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
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 to bring the Korean War to an end. The armistice ended America’s first experiment with the Cold War concept of limited and undeclared war. – 1953.
The House Judiciary Committee recommends that America’s 37th president, Richard M. Nixon, be impeached and subsequently 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.
In Atlanta, Ga., the XXVI Summer Olympiad is disrupted by the explosion of a pipe bomb in Centennial Olympic Park which kills one and injures more than 100 others. – 1996.
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.
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.
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
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.
Former Teamsters president Jimmy Hoffa disappears. Presumed to be dead, his body never has been found. – 1975.
August 1
Four days after Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, two more great European powers, Russia and Germany, declare war on each other; the same day, France orders a general mobilization. The so-called Great War that ensued would be one of unprecedented destruction and loss of life, resulting in the deaths of some 20 Million soldiers and civilians and the physical devastation of much of the European continent. – 1914.
A gunman at an observatory platform on top of a 300-foot tower at the University of Texas proceeds to shoot 46 individuals with 14 dead and 31 wounded. A 15th died in 2001 because of his injuries. The shooter, eventually was shot to death after courageous Austin, Texas police officers charged up the stairs of the tower to subdue the attacker. – 1966.
A severe flood of the Red River in North Vietnam kills an estimated 100,000 persons. This remarkable flood was one of the 20th Century’s most serious weather events, but because the Vietnam War was going on at the time, relatively few details about the disaster are available because of information blackout to the U.S.. – 1971.
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.
• “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” —George Santayana, Philosopher