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From: Mary Minnich< >
Subject: [FOLKLORE-L] Today in History - July 31st
Date: Sat, 31 Jul 1999 07:27:08 -0400


Today is Saturday, July 31st, the 212th day of 1999.
There are 153 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:
On July 31st, 1777, the Marquis de Lafayette, a 19-year-old French nobleman,
was made a major-general in the American Continental Army.

On this date:
In 1498, during his third voyage to the Western Hemisphere, Christopher
Columbus arrived at the island of Trinidad.

In 1556, St. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Society of Jesus, the Jesuit
order of Catholic priests and brothers, died in Rome.

In 1875, the 17th president of the United States, Andrew Johnson, died in
Carter Station, Tennessee, at age 66.

In 1919, Germany's Weimar Constitution was adopted.

In 1948, President Truman helped dedicate New York International Airport
(later John F. Kennedy International Airport) at Idlewild Field.

In 1953, Senator Robert A. Taft of Ohio, known as "Mr. Republican," died in
New York at age 63.

In 1964, the American space probe "Ranger Seven" transmitted pictures of the
moon's surface.

In 1972, Democratic vice-presidential candidate Thomas Eagleton withdrew
from the ticket with George McGovern following disclosures Eagleton had once
undergone psychiatric treatment.

In 1981, the leader of Panama, General Omar Torrijos, was killed in a plane
crash.

In 1981, a seven-week-old Major League Baseball strike ended.

Ten years ago: A pro-Iranian group in Lebanon released a grisly videotape
purportedly showing the body of American hostage William R. Higgins dangling
from a rope, a day after his kidnappers had threatened to kill him.

Five years ago: The UN Security Council authorized member states to use "all
necessary means" to oust the military leadership in Haiti.

One year ago: President Clinton said he would "completely and truthfully"
answer prosecutors' questions about Monica Lewinsky in testimony to be
beamed by closed-circuit television to a grand jury. IBM's Russian
subsidiary agreed to pay $8.5 million in federal fines for selling powerful
computers ultimately destined for a Russian nuclear weapons laboratory.

Today's Birthdays:
Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman is 87.
Sportscaster Curt Gowdy is 80.
Record executive Ahmet Ertegun is 76.
Actor Don Murray is 70.
Jazz composer-musician Kenny Burrell is 68.
Actor Geoffrey Lewis is 64.
Actress France Nuyen is 60.
Actress Susan Flannery is 56.
Singer Lobo is 56.
Actress Geraldine Chaplin is 55.
Movie studio executive Sherry Lansing is 55.
Singer Gary Lewis is 53.
Rock singer Bob Welch is 53.
Tennis player Yvonne Goolagong Cawley is 48.
Actor Barry Van Dyke is 48.
Actor James Read is 46.
Actor Michael Biehn is 43.
Rock singer-musician Daniel Ash (Love and Rockets) is 42.
Rock musician Bill Berry is 41.
Actor Wesley Snipes is 37.
Actor Dean Cain is 33.
Actor Loren Dean is 30.
Actor Robert Telfer is 22.

Thought for Today:

"The trouble with the public is that there is too much of it."
-- Don Marquis, American journalist, poet and dramatist (1878-1937).

(Copyright 1999 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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