Today is Saturday, July 30, the 211th day of 2005. There are 154 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
In July 30, 1945, during World War II, the battle cruiser USS Indianapolis, which had just delivered components for the atomic bomb that would be dropped on Hiroshima, was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine; only 316 out of 1,196 men survived the sinking and shark-infested waters.
On this date:
In 1729, the city of Baltimore was founded.
In 1792, the French national anthem “La Marseillaise,” by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle, was first sung in Paris.
In 1844, the New York Yacht Club was founded.
In 1864, during the Civil War, Union forces tried to take Petersburg, Va., by exploding a mine under Confederate defense lines. The attack failed.
In 1932, the Summer Olympic Games opened in Los Angeles.
In 1942, President 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 1965, President Johnson signed into law the Medicare bill, which went into effect 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 1975, representatives of 35 countries convened in Finland for a conference on security and human rights that resulted in the Helsinki accords.
In 1980, the Israeli Knesset passed a law reaffirming all of Jerusalem as the capital of the Jewish state.
Ten years ago: Russia and Chechen rebels signed an agreement calling for a gradual withdrawal of Russian troops and the disarmament of rebel fighters.
Five years ago: President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela won a fresh six-year term in a landslide re-election.
One year ago: Leaders of the Sept. 11 commission urged senators to embrace their proposals for massive changes to the nation’s intelligence structure. Mike Tyson was knocked out in the fourth round of a fight in Louisville, Ky., by British heavyweight Danny Williams.
Today’s Birthdays: Actor Dick Wilson (“Mr. Whipple”) is 89. Actor Richard Johnson is 78. Actor Edd “Kookie” Byrnes is 72. Blues musician Buddy Guy is 69. Movie director Peter Bogdanovich is 66. Feminist activist Eleanor Smeal is 66. Former U.S. Rep. Patricia Schroeder, (D-Colo.), is 65. Singer Paul Anka is 64. Jazz musician David Sanborn is 60. California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is 58. Actor William Atherton is 58. Actor Jean Reno is 57. Blues singer-musician Otis Taylor is 57. Actor Frank Stallone is 55. Actor Ken Olin is 51. Actress Delta Burke is 49. Singer-songwriter Kate Bush is 47. Country singer Neal McCoy is 47. Actor Richard Burgi is 47. Director Richard Linklater is 45. Actor Laurence Fishburne is 44. Actress Lisa Kudrow is 42. Country musician Dwayne O’Brien is 41. Actress Vivica A. Fox is 41. Actor Simon Baker is 36. Director Christopher Nolan is 35. Actor Tom Green is 34. Actress Christine Taylor is 34. Actor-comedian Dean Edwards is 32. Actress Hilary Swank is 31. Actress Jaime Pressly is 28.
Thought for Today: “Love is purely a creation of the human imagination ... the most important example of how the imagination continually outruns the creature it inhabits.” — Katherine Anne Porter, American author (1894-1980).