July 25
Workers stage a general strike, believed to be the Nation’s first, in St. Louis, in support of striking railroad workers. The successful strike was ended when approximately 3,000 federal troops and 5,000 deputized special police kill at least 18 individuals in skirmishes around the city. – 1877.
Louise Joy Brown, the world’s first baby to be conceived through in vitro fertilization (IVF), is born at Oldham and District General Hospital in Manchester, England, to parents Lesley and Peter Brown. The healthy baby was delivered shortly before midnight by caesarean section and weighed in at five pounds, 12 ounces. – 1978.
An Air France Concorde jet crashes upon takeoff in Paris and kills everyone on board as well as four individuals on the ground. The Concorde, the world’s fastest commercial jet, had enjoyed an exemplary safety record up to that point, with no crashes in the plane’s 31-year history. – 2000.
July 26
The U.S. Postal Service is established by the Second Continental Congress, with Benjamin Franklin as its first postmaster general. Franklin put in place the foundation for many aspects of today’s mail system. – 1775.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is created when U.S. attorney general Charles Bonaparte orders a group of newly-hired federal investigators to report to chief examiner, Stanley W. Finch, of the Department of Justice. One year later, the Office of the Chief Examiner was renamed the Bureau of Investigation, and in 1935 it became the Federal Bureau of Investigation. – 1908.
The Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) takes effect. It requires employers to offer reasonable accommodations to qualified disabled employees and bans discrimination against such workers. – 1992.
July 27
The House Judiciary Committee recommends that America’s 37th president, Richard M. Nixon, be impeached and removed from office. The impeachment proceedings resulted from a series of political scandals involving the Nixon administration that came to be collectively known as Watergate. – 1974.
After three years of a bloody and frustrating war, the United States, the People’s Republic of China, North Korea, and South Korea, agree to an armistice, bringing the Korean War to an end. The armistice ended America’s first experiment with the Cold War concept of limited war. – 1953.
July 28
Following its ratification by the necessary three-quarters of U.S. states, the 14th Amendment, guaranteeing to African Americans citizenship and all its privileges, is officially adopted into the U.S. Constitution. – 1868.
A United States military plane crashes into the Empire State Building and kills 14. The freak accident was caused by heavy fog. – 1945.
At 3:42 a.m., an earthquake measuring between 7.8 and 8.2 magnitude on the Richter scale flattens Tangshan, a Chinese industrial city with a population of about one million residents. An estimated 242,000 in Tangshan and surrounding areas were killed to make the earthquake one of the deadliest in recorded history. – 1976.
July 29
The U.S. Congress passes legislation to establish the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), a civilian agency responsible for coordinating America’s activities in space. – 1958.
Nearly one Billion television viewers in 74 countries watch the marriage of Prince Charles, heir to the British throne, to Lady Diana Spencer, an English schoolteacher. – 1981.
July 30
Two years after inserting “under God” into the pledge of allegiance, president Dwight D. Eisenhower signs a law officially declaring “In God We Trust” to be the Nation’s official motto, to replace E pluribus unum “Out of many, one,” used by the founding fathers – 1956.
President Lyndon Johnson signs the Medicare Act, to provide federally-funded health insurance for senior citizens. – 1964.
July 31
Former Teamsters president Jimmy Hoffa disappears. Presumed to be dead, his body never has been found. – 1975.
A hurricane strikes the East Coast of Florida and sinks 10 Spanish treasure ships and kills almost 1,000 persons. The ships left Havana, Cuba, on their way to Europe and carried 120 tons of gold and silver coins, about 14 Million pesos worth. – 1715.
Sources: History.com, Toil and Trouble, by Thomas R. Brooks; American Labor Struggles, by Samuel Yellen; IWW calendar, Solidarity Forever; Historical Encyclopedia of American Labor, edited by Robert E. Weir and James P. Hanlan; Southwest Labor History Archives/George Meany Center; Geov Parrish’s Radical History; workday Minnesota; Andy Richards and Adam Wright, AFL-CIO Washington DC Metro Council.