30 July: Irony At Sea

By The Associated Press: Today is Thursday, July 30, the 211th day of 2009. There are 154 days left in the year. AP also. A/V. UPI Almanac. Today's Highlight in History: On July 30, 1945, during World War II, the battle cruiser USS Indianapolis, which had just delivered components for the atomic bomb that would be dropped on Hiroshima, was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine; only 316 out of some 1,200 men survived the sinking and shark-infested waters. On this date: In 1619, the first representative assembly in America convened in Jamestown in the Virginia Colony. In 1729, Baltimore, Md., was founded. In 1792, the French national anthem "La Marseillaise," by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle, was first sung in Paris by troops arriving from Marseille. In 1863, American automaker Henry Ford was born in Dearborn Township, Mich. In 1864, during the Civil War, Union forces tried to take Petersburg, Va., by exploding a gunpowder-filled mine under Confederate defense lines; the attack failed. In 1908, the first round-the-world automobile race, which had begun in New York in February, ended in Paris with the drivers of the American car, a Thomas Flyer, declared the winners over teams from Germany and Italy. In 1918, poet Joyce Kilmer, a sergeant in the 165th U.S. Infantry Regiment, was killed during the Second Battle of the Marne in World War I. (Kilmer is perhaps best remembered for his poem "Trees.") In 1932, the Summer Olympic Games opened in Los Angeles. In 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed a bill creating a women's auxiliary agency in the Navy known as "Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service" — WAVES for short.In 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed into law the Medicare bill, which went into effect the following year.In 1971, Apollo 15 astronauts David R. Scott and James B. Irwin landed on the moon. In 1974, the U.S. House Judiciary Committee, by a vote of 21-17, approved a third article of impeachment against U.S. President Richard Nixon, charging him with ignoring congressional subpoenas. Nixon resigned before the issue went to trial. In 1975, former Teamsters union president Jimmy Hoffa disappeared in suburban Detroit; although presumed dead, his remains have never been found.Ten years ago: Republicans pushed their $792 billion tax cut through the Senate. Linda Tripp, whose secretly recorded phone conversations with Monica Lewinsky led to the impeachment of President Bill Clinton, was charged in Maryland with illegal wiretapping. (Prosecutors later dropped the charges.) The leaders of some 40 nations gathered in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina, pledging to push economic and democratic reforms for the war-ravaged Balkans. In 2002, expelled from Congress a week earlier, an unrepentant James A. Traficant Jr. was sentenced to eight years behind bars for corruption. WNBA player Lisa Leslie of the Los Angeles Sparks became the first woman to dunk in a professional game during her team's 82-73 loss to the Miami Sol. Five years ago: Leaders of the September 11th commission urged senators to embrace their proposals for massive changes to the nation's intelligence structure. Mike Tyson was knocked out in the fourth round of a fight in Louisville, Ky., by British heavyweight Danny Williams. In 2007, Hall of Fame football coach Bill Walsh died at age 75. One year ago: President George W. Bush quietly signed a housing bill he'd once threatened to veto; it was intended to rescue some cash-strapped homeowners in fear of foreclosure. Amid corruption allegations and his own plummeting popularity, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert announced he would resign. Ex-Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic was extradited to The Hague to face genocide charges after nearly 13 years on the run. Republican Party stalwart and one-time U.S. ambassador to Britain Anne Armstrong died in Houston at age 80. Today's Birthdays: Actor Richard Johnson is 82. Actor Edd "Kookie" Byrnes is 76. Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig is 75. Blues musician Buddy Guy is 73. Movie director Peter Bogdanovich is 70. Feminist activist Eleanor Smeal is 70. Former U.S. Rep. Patricia Schroeder, D-Colo., is 69. Singer Paul Anka is 68. Jazz musician David Sanborn is 64. California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is 62. Actor William Atherton is 62. Actor Jean Reno is 61. Blues singer-musician Otis Taylor is 61. Actor Frank Stallone is 59. Actor Ken Olin is 55. Actress Delta Burke is 53. Singer-songwriter Kate Bush is 51. Country singer Neal McCoy is 51. Actor Richard Burgi is 51. Movie director Richard Linklater is 49. Actor Laurence Fishburne is 48. Actress Lisa Kudrow is 46. Bluegrass musician Danny Roberts (The Grascals) is 46. Country musician Dwayne O'Brien is 45. Actress Vivica A. Fox is 45. Actor Terry Crews ("Everybody Hates Chris") is 41. Actor Simon Baker is 40. Former NFL player Robert Porcher is 40. Movie director Christopher Nolan is 39. Actor Tom Green is 38. Rock musician Brad Hargreaves (Third Eye Blind) is 38. Actress Christine Taylor is 38. Actor-comedian Dean Edwards is 36. Actress Hilary Swank is 35. Beach volleyball player Misty May-Treanor is 32. Actress Jaime Pressly is 32. Today In Entertainment History --In 1932, Walt Disney released his first color cartoon, "Flowers and Trees," made in three-color Technicolor. In 1936, author Margaret Mitchell sold the film rights for "Gone With the Wind" to MGM for $50,000, most ever for a first novel. In 1954, Elvis Presley made his professional debut in Memphis. It was his first concert to be advertised. In 1970, The Beatles closed their Apple Boutique, & the Rolling Stones fired Allen Klein as their manager. In 1976, Kate Smith made her last public appearance on this date, singing her signature number "God Bless America" on a TV program honoring the U.S. Bicentennial. In 1986, RCA Records dropped John Denver from his contract. In 1992, Motown's biggest stars gathered for a memorial service for Mary Wells, who died of cancer at the age of 49. Smokey Robinson sang a medley of Wells' hits. Motown founder Berry Gordy called her the "first lady of song." In 1996, actress Claudette Colbert died in Barbados at the age of 92. She won an Oscar for her performance in "It Happened One Night." Actor Tom Cruise filed a lawsuit against a German magazine for falsely quoting him as saying he had "zero sperm count." Cruise later accepted a retraction. In 1998, "Howdy Doody" creator Buffalo Bob Smith died of cancer in Flat Rock, North Carolina. He was 80. In 2003, Sun Records founder Sam Phillips, who discovered Elvis Presley, died at age 80. In 2007, Britney Spears' divorce from Kevin Federline was finalized. Thought for Today: "In politics people give you what they think you deserve and deny you what they think you want." — Cyril Northcote Parkinson, British historian and author (born this date in 1909, died 1993).