Portal:United States/Anniversaries/July/July 31
- 1777 – Congress passes a resolution that commissions French aristocrat Lafayette (pictured) as a major-general of the United States army. Lafayette would become a key military leader in the Revolutionary War.
- 1790 – Samuel Hopkins is issued the first patent issued by the government of the United States.
- 1930 – The radio mystery program The Shadow is aired for the first time.
- 1961 – At Fenway Park in Boston, the first tie in a Major League Baseball All-Star Game occurs when the game is stopped in the 9th inning because of rain.
- 1964 – The space probe Ranger 7 sends back the first close-up photographs of the moon. The images are a thousand times clearer than anything ever seen from earth-bound telescopes.
- 1976 – NASA releases the famous Face on Mars photo, which had been taken by the Viking 1 satellite.
On this day for the United States
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Events
- 1777 – The United States Congress passes a resolution that the services of Marquis de Lafayette "be accepted, and that, in consideration of his zeal, illustrious family and connexions, he have the rank and commission of major–general of the United States."
- 1790 – First U.S. patent is issued; granted to inventor Samuel Hopkins for a potash process.
- 1930 – The radio mystery program The Shadow is aired for the first time.
- 1940 – A doodlebug train in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio collides with a multi–car freight train heading the opposite way, killing 43 people.
- 1945 – John K. Giles attempts to escape from Alcatraz prison.
- 1948 – At Idlewild Field in New York, New York International Airport (later renamed John F. Kennedy International Airport) is dedicated.
- 1961 – At Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts, the first All-Star Game tie in major league baseball history occurs when the game is stopped in the 9th inning because of rain.
- 1964 – Ranger program: Ranger 7 sends back the first close–up photographs of the moon, with images 1,000 times clearer than anything ever seen from earth–bound telescopes.
- 1971 – Apollo program: Apollo 15 astronauts become the first to ride in a lunar rover.
- 1972 – Northeast Airlines flies its last flight before being integrated into Delta Air Lines the next day.
- 1973 – A Delta Air Lines jetliner crashes while landing in fog at Logan Airport, Boston, Massachusetts killing 89.
- 1975 – In Detroit, Michigan, Teamsters Union president Jimmy Hoffa is reported missing.
- 1976 – Viking program: Viking 1 – NASA releases the famous Face on Mars photo.
- 1981 – 42–day strike of Major League Baseball ends in the United States.
- 1999 – Discovery Program: Lunar Prospector – NASA intentionally crashes the spacecraft into the Moon, thus ending its mission to detect frozen water on the moon's surface.
- 2006 – Fidel Castro hands over power temporarily to brother Raúl Castro. This leads to a celebration in Little Havana [La Pequeña Habana in Spanish], Miami, Florida, where many Cuban Americans participated.