July 29
1890 - Artist Vincent van Gogh died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in Auvers, France at age 37.
1914 - Transcontinental telephone service began with the first phone conversation between New York and San Francisco.
1921 - Adolf Hitler became the leader (“fuehrer”) of the National Socialist German Workers Party.
1957 - The International Atomic Energy Agency was established.
1958 - President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the congressional act creating the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
1967 - An accidental rocket launch on the deck of the supercarrier USS Forrestal in the Gulf of Tonkin resulted in a fire and explosions that killed 134 servicemen. (Among the survivors was future Arizona senator John McCain, a U.S. Navy lieutenant commander who narrowly escaped with his life.)
1968 - In Humanae Vitae (of Human Life), Pope Paul VI reaffirmed the Catholic Church's prohibition on artificial methods of birth control.
1980 - A state funeral was held in Cairo, Egypt, for the deposed Shah of Iran, who had died two days earlier at age 60.
1981 - Prince Charles, heir to the British throne, married Lady Diana Spencer in a ceremony watched by millions worldwide. (The couple divorced in 1996.)
1993 - The Israeli Supreme Court acquitted retired Ohio autoworker John Demjanjuk of being Nazi death camp guard "Ivan the Terrible" and threw out his death sentence.
1994 - Abortion opponent Paul Hill shot and killed Dr. John Bayard Britton and Britton’s escort, James H. Barrett, outside the Ladies Center clinic in Pensacola, Florida. (Hill was executed in Sept. 2003.)
1999 - A day trader opened fire in two Atlanta brokerage offices, killing nine people and wounding 13 before shooting himself to death; he had earlier killed his wife and two children.
2008 - Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, was indicted on seven felony counts of concealing more than a quarter of a million dollars in house renovations and gifts he had received from a powerful oil contractor. (A judge later dismissed the case, saying prosecutors had withheld evidence.)
2008 - Army scientist Bruce Ivins commited suicide as prosecutors prepared to indict him in the 2001 anthrax attacks.
2016 - Former suburban Chicago police officer Drew Peterson was given an additional 40 years in prison for trying to hire someone to kill the prosecutor who put him behind bars for killing his third wife.
2017 - U.S. and South Korean forces conducted joint live-fire exercises in response to North Korea’s second launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile; experts said the North Korean launch showed that a large portion of the United States was now within range of North Korea’s arsenal.
Birthdays
24 - Jessica Lord (dancer/actress)
29 - Cait Fairbanks (actress)
29 - Dak Prescott (football player)
31 - Paulina Goto (actress)
31 - Miki Ishikawa (actress)
32 - Matt Prokop (actor)
35 - Genesis Rodriguez (actress)
39 - Kaitlyn Black (actress)
42 - Rachel Miner (actress)
45 - Danger Mouse (DJ/music producer)
48 - Josh Radnor (actor)
49 - Stephen Dorff (actor)
49 - James Otto (singer)
50 - Wil Wheaton (actor)
53 - Tim Omundson (actor)
54 - Rodney Allen Rippy (actor)
56 - Martina McBride (singer)
57 - Dean Haglund (actor/comedian)
59 - Alexandra Paul (actress)
60 - Kevin Chapman (actor)
69 - Tim Gunn (TV personality)
69 - Ken Burns (filmmaker)
72 - Mike Starr (actor)
76 - Neal Doughty (musician)
86 - Elizabeth Dole (politician)
89 - Robert Fuller (actor)
========================================
Today in Sports History - July 29
1754 - The first international boxing match was held. The 25-minute match was won when Jack Slack of Britain knocked out Jean Petit from France.
1983 - Steve Garvey (Los Angeles Dodgers) set the National League consecutive game record at 1,207.
1986 - A federal jury in New York found that the NFL had committed an antitrust violation against the rival United States Football League. But in a hollow victory for the USFL, the jury ordered the NFL to pay token damages of only one dollar.
1989 - Javier Sotomayor of Cuba becomes the first man to clear 8-feet in the high jump.
1989 - The Philadelphia Phillies retire Steve Carlton's #32.
1990 - Boston Red Sox set major league record with 12 doubles in a game.
1996 - Los Angeles Dodgers manger Tommy Lasorda retires from baseball.
2003 - Boston Red Sox switch hitter Bill Mueller became the first baseball player to hit grand slam home runs from both sides of the plate in the same game; he became just the 12th player to ever hit two grand slams in one game.
2003 - Marcus Giles (Atlanta Braves) tied a major league record when he went 5-5 to give him hits in nine straight at-bats. The record was shared by 10 players at the time.
2021 - With teammate Simone Biles watching from the stands, American Sunisa Lee won the gold medal in women’s all-around gymnastics at the Tokyo Games; she was the fifth straight American woman to claim the Olympic title in the event. (Biles withdrew from the event, which she was favored to win, to focus on her mental well-being.)
1890 - Artist Vincent van Gogh died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in Auvers, France at age 37.
1914 - Transcontinental telephone service began with the first phone conversation between New York and San Francisco.
1921 - Adolf Hitler became the leader (“fuehrer”) of the National Socialist German Workers Party.
1957 - The International Atomic Energy Agency was established.
1958 - President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the congressional act creating the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
1967 - An accidental rocket launch on the deck of the supercarrier USS Forrestal in the Gulf of Tonkin resulted in a fire and explosions that killed 134 servicemen. (Among the survivors was future Arizona senator John McCain, a U.S. Navy lieutenant commander who narrowly escaped with his life.)
1968 - In Humanae Vitae (of Human Life), Pope Paul VI reaffirmed the Catholic Church's prohibition on artificial methods of birth control.
1980 - A state funeral was held in Cairo, Egypt, for the deposed Shah of Iran, who had died two days earlier at age 60.
1981 - Prince Charles, heir to the British throne, married Lady Diana Spencer in a ceremony watched by millions worldwide. (The couple divorced in 1996.)
1993 - The Israeli Supreme Court acquitted retired Ohio autoworker John Demjanjuk of being Nazi death camp guard "Ivan the Terrible" and threw out his death sentence.
1994 - Abortion opponent Paul Hill shot and killed Dr. John Bayard Britton and Britton’s escort, James H. Barrett, outside the Ladies Center clinic in Pensacola, Florida. (Hill was executed in Sept. 2003.)
1999 - A day trader opened fire in two Atlanta brokerage offices, killing nine people and wounding 13 before shooting himself to death; he had earlier killed his wife and two children.
2008 - Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, was indicted on seven felony counts of concealing more than a quarter of a million dollars in house renovations and gifts he had received from a powerful oil contractor. (A judge later dismissed the case, saying prosecutors had withheld evidence.)
2008 - Army scientist Bruce Ivins commited suicide as prosecutors prepared to indict him in the 2001 anthrax attacks.
2016 - Former suburban Chicago police officer Drew Peterson was given an additional 40 years in prison for trying to hire someone to kill the prosecutor who put him behind bars for killing his third wife.
2017 - U.S. and South Korean forces conducted joint live-fire exercises in response to North Korea’s second launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile; experts said the North Korean launch showed that a large portion of the United States was now within range of North Korea’s arsenal.
Birthdays
24 - Jessica Lord (dancer/actress)
29 - Cait Fairbanks (actress)
29 - Dak Prescott (football player)
31 - Paulina Goto (actress)
31 - Miki Ishikawa (actress)
32 - Matt Prokop (actor)
35 - Genesis Rodriguez (actress)
39 - Kaitlyn Black (actress)
42 - Rachel Miner (actress)
45 - Danger Mouse (DJ/music producer)
48 - Josh Radnor (actor)
49 - Stephen Dorff (actor)
49 - James Otto (singer)
50 - Wil Wheaton (actor)
53 - Tim Omundson (actor)
54 - Rodney Allen Rippy (actor)
56 - Martina McBride (singer)
57 - Dean Haglund (actor/comedian)
59 - Alexandra Paul (actress)
60 - Kevin Chapman (actor)
69 - Tim Gunn (TV personality)
69 - Ken Burns (filmmaker)
72 - Mike Starr (actor)
76 - Neal Doughty (musician)
86 - Elizabeth Dole (politician)
89 - Robert Fuller (actor)
========================================
Today in Sports History - July 29
1754 - The first international boxing match was held. The 25-minute match was won when Jack Slack of Britain knocked out Jean Petit from France.
1983 - Steve Garvey (Los Angeles Dodgers) set the National League consecutive game record at 1,207.
1986 - A federal jury in New York found that the NFL had committed an antitrust violation against the rival United States Football League. But in a hollow victory for the USFL, the jury ordered the NFL to pay token damages of only one dollar.
1989 - Javier Sotomayor of Cuba becomes the first man to clear 8-feet in the high jump.
1989 - The Philadelphia Phillies retire Steve Carlton's #32.
1990 - Boston Red Sox set major league record with 12 doubles in a game.
1996 - Los Angeles Dodgers manger Tommy Lasorda retires from baseball.
2003 - Boston Red Sox switch hitter Bill Mueller became the first baseball player to hit grand slam home runs from both sides of the plate in the same game; he became just the 12th player to ever hit two grand slams in one game.
2003 - Marcus Giles (Atlanta Braves) tied a major league record when he went 5-5 to give him hits in nine straight at-bats. The record was shared by 10 players at the time.
2021 - With teammate Simone Biles watching from the stands, American Sunisa Lee won the gold medal in women’s all-around gymnastics at the Tokyo Games; she was the fifth straight American woman to claim the Olympic title in the event. (Biles withdrew from the event, which she was favored to win, to focus on her mental well-being.)
