This Day in History – July 29, 2011

1588 Attacking Spanish Armada defeated & scattered by English defenders 1715 10 Spanish treasure galleons sunk off Florida coast by hurricane 1773 1st schoolhouse west of Allegheny Mtns completed, Schoenbrunn, OH 1786 1st newspaper published west of Alleghenies, Pittsburgh Gazette 1858 1st commercial treaty between US & Japan signed 1858 US citizens allowed to live anywhere in Japan 1874 Major Walter Copton Wingfield patents a portable tennis court 1899 1st motorcycle race, Manhattan Beach, NY 1914 1st transcontinental phone link made between NYC & SF 1920 1st transcontinental airmail flight from NY to SF 1928 Walt Disney’s “Steamboat Willie” is released 1936 RCA shows the 1st real TV program (dancing, film on locomotives, Bonwit Teller fashion show & monologue from Tobacco Road & comedy) 1948 King George VI opens 14th modern Olympic games in London 1952 1st nonstop transpacific flight by a jet 1957 Jack Paar’s Tonight show premiers 1958 Pres Eisenhower signs NASA & Space Act of 1958 1974 2nd impeachment vote against Nixon by the House Judiciary Committee 1975 Ford became 1st US pres to visit Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz 1983 “Friday Night Videos” premiers on NBC TV 1984 Summer Olympics opens in LA 1985 19th Space Shuttle Mission (51-F)-Challenger 8-launched 1986 NY jury rules NFL violated antitrust laws, awards USFL $1 in damages 1987 Ben & Jerry’s & Jerry Garcia agree on a new flavor Cherry Garcia 1988 Gorbachev pushes plan electing president & parliament in March, 1989 1988 Judge orders NASA to release unedited tape from Challenger cockpit]]]]> ]]>