July 31
1498 - Christopher Columbus arrived at the island of Trinidad.
1715 - A fleet of Spanish ships carrying gold, silver and jewelry sank during a hurricane off the east Florida coast; of some 2,500 crew members, more than 1,000 died.
1777 - The Marquis de Lafayette, a 19-year-old French nobleman, became a major-general in the American Continental Army.
1790 - The first U.S. patent was issued to Samuel Hopkins of Vermont for a process of making fertilizer.
1875 - Andrew Johnson, the 17th president of the United States, died in Carter Station, Tennessee at age 66.
1914 - The New York Stock Exchange closed due to the outbreak of World War I. (Trading wouldn't resume until December.)
1945 - Pierre Laval, premier of the pro-Nazi Vichy government, surrendered to U.S. authorities in Austria; he was turned over to France, which later tried and executed him.
1954 - Mount Godwin-Austen (K2), the world's second-highest peak, was climbed for the first time by an Italian team led by Ardito Desio.
1957 - The Distant Early Warning Line, a system of radar stations designed to detect Soviet bombers approaching North America, went into operation.
1964 - The U.S. space probe Ranger 7 transmitted pictures of the Moon's surface.
1970 - “The Huntley-Brinkley Report” came to an end after nearly 14 years as co-anchor Chet Huntley signed off for the last time; the broadcast was renamed “NBC Nightly News.”
1971 - Apollo 15 crew members David Scott and James Irwin became the first astronauts to use a lunar rover on the surface of the moon.
1972 - Democratic vice-presidential candidate Thomas Eagleton withdrew from the ticket with George McGovern following disclosures that Eagleton had once undergone psychiatric treatment.
1977 - The "Son of Sam" killer claimed his last victims when he shot and killed Stacy Moskowitz, 20, and seriously wounded her date as they sat in a parked car in Brooklyn, N.Y. (David Berkowitz was arrested less than two weeks later. He is serving six sentences of 25 years to life.)
1991 - President George H.W. Bush and Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev signed the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty in Moscow.
1995 - Walt Disney Co. agreed to acquire Capital Cities-ABC Inc. in a $19 billion deal.
2003 - The Vatican launched a global campaign against gay marriages, warning Catholic politicians that support of same-sex unions was “gravely immoral” and urging non-Catholics to join the offensive.
2007 - The U.N. Security Council unanimously approved a 26,000-strong peacekeeping force for Sudan's Darfur region.
2008 - Scientists reported the Phoenix spacecraft had confirmed the presence of frozen water in Martian soil.
2011 - President Barack Obama and congressional leaders announced a historic agreement on emergency legislation to avert the nation's first-ever financial default.
2012 - Three Indian electric grids collapsed in a cascade, cutting power to 620 million people in the world’s biggest blackout.
2020 - A federal appeals court overturned the death sentence of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev in the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, saying the judge who oversaw the case didn’t adequately screen jurors for potential biases. (The Supreme Court later reimposed the sentence.)
2021 - A nationwide ban on evictions, put in place in response to the COVID-19 crisis as many workers lost income, expired, leaving millions of Americans at risk of being forced from their homes. (The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reimposed the moratorium within days, but the Supreme Court later found that the agency lacked the authority to do so.)
Birthdays
24 - Rico Rodriguez (actor)
24 - Reese Hartwig (actor)
30 - Kiara Advani (actress)
33 - Alexis Knapp (actress)
41 - Eric Lively (actor)
43 - B.J. Novak (actor)
44 - Zac Brown (singer)
45 - Robert Telfer (actor)
47 - Annie Parisse (actress)
51 - Eve Best (actress)
53 - Loren Dean (actor)
53 - Ben Chaplin (actor)
56 - Jim True-Frost (actor)
56 - Dean Cain (actor)
57 - J.K. Rowling (author)
59 - Fatboy Slim (musician)
59 - Chad Brock (singer)
60 - Wesley Snipes (actor)
64 - Wally Kurth (actor)
64 - Mark Cuban (entrepreneur / NBA owner)
69 - James Read (actor)
70 - Alan Autry (actor)
71 - Barry Van Dyke (actor)
72 - Susan Wooldridge (actress)
77 - Gary Lewis (singer)
78 - Geraldine Chaplin (actress)
78 - Lobo (singer)
83 - Susan Flannery (actress)
93 - Don Murray (actor)
=================================
Today in Sports History - July 31
1978 - Cincinnati Reds infielder Peter Rose extends his hitting streak to 44 games, tying Willie Keeler's 81-year-old National League record.
1981 - A seven-week strike by major league baseball players ended.
1983 - Brooks Robinson, Juan Marichal, George Kell and Walter Alston are inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
1987 - Eddie Murray of the Baltimore Orioles hits his 300th career home run.
1988 -Willie Stargell is inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
1990 - Nolan Ryan became the 20th major league pitcher to win 300 games as his Texas Rangers beat the Milwaukee Brewers 11-3.
1994 - Phil Rizzuto and Steve Carlton are inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
1997 - Mark McGwire of the Oakland Athletics becomes the first MLB home run leader to be traded in the middle of the season when he is dealt to the St. Louis Cardinals.
2007 - The Boston Celtics obtain former MVP and 10-time All-Star Kevin Garnett from the Minnesota Timberwolves for seven other players, which at the time, was the NBA's biggest ever trade for one player.
2012 - At the London games, the team of Gabby Douglas, McKayla Maroney, Aly Raisman, Kyla Ross and Jordyn Wieber won the first U.S. Olympic team title in women’s gymnastics since 1996; Michael Phelps broke the Olympic medals record with his 19th as the United States romped to a dominating win in the 4x200-meter freestyle relay.
2017 - Los Angeles reached a deal with international Olympic leaders to host the 2028 Summer Games.
2021 - American swimmer Katie Ledecky closed out her Tokyo Olympics with another gold medal, becoming the first female swimmer to capture six individual golds in her career with a victory in the 800-meter freestyle.
2021 - Elaine Thompson-Herah broke Florence Griffith Joyner’s 33-year-old Olympic record in the women’s 100 meters, crossing the line in 10.61 seconds.
1498 - Christopher Columbus arrived at the island of Trinidad.
1715 - A fleet of Spanish ships carrying gold, silver and jewelry sank during a hurricane off the east Florida coast; of some 2,500 crew members, more than 1,000 died.
1777 - The Marquis de Lafayette, a 19-year-old French nobleman, became a major-general in the American Continental Army.
1790 - The first U.S. patent was issued to Samuel Hopkins of Vermont for a process of making fertilizer.
1875 - Andrew Johnson, the 17th president of the United States, died in Carter Station, Tennessee at age 66.
1914 - The New York Stock Exchange closed due to the outbreak of World War I. (Trading wouldn't resume until December.)
1945 - Pierre Laval, premier of the pro-Nazi Vichy government, surrendered to U.S. authorities in Austria; he was turned over to France, which later tried and executed him.
1954 - Mount Godwin-Austen (K2), the world's second-highest peak, was climbed for the first time by an Italian team led by Ardito Desio.
1957 - The Distant Early Warning Line, a system of radar stations designed to detect Soviet bombers approaching North America, went into operation.
1964 - The U.S. space probe Ranger 7 transmitted pictures of the Moon's surface.
1970 - “The Huntley-Brinkley Report” came to an end after nearly 14 years as co-anchor Chet Huntley signed off for the last time; the broadcast was renamed “NBC Nightly News.”
1971 - Apollo 15 crew members David Scott and James Irwin became the first astronauts to use a lunar rover on the surface of the moon.
1972 - Democratic vice-presidential candidate Thomas Eagleton withdrew from the ticket with George McGovern following disclosures that Eagleton had once undergone psychiatric treatment.
1977 - The "Son of Sam" killer claimed his last victims when he shot and killed Stacy Moskowitz, 20, and seriously wounded her date as they sat in a parked car in Brooklyn, N.Y. (David Berkowitz was arrested less than two weeks later. He is serving six sentences of 25 years to life.)
1991 - President George H.W. Bush and Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev signed the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty in Moscow.
1995 - Walt Disney Co. agreed to acquire Capital Cities-ABC Inc. in a $19 billion deal.
2003 - The Vatican launched a global campaign against gay marriages, warning Catholic politicians that support of same-sex unions was “gravely immoral” and urging non-Catholics to join the offensive.
2007 - The U.N. Security Council unanimously approved a 26,000-strong peacekeeping force for Sudan's Darfur region.
2008 - Scientists reported the Phoenix spacecraft had confirmed the presence of frozen water in Martian soil.
2011 - President Barack Obama and congressional leaders announced a historic agreement on emergency legislation to avert the nation's first-ever financial default.
2012 - Three Indian electric grids collapsed in a cascade, cutting power to 620 million people in the world’s biggest blackout.
2020 - A federal appeals court overturned the death sentence of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev in the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, saying the judge who oversaw the case didn’t adequately screen jurors for potential biases. (The Supreme Court later reimposed the sentence.)
2021 - A nationwide ban on evictions, put in place in response to the COVID-19 crisis as many workers lost income, expired, leaving millions of Americans at risk of being forced from their homes. (The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reimposed the moratorium within days, but the Supreme Court later found that the agency lacked the authority to do so.)
Birthdays
24 - Rico Rodriguez (actor)
24 - Reese Hartwig (actor)
30 - Kiara Advani (actress)
33 - Alexis Knapp (actress)
41 - Eric Lively (actor)
43 - B.J. Novak (actor)
44 - Zac Brown (singer)
45 - Robert Telfer (actor)
47 - Annie Parisse (actress)
51 - Eve Best (actress)
53 - Loren Dean (actor)
53 - Ben Chaplin (actor)
56 - Jim True-Frost (actor)
56 - Dean Cain (actor)
57 - J.K. Rowling (author)
59 - Fatboy Slim (musician)
59 - Chad Brock (singer)
60 - Wesley Snipes (actor)
64 - Wally Kurth (actor)
64 - Mark Cuban (entrepreneur / NBA owner)
69 - James Read (actor)
70 - Alan Autry (actor)
71 - Barry Van Dyke (actor)
72 - Susan Wooldridge (actress)
77 - Gary Lewis (singer)
78 - Geraldine Chaplin (actress)
78 - Lobo (singer)
83 - Susan Flannery (actress)
93 - Don Murray (actor)
=================================
Today in Sports History - July 31
1978 - Cincinnati Reds infielder Peter Rose extends his hitting streak to 44 games, tying Willie Keeler's 81-year-old National League record.
1981 - A seven-week strike by major league baseball players ended.
1983 - Brooks Robinson, Juan Marichal, George Kell and Walter Alston are inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
1987 - Eddie Murray of the Baltimore Orioles hits his 300th career home run.
1988 -Willie Stargell is inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
1990 - Nolan Ryan became the 20th major league pitcher to win 300 games as his Texas Rangers beat the Milwaukee Brewers 11-3.
1994 - Phil Rizzuto and Steve Carlton are inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
1997 - Mark McGwire of the Oakland Athletics becomes the first MLB home run leader to be traded in the middle of the season when he is dealt to the St. Louis Cardinals.
2007 - The Boston Celtics obtain former MVP and 10-time All-Star Kevin Garnett from the Minnesota Timberwolves for seven other players, which at the time, was the NBA's biggest ever trade for one player.
2012 - At the London games, the team of Gabby Douglas, McKayla Maroney, Aly Raisman, Kyla Ross and Jordyn Wieber won the first U.S. Olympic team title in women’s gymnastics since 1996; Michael Phelps broke the Olympic medals record with his 19th as the United States romped to a dominating win in the 4x200-meter freestyle relay.
2017 - Los Angeles reached a deal with international Olympic leaders to host the 2028 Summer Games.
2021 - American swimmer Katie Ledecky closed out her Tokyo Olympics with another gold medal, becoming the first female swimmer to capture six individual golds in her career with a victory in the 800-meter freestyle.
2021 - Elaine Thompson-Herah broke Florence Griffith Joyner’s 33-year-old Olympic record in the women’s 100 meters, crossing the line in 10.61 seconds.
