July 29th

Today's Highlight in History:
On July 29th, 1958, President Eisenhower signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act, which created NASA.

On this date:
In 1588, the English soundly defeated the Spanish Armada in the Battle of Gravelines.

In 1890, artist Vincent van Gogh died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in Auvers, France.

In 1900, Italian King Humbert the First was assassinated by an anarchist; he was succeeded by his son, Victor Emmanuel the Third.

In 1914, transcontinental telephone service began with the first phone conversation between New York and San Francisco.

In 1948, Britain's King George the Sixth opened the Olympic Games in London.

In 1957, the International Atomic Energy Agency was established.

In 1967, fire swept the USS "Forrestal" in the Gulf of Tonkin, killing 134 servicemen.

In 1975, President Ford became the first US president to visit the site of the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz in Poland as he paid tribute to the victims.

In 1980, a state funeral was held in Cairo, Egypt, for the deposed Shah of Iran, who had died two days earlier at age 60.

In 1981, Britain's Prince Charles married Lady Diana Spencer at St. Paul's Cathedral in London.

Ten years ago: Bruno Kreisky, Austria's longest-serving chancellor and an architect of its policy of neutrality, died at age 79.

Five years ago: President Clinton and Republicans marked the 30th anniversary of Medicare by accusing one another of putting the program's future at risk.

One year ago: A day trader, apparently upset over stock losses, opened fire in two Atlanta brokerage offices, killing nine people and wounding 13 before shooting himself to death; authorities say Mark O. Barton also killed his wife and two children. California Governor Gray Davis abandoned the state's effort to preserve Proposition 187, a divisive voter-approved ban on schooling and other public benefits for illegal immigrants.

"The fellow who says he'll meet you halfway usually thinks he's standing on the dividing line."

-- O.A. Battista, Canadian-born author-scientist.