleged the banks had hoarded money deposited by Holocaust victims.
One year ago: The Democratic Party’s 44th national convention opened in Boston under extraordinarily tight security; a parade of speakers castigated George W. Bush as a president who mishandled the economy and bungled the war on terror. Mohammed Mamdouh Helmi Qutb, an Egyptian diplomat held hostage by militants in Iraq for three days, was released after successful negotiations.
Today’s Birthdays: Movie director Blake Edwards is 83. Actor James Best is 79. Singer Dobie Gray is 65. Actress-singer Darlene Love is 64. Singer Brenton Wood is 64. Rock star Mick Jagger is 62. Movie director Peter Hyams is 62. Actress Helen Mirren is 60. Rock musician Roger Taylor (Queen) is 56. Actress Susan George is 55. Actor Kevin Spacey is 46. Rock singer Gary Cherone is 44. Actress Sandra Bullock is 41. Actor Jeremy Piven is 40. Rapper-reggae singer Wayne Wonder is 39. Actress Kate Beckinsale is 32. Gospel/Contemporary Christian singer Rebecca St. James is 28.
Thought for Today: “Government is too big and important to be left to the politicians.” — Chester Bowles, American diplomat, businessman, author — and politician (1901-1986).