By The Associated Press

Today in History

Today is Thursday, July 30, the 212th day of 2020. There are 154 days left in the year.

Todayís Highlight in History:

On July 30, 1945, the Portland class heavy cruiser USS Indianapolis, having just delivered components of the atomic bomb to Tinian in the Mariana Islands, was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine; only 317 out of nearly 1,200 men survived.

On this date:

In 1619, the first representative assembly in America convened in Jamestown in the Virginia Colony.

In 1792, the French national anthem ìLa Marseillaiseî (lah mar-seh-YEHZí), by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle, was first sung in Paris by troops arriving from Marseille.

In 1844, the New York Yacht Club was founded.

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 1916, German saboteurs blew up a munitions plant on Black Tom, an island near Jersey City, New Jersey, killing about a dozen people.

In 1956, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed a measure making ìIn God We Trustî the national motto, replacing ìE Pluribus Unumî (Out of many, one).

In 1960, the recently founded American Football League saw its first pre-season game, in which the Boston Patriots defeated the host Buffalo Bills 28-7.

In 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed a measure creating Medicare, which began operating the following year.

In 1975, former Teamsters union president Jimmy Hoffa disappeared in suburban Detroit; although presumed dead, his remains have never been found.

In 1980, Israelís Knesset passed a law reaffirming all of Jerusalem as the capital of the Jewish state.

In 2001, Robert Mueller (MUHLí-ur), President George W. Bushís choice to head the FBI, promised the Senate Judiciary Committee that if confirmed, he would move forcefully to fix problems at the agency. (Mueller became FBI director on Sept. 4, 2001, a week before the 9/11 attacks.)

In 2003, President George W. Bush took personal responsibility for the first time for using discredited intelligence in his State of the Union address, but predicted he would be vindicated for going to war against Iraq.

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