Today is Thursday, July 30, the 212th day of 2020. There are 154 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On July 30, 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.
On this date:
In 1619, the first representative assembly in America convened in Jamestown in the Virginia Colony.
In 1908, the first round-the-world automobile race, which had begun in New York in February, ended in Paris with the drivers of the American car, a Thomas Flyer, declared the winners over teams from Germany and Italy.
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 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 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.
Today’s Birthdays: Former Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig is 86. Blues musician Buddy Guy is 84. Movie director Peter Bogdanovich is 81. Feminist activist Eleanor Smeal is 81. Former U.S. Rep. Patricia Schroeder is 80. Singer Paul Anka is 79. Jazz musician David Sanborn is 75. Former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is 73. Actor Ken Olin is 66. Actress Delta Burke is 64. Law professor Anita Hill is 64. Singer-songwriter Kate Bush is 62. Country singer Neal McCoy is 62. Actor Laurence Fishburne is 59. Actress Lisa Kudrow is 57. Actress Vivica A. Fox is 56. Actress Hilary Swank is 46. Olympic gold medal beach volleyball player Misty May-Treanor is 43.
