2nd anniversary of this thread! On July 20, 1944, Adolph Hitler survives an assassination attempt. Several weeks earlier, a number of high ranking officials came to the conclusion that the only way for Germany to survive the war was to kill Hitler and overthrow the government. Conspirator and chief of the army reserve, Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, was chosen to carry out the assassination, by planting a bomb hidden in a briefcase at the Rastenburg command post where Hitler would hold a strategy meeting. He planted the bomb and withdrew, to join the conspirators who would launch the coup d'etat that same day. But moments before the bomb went off, a staff member moved the briefcase out of the way. Though four were killed when the bomb exploded, Hitler survived with minor burns. He met with Mussolini as scheduled that afternoon and even showed him the damaged conference room. Meanwhile, Stauffenberg and another conspirator were apprehended and shot before day's end. On July 20, 1948, President Harry Truman initiates a peacetime military draft. Over the next two months, 10 million eligible American men will be required to register with Selective Services. Since the end of WWII, the total manpower of the U.S. military had been reduced from 16 million to just over half a million. Truman was concerned that America would be woefully unprepared if the Cold War with the Soviet Union were to suddenly heat up. The Selective Service Act of 1948 would require all men between the ages of 18 and 26 to register; those selected were subject to 21 months' active duty, followed by five years in the reserves. Mandatory induction via the draft was suspended in 1973, and the draft done away with altogether in 1975.
On July 21, 1970, the Aswan High Dam on the Nile River in Egypt is completed. Eleven years in construction at a price tag of a billion dollars, the dam ends the Nile regions cycle of drought followed by flood, and creates one of the world's largest sources of renewable energy for the time. However, its creation of Lake Nasser leads to the forced relocation of some 90,000 Egyptian and Sudanese citizens, and the change in the Nile's flow pattern has caused a decrease in agricultural fertility in the river's Delta, and also subtle changes to the food chain in the Mediterranean. On July 21, 1955 at the Geneva Peace Summit, President Dwight Eisenhower unveils his "Open Skies" plan. His idea suggests that the U.S. and Soviet Union exchange maps that reveal the exact location of every domestic military base in each nation, and permits each nation to conduct aerial surveillance to ensure that any arms limitations currently in place are being properly observed. Nikita Khrushchev, then an undersecretary acting as the Soviet representative at the summit, declares the plan a "blatant espionage plot" and rejects it. In fact, Eisenhower knew the Soviets wouldn't go for it; he just wanted to make them look uncooperative. He also suspected (and U2 spy flights later confirmed) that such surveillance would reveal that Soviet military hardware wasn't up to U.S. standards. Historians now say Reagan's "trust, but verify" philosophy for dealing with the Soviets was based on Eisenhower's "Open Skies" proposal. On July 21, 1983 at the Vostok Research Station, East Antarctica Ice Shelf, the bottom falls out of the thermometer. The mercury drops to 128.6 degrees below zero, the coldest temperature ever recorded at an inhabited location.
On July 22, 1587, the English make a second attempt to colonize Roanoke Island. The first colony - on one of the Outer Banks islands of present-day North Carolina - had been established in 1583, but her population was plagued by hostile natives and poor supplies and returned to England in 1586. The second attempt will go down as one of the great mysteries of colonial America. A supply party visiting Roanoke in 1590 finds the settlement in what appears to be perfect order, but completely abandoned. The word "CROATOAN" carved into a rock is the only clue. Historians argue whether the 120 colonists were massacred by natives, peacefully assimilated with said natives, or perhaps relocated to Croatoan Island (now Hatteras Island), but no evidence backing any of these theories has ever been found. On July 22, 1991, Milwaukee police encounter a man - 32-year old Terry Edwards - running down the street. Edwards tells the officers he has spent the last 5 hours in the apartment of "a freak." The officers investigate and find one of the most grizzly scenes in American criminal history; the home of Jeffery Dahmer. The 31-year old Dahmer tried to placate the officers, but one spotted Polaroid photos of dismembered bodies, arrested Dahmer and began investigating. The horrific findings include 2 human skulls in plain sight, several more in a refrigerator, human limbs decomposing in a 57-gallon drum full of a corrosive liquid, and more evidence that would suggest that Dahmer was engaging in cannibalism. He would eventually confess to 17 murders; police were only able to identify remains of 11. Sentenced to 15 consecutive life terms, Dahmer would survive a murder attempt in jail in June of 1994, before being killed by another inmate on November 28 of the same year. The quote - some attribute it to Henry Ford, others to Richard Petty - goes something like,"The first automobile race was held the day they built the second automobile." Actually it happened on July 22, 1894 in France, a 127 kilometer (about 79 miles) jaunt from Paris to Rouen. One hundred two racers paid 10 francs apiece to enter; a 50km qualifying race narrowed the field to 25, and Count Jules-Albert de Dion finished first in a steam-powered car of his own design, completing the distance in 6 hours, 48 minutes (about 19 km/h). However, officials deemed de Dion's steamer to violate the rules that entries be "not dangerous, easy to drive and cheap" and Albert Lemaitre', who finished second in a Peugeot Type 5 3hp (below) 3 and a half minutes behind de Dion, was declared the winner.
On July 23, 1885, former President Ulysses S. Grant dies of throat cancer at age 63. The son of an Ohio tanner who had no interest in his father's trade, "Sam" was unwillingly enrolled in West Point and led an undistinguished early military career, in fact being asked to resign his commission in 1854 due to extreme alcoholism (brought on by the loneliness of forced separation from his wife). He failed in civilian trades as well, but kicked his drinking habit and rejoined the army at the outbreak of the Civil War. This time, he was an outstanding officer, eventually becoming the first man since Washington to achieve the rank of Lieutenant General, despite falling back into drinking and developing a love for cigars that eventually led to his death. Two unremarkable terms as President followed, followed by some bad investments that left the Grants nearly bankrupt. Grant's widow Julia survived her final years on the proceeds of her husband's memoirs, which he finished just before his death. On July 23, 1952, Egyptian Colonel Gamal Abdal Nasser and the Society of Free Officers launch a military coup, ousting King Farouk from power. The SFO installs General Muhammad Naguib as leader of the new government, but he is merely a figurehead and is removed from power himself in 1954 and replaced by Nasser, who proclaims himself Prime Minister. Nasser would win a legitimate election for President in '56 and push through a national constitution that created a socialist government, though he avoided any political alignments with the Cold War communist powers of the era. Nasser remained an effective and popular president of Egypt until his death in 1970. (photo: Nasser speaking at the opening of the Suez Canal in 1956) On July 23, 1982, on the final day of shooting The Twilight Zone: The Movie, actor Vic Morrow (below) and two Vietnamese child actors, ages 3 and 7, are killed during the filming of a battle scene. The NTSB would determine a pyrotechnics explosion caused the pilot of a low-flying helicopter involved in the scene to crash, killing Morrow and the children on the ground. Scene director John Landis, the special effects coordinator and three others would be charged with involuntary manslaughter. All five were acquitted, and Landis and Warner Brothers would settle out of court with the victims' families. The accident led both the Directors and Screen Actors Guilds to begin placing more emphasis on film set safety. (below: Morrow and the crash aftermath)
On July 24, 1943, the RAF Bomber Command and U.S. Eighth Air Force launch Operation Gomorrah. Taking a page from Germany's "Blitz" of London in 1940, the combined British and U.S. commands decide to switch from high explosive to incendiary bombs for this operation, targeting Germany's second-most populated city, Hamburg, in particular its shipbuilding capabilities. For 8 consecutive days, with the Americans bombing by day and the British by night, the city is subjected to the largest aerial attack to date, with more than 9,000 tons of explosives dropped. The continuous firebombing results in 37,000 deaths and about a quarter of the city's industrial capability destroyed. Interrogations of captured Nazis later in the war indicate that Operation Gomorrah planted the first seeds of doubt in the mind of Adolph Hitler that the war could be won . On July 24, 1915, the passenger ship SS Eastland rolls over on its side while docked in the Chicago River. The ship serviced various ports on the Great Lakes since entering service in 1903, but was unstable and suffered numerous incidents of developing a list for no apparent reason. Various modifications that reduced her weight and passenger capacity failed to correct the problem. On the 24th, the Eastland was one of five Great Lakes liners chartered to transport General Electric employees across Lake Michigan on a company outing. More than 2,500 were aboard awaiting departure when the ship suddenly rolled over on its port side. Eight hundred, forty-four were killed in the largest loss of life in the maritime history of the Great Lakes. On July 24, 1148 during the Second Crusade, French, German and Holy Roman forces arrive at the Holy Islamic city of Damascus and commence siege. In calling for the Second Crusade, Pope Eugene III wanted to target Edessa in Upper Mesopotamia, but the the secular kings preferred Damascus as the target. Their armies took considerable losses even before arriving and with the various commanders on site disagreeing on how to launch their offensive, the siege collapsed in only 4 days. The Second Crusade was over, a complete failure, by 1150.
On July 25, 1861, Congress passes the Crittendon-Johnson Resolution. Also known as the War Aims Resolution, the document states that the goal of the War Between the States (the Battle of Bull Run having been fought four days before) is preservation of the Union. It also states that the Congress "would take no action against the peculiar institution of slavery." Crittendon-Johnson passes in the House by a 121-2 vote and 30-5 in the Senate, but sentiments would quickly turn in the following months, and the Resolution would be re-voted and abandoned in December. (Rep. John Crittendon, Unionist-Kentucky, and Senator Andrew Johnson, D-Tennessee) On July 25, 1797, (British) Royal Marines withdraw from the port city of Santa Cruz de Tenerife in the Canary Islands. Led by Rear Admiral Horatio Nelson, the marines landed on the Spanish-held island 3 days earlier. But despite being outmanned (1,700 in defense against an attacking force of 4,000) and outgunned (91 cannon against 400 on an 8-ship support fleet), the Spanish were able to repel the attackers. The British lost 250 men with 128 wounded, including Nelson. Spanish commanding General Antonio Gutierrez was exceedingly gracious in victory, allowing the British to withdraw with all of their weapons and banners, and even loaning Nelson 2 schooners to aid his withdrawal. On July 25, 1976, the Viking 1 space probe in orbit of Mars sends back a startling photo. Photographing the Cydonia region of the red planet, NASA engineers develop what looks remarkably like a face on the surface. The "Face on Mars" will provide fodder for alien life believers and conspiracy theorists for the next 25 years, until higher resolution photos from 3 different probes debunk the "face" as an optical illusion.
On July 26, 1758 during the Seven Years' War, British forces take the Fortress of Louisbourg on the St. Lawrence River from the French. The French surrender ends 7 weeks of siege on the fort, leaves the British in complete control of the Gulf of St. Lawrence and clears the way for the assault on the French fortress city of Quebec. On July 26, 1861 in the aftermath of the Battle of Bull Run, President Lincoln orders available military units throughout Virginia to be organized into the Army of the Potomac, and appoints George McClellan its commander. McClellan proves to be a whiz at organization; within 5 months he grows the AoP from 50,000 to nearly 170,000 men, and supervises construction of defenses for Washington, D.C. that are deemed virtually impregnable. His administrative skills led Lincoln to appoint McClellan to replace Winfield Scott as General of the U.S. Army that November. But McClellan proved to be less skilled as a field commander, often being outmaneuvered by outnumbered forces led by Robert E. Lee. He and Lincoln would develop a mutual distrust that led to McClellan being relieved of command in March, 1861, to be followed by a series of equally unsuitable generals until Lincoln settled on Ulysses S. Grant in March, 1864. On July 26, 1970, the musical revue Oh! Calcutta! opens in London. English theater goers expecting a historical look at the exotic city of Calcutta, India, are in for a huge surprise. The title of the show is in fact a play on a French phrase, “O quel cul t’as” meaning “what an ass you have”. The audience would get ample opportunity to judge that phrase, as the show is a series of skits on sexual topics, and the cast, both male and female, is completely nude for much of the performance. Within a few nights of the show's opening, London authorities would send in representatives of the Obscene Publications Squad (that was apparently a real thing in 1970) to evaluate the show. They would give a verdict of "not obscene" and Oh! Calcutta! would run for more than 10 years, giving more than 3,900 performances.
On July 27, 1789, President Washington signs into law legislation creating the Department of Foreign Affairs. Additional legislation passed later in the year will rename the DFA the Department of State. Thomas Jefferson is appointed the first Secretary of State, but as he was in France at the time, Foreign Affairs Minister (under the Articles of Confederation) John Jay holds the position until Jefferson can return home. On July 27, 1816, the Seminole Wars begin at the negro Fort on the Apalachicola River, just south of present-day Sumatra, Florida. The fort was a leftover from the War of 1812. On their withdrawal in 1814, the British left the fort in the hands of a few hundred "Colonial Marines", a corps of mostly freed black men and fugitive slaves, with some Creek and Choctaw Indians thrown in as well. When the Marines fired on U.S. boats transiting the river to supply a nearby American fort, the Americans returned fire. The U.S. gunners were using heated shells in hopes of starting a fire in the wooden fort, which worked better than anyone could imagine. A single shot hit and detonated a powder magazine, instantly killing 270 of the fort's occupants. Historians believe this the single deadliest shot fired in U.S. military history. All trace of the fort is now gone; the plaque below marks the spot of the powder magazine. On July 27, 1959, a group of attorneys led by New York's William Shea announce the formation of the Continental League of Baseball Clubs, with the intention of beginning play with 10 teams in 1961. New York, Denver, Houston, Minneapolis-St. Paul and Toronto, Canada, are named as the first home cities, with Atlanta, Buffalo and Dallas-Ft. Worth expected to follow soon, and former L.A. Dodgers president Branch Rickey (who broke major league baseball's "color barrier" by signing Jackie Robinson) is named league president. The major leagues (the American and National Leagues operated independently from each other at the time, as was the case in this instance) responded by announcing expansion in each league, with the NL welcoming Houston and returning to New York (the Mets replace the Giants, who had just left for Frisco), and the AL's two new franchises including Minneapolis-St. Paul. With 3 of its first 5 cities knocked out, the Continental League closed operations in 1960, without ever playing a game.
On July 28, 1932, President Hebert Hoover orders the Army to evict the "Bonus Army" from Washington D.C. In 1924, WWI veterans had been issued certificates for service bonuses, to be paid in 1945. With the Great Depression taking hold of the nation, many of these veterans had been assembling in D.C. for the past two months, demanding immediate payment of the certificates. By 7/28/32, the throng numbered about 43,000; 17,000 vets and their families. A day earlier, the U.S. Attorney General sent local police in to evict the marchers from government property, but their actions resulted in 2 dead and the protesters unmoved. On the 28th, Army Chief of Staff Douglas MacArthur sent in infantry with tank support, and successfully cleaned out the city. A year later, incoming President Franklin Roosevelt offered the bonus marchers jobs in the newly-forming Civilian Conservation Corps, which most accepted. On July 28, 1855, the USS Constellation is commissioned into the U.S. Navy. The 200-foot long, 27-gun sloop-of-war is the last vessel commissioned into the Navy to be propelled only by sail. The Constellation spent most of the Civil War in the Med and East Atlantic, disrupting Confederate commerce and the slave trade. She remained on active duty as a training vessel into the early 20th century, finally stricken from the naval register in 1955. In the 1970's the Constellation was added to the National Register of Historic Landmarks and restored. She is a now a museum ship in Baltimore, MD. On July 28, 1973, the Watkins Glen Grand Prix Raceway in upstate NY hosts Summer Jam. Historians believe this to be the largest single day assembly of people in U.S. history. Woodstock brought in 400,000 over 3 days; the 1963 March on Washington, perhaps 300,000. Summer Jam attracted 600,000 (1 of every 350 of the national population) to listen to the Grateful Dead, the Allman Brothers and The Band. About 150,000 paid $10 apiece, but most got in for free. In 2013, track maintenance workers found cars in the nearby woods believed to have been abandoned from the concert.
On July 29, 587 B.C. (date estimated) the Babylonians under King Nebuchadnezzar II destroy Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem. The Old Testament states the temple was conceived by King David (after uniting the tribes of Israel) as a holding place for the Ark of the Covenant. However, God would not permit David to build the temple "because he had blood on his hands," and the task fell to his son, Solomon. The Babylonians also drove the Jews from Jerusalem, and when they were permitted to return, they found the Ark had disappeared. Solomon's Temple was supposedly located on Mount Moriah (called Temple Mount today), and while archaeologists agree that some form of ritual structure once stood on the mountain, they can not conclusively tie it to the time of Solomon. On July 29, 1862, Belle Boyd is arrested by Union authorities on charges of spying for the Confederacy. The daughter of a soldier in General Thomas Jackson's Stonewall Brigade, Boyd was just 17 years old when she killed a Union soldier trespassing in her home a year earlier. She was acquitted of murder charges, which emboldened her to a career in espionage, coming by information by flirting with Union officers, which she then passed on to Jackson. She was arrested at least 6 times without being incarcerated before her July 29 arrest. By then she was well known to the northern press, who dubbed her "Cleopatra of the Secession." She would be arrested twice more before finally being banished from the country in late 1863; she spent the remainder of the war in Canada and England, and died in 1900.
