Today in history: July 29, USS Forrestal accident

TODAY IN HISTORY

In 1836, the newly completed Arc de Triomphe was inaugurated in Paris.

In 1858, the United States and Japan signed the Harris Treaty, which formalized diplomatic relations and trading rights between the two countries.

In 1890, the 37-year-old artist Vincent van Gogh died in Auvers-sur-Oise, France, from a gunshot wound that he had apparently inflicted on himself.

In 1914, the transcontinental telephone service in the USA began operations with the first test call between New York and San Francisco.

In 1921, Adolf Hitler became leader of the National Socialist German Workers’ Party (NSDAP).

In 1954, the first volume of JRR Tolkien’s novel “The Lord of the Rings” (“The Fellowship of the Ring”) was published.

In 1957 the International Atomic Energy Agency was founded.

In 1958, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act, establishing NASA.

In 1967, an accidental missile launch on the deck of the supercarrier USS Forrestal in the Gulf of Tonkin resulted in a fire and explosion that killed 134 soldiers.

In 1981, Britain’s Prince Charles married Lady Diana Spencer in a lavish ceremony at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. (They divorced in 1996.)

In 1986, a jury in a federal court in New York found that the National Football League had violated antitrust laws and thereby defrauded the rival United States Football League, but ordered the NFL to pay symbolic damages of just three dollars.

In 1994, anti-abortion activist Paul Hill shot and killed Dr. John Bayard Britton and his companion James H. Barrett in front of the Ladies Center clinic in Pensacola, Florida.

In 1999, a former day trader, apparently angry about stock market losses, opened fire in two brokerage offices in Atlanta, killing nine people and injuring 13 before shooting himself. Authorities said Mark O. Barton also killed his wife and two children.

In 2016, former Chicago suburban police officer Drew Peterson was sentenced to an additional 40 years in prison for trying to hire someone to kill the prosecutor who put him behind bars for the murder of his third wife.

In 2021, American Sunisa Lee won the gold medal in women’s gymnastics at the Tokyo Olympics, becoming the fifth consecutive American to win the Olympic title in the discipline.

BIRTHDAYS

Former Senator Nancy Kassebaum-Baker is 92 years old.

Former Senator Elizabeth H. Dole is 88.

The artist Jenny Holzer is 74.

Documentary filmmaker Ken Burns is 71.

Style guru Tim Gunn is 71.

Rock singer and musician Geddy Lee (Rush) is 71.

Rock singer Patti Scialfa (Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band) is 71.

Actress Alexandra Paul is 61.

Country singer Martina McBride is 58.

Actor Wil Wheaton is 52.

R&B singer Wanya Morris (Boyz II Men) is 51.

Actor Stephen Dorff is 51.

Actor Josh Radnor is 50.

Hip-hop DJ/music producer Danger Mouse is 47.

NFL quarterback Dak Prescott is 31.