This day in history

[July 30, 2010]  (AP)  Today is Friday, July 30, the 211th day of 2010. There are 154 days left in the year.

Today's highlight in history:

On July 30, 1945, during World War II, the Portland class heavy 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 1792, the French national anthem "La Marseillaise" (lah mar-seh-YEHZ'), by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle, was first sung in Paris by troops arriving from Marseille.

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 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 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 into law the Medicare bill, which went into effect 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, Israel's Knesset passed a law reaffirming all of Jerusalem as the capital of the Jewish state. The Pacific Island nation of Vanuatu became independent of joint British-French rule.

In 1990, British Conservative Party lawmaker Ian Gow was killed in a bombing claimed by the Irish Republican Army.

Ten years ago: President Hugo Chavez (OO'-goh CHAH'-vez) of Venezuela won a fresh six-year term in a landslide re-election.

Five years ago: President George W. Bush was pronounced "fit for duty" after a checkup that showed that the 59-year-old commander-in-chief, an avid mountain bike rider, had lost eight pounds since his last physical exam in December 2004.

One year ago: Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. and the Cambridge, Mass. officer who arrested him for disorderly conduct at his home, Sgt. James Crowley, had beers with President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden at White House to discuss the dispute that unleashed a furor over racial profiling in America.

Today's birthdays: Actor Richard Johnson is 83. Actor Edd (correct) "Kookie" Byrnes is 77. Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig is 76. Blues musician Buddy Guy is 74. Movie director Peter Bogdanovich is 71. Feminist activist Eleanor Smeal is 71. Former U.S. Rep. Patricia Schroeder (D-Colo.) is 70. Singer Paul Anka is 69. Jazz musician David Sanborn is 65. California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is 63. Actor William Atherton is 63. Actor Jean Reno (zhahn rih-NOH') is 62. Blues singer-musician Otis Taylor is 62. Actor Frank Stallone is 60. Actor Ken Olin is 56. Actress Delta Burke is 54. Singer-songwriter Kate Bush is 52. Country singer Neal McCoy is 52. Actor Richard Burgi is 52. Movie director Richard Linklater is 50. Actor Laurence Fishburne is 49. Actress Lisa Kudrow is 47. Bluegrass musician Danny Roberts (The Grascals) is 47. Country musician Dwayne O'Brien is 46. Actress Vivica A. Fox is 46. Actor Terry Crews ("Everybody Hates Chris") is 42. Actor Simon Baker is 41. Movie director Christopher Nolan ("Inception") is 40. Actor Tom Green is 39. Rock musician Brad Hargreaves (Third Eye Blind) is 39. Actress Christine Taylor is 39. Actor-comedian Dean Edwards is 37. Actress Hilary Swank is 36. Olympic gold medal beach volleyball player Misty May-Treanor is 33. Actress Jaime Pressly is 33. Alt-country singer-musician Seth Avett (AY'-veht) is 30. Actress Yvonne Strahovski (TV: "Chuck") is 28.

Thought for today: "An efficient bureaucracy is the greatest threat to liberty." -- Sen. Eugene McCarthy (1916-2005)

[Associated Press]

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.