Events On This Day In History July 31 1790 - The first U.S. patent was issued to Samuel Hopkins of Vermont. Mr. Hopkins did not get Patent #1 as thousands of patents were issued before someone came up with the bright idea to number them. The inventor patented a process for making potash and pearl ashes. 1792 - Construction started with the laying of the cornerstone in the first building to be used solely as a U.S. Government building. It was the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia. 1845 - The French Army introduced the saxophone to its military band. The musical instrument was the invention of Adolphe Sax of Belgium. 1928 - MGM’s Leo the lion roared for the first time. He introduced MGM’s first talking picture, White Shadows on the South Seas. Leo’s dialogue was more extensive than the film’s, whose only spoken word was, “Hello.” 1942 - Harry James and his band recorded the classic I’ve Heard that Song Before, for Columbia Records. Helen Forrest sang on the million-seller. 1948 - New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport wasn’t always named that. In fact, on this day, U.S. President Harry S Truman dedicated the airport as International Airport at Idlewild Field. 1955 - Marilyn Bell of Toronto, Canada, at age 17, became the youngest person to swim the English Channel. 1961 - The first tie in All-Star Game history was recorded as the second All-Star Game of the year (there were two a year back then) was stopped in the 9th inning due to rain at Boston’s Fenway Park. 1964 - Country Music Hall of Famer Jim Reeves died when his single-engine Beechcraft crashed near Nashville, TN. Gentleman Jim started as a DJ, first at KGRI in Henderson, Texas; then at KWKH in Shreveport, LA (the home of the Louisiana Hayride in the early 1950s). His first hit was Mexican Joe in 1953. Reeves became a member of the Grand Ole Opry in 1955. He had his own TV series on ABC in 1957. He was in the 1963 film, Kimberley Jim. Reeves bought a radio station in Henderson, Texas, which became very successful. Hits by Jim Reeves include Four Walls, He’ll Have to Go, I’m Getting Better, Am I Losing You, Welcome to My World and I Guess I’m Crazy. 1970 - The Houston Astros sent ex-New York Yankee pitcher Jim Bouton down to the minor leagues. Ten days after joining the Oklahoma City farm team, Bouton retired from baseball. He authored several baseball books including Ball Four. Bouton also became a sportscaster in New York City for WABC and WCBS-TV. 1971 - The first men to ride in a vehicle on the moon did so on this day in the LRV (lunar rover vehicle). This example of a lunar dune buggy carried Apollo 15 astronauts David R. Scott and James B. Irwin for five miles on the lunar surface. Their first stop at the rim of Elbow Crater was televised back to Earth to millions of viewers. The moon ride lasted two hours and the astronauts were heard to exclaim, “There’s some beautiful geology out there!” 1972 - Thomas Eagleton, the Democratic vice-presidential candidate, withdrew from the ticket with presidential candidate George McGovern following disclosure that Eagleton had once undergone psychiatric treatment for depression. Eagleton was replaced by Sargent Shriver, who, incidentally, was the only Democratic vice-presidential nominee who did not serve in Congress at any point in his or her career. 1974 - One of the President Nixon’s main men, John Ehrlichman was sentenced to prison for his role in the break-in at the office of Daniel Ellsberg’s psychiatrist. Ellsberg was the Pentagon consultant who leaked the "Pentagon Papers" (which purportedly told Americans how and why the U.S. really got into the Vietnam War). Ehrlichman also created the White House unit that was called the ‘plumbers’ because it was intended to plug leaks. 1981 - The seven-week baseball players’ strike came to an end as the players and owners agreed on the issue of free agent compensation. 1985 - Prince was big at the box office with the autobiographical story of the Minneapolis rock star, Purple Rain. The flick grossed $7.7 million in its first three days of release on 917 movie screens. The album of the same name was the top LP in the U.S., as well. 1988 - Willie Stargell became 200th man inducted into Baseball’s Hall of Fame. Stargell had 475 career homers, twice leading the NL (48 in 1971, 44 in 1973). He drove in 1540 runs, scored 1195 and had 2232 hits with a lifetime batting average of .282. His inspirational leadership contributed greatly to Pittsburgh Pirate world championships in 1971 and 1979, when he shared NL MVP honors. His #8 was retired by the Pirates in 1982. 1992 - Olympic swimming world records set this day: Jeff Rouse: 100m backstroke (53.86 sec); Kieren John Perkins: 1500m free style (14:43.4); Tamas Darnyi: 200m backstroke (first swimmer to break 2 minutes in 200m: 1:59.36); Yang Wenyi 50m freestyle (24.79 sec). Also this day, Summer Sanders became the first American athlete to win four medals at the Barcelona Olympics as she won the gold in the women’s 200-meter butterfly. 1996 - Alanis Morissette, born in Ottawa, kicked off her first big-time Canadian tour with a show before 15,000 at General Motors Place, Vancouver. The concert had sold out in less than an hour two months earlier. 1999 - The U.S. heat wave -- linked to at least 94 deaths -- continued. As Chicago baked in 100-degree weather, thousands of hot and sweaty residents were forced to endure the heat without air conditioning or fans, due to sporadic power outages and brownouts.
Posted on: Wed, 31 Jul 2013 14:00:48 +0000
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