What Happened Whensday: July 30, 2008

This is the 211th day of the year (212th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 154 days remaining until the end of the year.

1502 - Christopher Columbus lands at Guanaja in the Bay Islands off the coast of Honduras during his fourth voyage.

1608 - At Ticonderoga (now Crown Point, New York), Samuel de Champlain shoots and kills two Iroquois chiefs. This was to set the tone for French-Iroquois relations for the next one hundred years.

1619 - In Jamestown, Virginia, the first representative assembly in the Americas, the House of Burgesses, convenes for the first time.

1629 - An earthquake in Naples, Italy kills 10,000 people.

1729 - Baltimore, Maryland is founded.

1733 - First Freemasons lodge opened in what will become the United States.

1811 - Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, leader of the Mexican insurgency, executed by the Spanish in Chihuahua, Mexico.

1825 - Malden Island discovered.

1863 - Indian Wars: Chief Pocatello of the Shoshone tribe signs the Treaty of Box Elder, promising to stop harassing the emigrant trails in southern Idaho and northern Utah.

1864 - American Civil War: Battle of the Crater - Union forces attempt to break Confederate lines by exploding a large bomb under their trenches.

1866 - New Orleans's Democratic government ordered police to raid an integrated Republican Party meeting, killing 40 people and injuring 150.

1871 - The Staten Island Ferry Westfield's boiler explodes, killing over 85 people.

1945 - World War II: Japanese submarine I-58 sinks the USS Indianapolis (CA-35), killing 883 seamen.

1956 - A Joint resolution of the U.S. Congress is signed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, authorizing "In God We Trust" as the U.S. national motto.

1965 - US President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Social Security Act of 1965 into law, establishing Medicare and Medicaid.

1969 - Vietnam War: US President Richard M. Nixon makes an unscheduled visit to South Vietnam and meets with President Nguyen Van Thieu and with U.S. military commanders.

1971 - Apollo program: Apollo 15 Mission - David Scott and James Irwin on Apollo Lunar Module module, Falcon, land with first Lunar Rover on the moon.
1971 - An All Nippon Airways Boeing 727 and a Japanese Air Force F-86 collide over Morioka, Japan killing 162.

1974 - Watergate Scandal: US President Richard M. Nixon releases subpoenaed White House recordings after being ordered to do so by the United States Supreme Court.

1975 - Jimmy Hoffa disappears from the parking lot of the Machus Red Fox restaurant in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit, at about 2:30 p.m. He is never seen or heard from again.

1980 - Vanuatu gains independence.

1990 - The first Saturn automobile rolls off the assembly line.

1997 - Eighteen lives are lost in the Thredbo Landslide in New South Wales, Australia.

2002 - The accounting law referred to as "The Sarbanes Oxley Act" was signed into law by United States President George W. Bush.

2003 - In Mexico, the last 'old style' Volkswagen Beetle rolls off the assembly line.

2006 - World's longest running music show Top of the Pops broadcast for the last time on BBC Two. The show had aired for 42 years.
2006 - At least 28 Lebanese civilians, including 16 children, were killed when Israel Air Force attacked a building in Qana in what is called the Second Qana massacre.


Sports:

1930 - Soccer: In Montevideo, Uruguay win the first Football World Cup.

1933 - Baseball: Cardinal pitcher Dizzy Dean sets a modern major league record striking out 17 Cubs. Teammate catcher Jimmie Wilson also sets a new mark recording 18 put outs.

1935 - Danno O'Mahony defeated Ed "Strangler" Lewis for the NWA Heavyweight Wrestling Championship.

1953 - ProWrestling: Rikidozan holds a ceremony announcing the establishment of the Japan Pro Wrestling Alliance.

1966 - Soccer: England national football team win 1966 FIFA World Cup beating West Germany 4-2 in the Final.

1982 - Baseball: The moving of Chief Noc-A-Homa’s and his teepee from left field to make room for more seats coincides with the Braves dropping 19 0f 21 contests and blowing a 10.5 game lead. After the teepee is brought back, the team regains first place and will go on to capture the NL West title.

2001 - ProWrestling: Booker T defeated Kurt Angle for the WCW Heavyweight Championship in Philadelphia, PA on Raw Is War. Also at the the event, X-Pac defeated Billy Kidman for the WCW Cruiserweight Championship.

2001 - Cycling: Lance Armstrong became the first American to win three consecutive Tours de France.

2006 - Baseball: Eighteen individuals, the largest number ever selected, are inducted into the Hall of Fame. The group consist of 17 persons, including the first woman to enter the Hall, who had participated in the pre-Negro Leagues or Negro Leagues and Bruce Sutter, the fourth reliever to be enshrined in Cooperstown.

2007 - Baseball: In front of a record crowd of a estimated 75,000 fans and unprecedented number of 53 members of the Hall of Famers, Cal Ripken and Tony Gwynn are inducted into the shrine at Cooperstown.


Other Entertainment:

1932 - Walt Disney's Flowers and Trees, the first Academy Award winning cartoon and first cartoon short to use Technicolor, premieres.

1942 - Frank Sinatra recorded the last of 90 recordings with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra.

1954 - Elvis Presley makes his debut as a public performer.

1956 - Brenda Lee recorded her first hit, "Jambalaya" and "Bigelow 6-500."

1968 - The Beatles' Apple Boutique in London closed after heavy losses.

1970 - The Rolling Stones fired Allen Klein as their manager.

1987 - David Bowie played the first show of his "Glass Spider" tour in Philadelphia, PA.


Notable Births:

1863 - Henry Ford, American industrialist (d. 1947)
1922 - Henry W. Bloch, American co-founder of H&R Block
1933 - "Captain" Lou Albano, professional wrestler and manager
1934 - Bud Selig, American Commissioner of Baseball
1936 - Buddy Guy, Legendary American blues guitarist and singer
1941 - Paul Anka, Canadian singer and composer
1946 - Neil Bonnett, American race car driver (d. 1994)
1947 - Arnold Schwarzenegger, Austrian-born American actor, 38th Governor of California
1949 - Duck Baker, American guitarist
1950 - Frank Stallone, American singer and actor, brother of Sylvester Stallone
1956 - Delta Burke, American actress
1957 - Rat Scabies, English drummer (The Damned)
1958 - Kate Bush, English singer/songwriter
1958 - Neal McCoy, American country singer/songwriter and humanitarian
1961 - Laurence Fishburne, American actor
1963 - Lisa Kudrow, American actress
1963 - Chris Mullin, American basketball player
1964 - Vivica A. Fox, American actress
1968 - Sean Moore, Welsh drummer (Manic Street Preachers)
1970 - Christopher Nolan, English film director
1971 - Tom Green, Canadian comedian and actor
1971 - Christine Taylor, American actress
1973 - Markus Naslund, Swedish ice hockey player
1974 - Hilary Swank, American actress
1977 - Jaime Pressly, American actress


Notable Deaths:

579 - Pope Benedict I
1540 - Thomas Abel, English priest (martyred)
1540 - Robert Barnes, English churchman (martyred) (b. 1495)
1718 - William Penn, English founder of the Province of Pennsylvania (b. 1644)
1771 - Thomas Gray, English poet and letter-writer (b. 1716)
1875 - George Pickett, American Confederate general (b. 1825)
1992 - Joe Shuster, Canadian comic book artist (b. 1914)
1998 - Buffalo Bob Smith, American television host (Howdy Doody) (b. 1917)
2003 - Sam Phillips, American record producer (b. 1923)
2005 - Ray Cunningham, American baseball player (b. 1905)
2007 - Ingmar Bergman, Swedish stage and film director (b. 1918)
2007 - Bill Walsh, American football coach (b. 1931)