TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON – JULY 30
1419 First defenestration of Prague: anti-Catholic Hussites, followers of executed reformer Jan Hus, storm Prague town hall and throw the judge, mayor and several city council members out the windows. They die in the fall or killed by crowd outside.
1619 The House of Burgesses convenes for the first time at Jamestown, Va.
1787 The French parliament refuses to approve a more equitable land tax.
1919 Federal troops are called out to put down Chicago race riots.
1935 The first Penguin paperback book costing 6d is published in England and started the paperback revolution, many believed it would not be profitable but following the purchase of 63,000 books by Woolworth within 12 months one million Penguin books are sold.
1938 George Eastman demonstrates his color motion picture process.
1942 The WAVES were created by legislation signed by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The members of the Women’s Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service were a part of the U.S. Navy.
1945 The USS Indianapolis was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine and sank within 15 minutes. It was one of the greatest naval losses of World War II, resulting in the deaths of nearly 900 men.
1953 The FBI has seized 6 communist leaders from the city of Philadelphia on charges of teaching and advocating the overthrow of the government, this brings the total of those arrested for similar offences around the nation to 87.
1956 The phrase “In God We Trust” was adopted as the U.S. national motto.
1960 Over 60,000 Buddhists march in protest against the Diem government in South Vietnam.
1965 The Social Security Act of 1965 was signed by U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson which established the nation’s Medicare and Medicaid programs, financed by higher Social Security payroll taxes.
1974 Following the invasion of Turkish troops on July 21st, Greece and Turkey and the British Foreign Secretary have signed a peace agreement to end the crisis in Cyprus.
1975 Teamster leader Jimmy Hoffa disappears, last seen coming out of a restaurant in Bloomingfield Hills, Michigan.
1988 King Hussein dissolves Jordan’s Parliament, surrenders Jordan’s claims to the West Bank to the Palestinian Liberation Organization.
2003 The last of the uniquely shaped “old style” Volkswagen Beetles rolls off the assembly line in Mexico.
** history.net, onthisday.com, infoplease.com, timeanddate.com, thepeoplehistory.com, on-this-day.com **
