http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history
July 31, 1975: Jimmy Hoffa disappears
On July 31, 1975, James Riddle Hoffa, one of the most influential American labor leaders of the 20th century, disappears in Detroit, Michigan, never to be heard from again. Though he is popularly believed to have been the victim of a Mafia hit, conclusive evidence was never found, and Hoffa's death remains shrouded in mystery to this day.
Born in 1913 to a poor coal miner in Brazil, Indiana, Jimmy Hoffa proved a natural leader in his youth. At the age of 20, he helped organize a labor strike in Detroit, and remained an advocate for downtrodden workers for the rest of his life. Hoffa's charisma and talents as a local organizer quickly got him noticed by the Teamsters and carried him upward through its ranks. Then a small but rapidly growing union, the Teamsters organized truckers across the country, and through the use of strikes, boycotts and some more powerful though less legal methods of protest, won contract demands on behalf of workers.
Hoffa became president of the Teamsters in 1957, when its former leader was imprisoned for bribery. As chief, Hoffa was lauded for his tireless work to expand the union, and for his unflagging devotion to even the organization's least powerful members. His caring and approachability were captured in one of the more well-known quotes attributed to him: "You got a problem? Call me. Just pick up the phone."
Hoffa's dedication to the worker and his electrifying public speeches made him wildly popular, both among his fellow workers and the politicians and businessmen with whom he negotiated. Yet, for all the battles he fought and won on behalf of American drivers, he also had a dark side. In Hoffa's time, many Teamster leaders partnered with the Mafia in racketeering, extortion and embezzlement. Hoffa himself had relationships with high-ranking mobsters, and was the target of several government investigations throughout the 1960s. In 1967, he was convicted of bribery and sentenced to 15 years in prison.
While in jail, Hoffa never ceded his office, and when Richard Nixon commuted his sentence in 1971, he was poised to make a comeback. Released on condition of not participating in union activities for 10 years, Hoffa was planning to fight the restriction in court when he disappeared on July 31, 1975, from the parking lot of a restaurant in Detroit, not far from where he got his start as a labor organizer. Several conspiracy theories have been floated about Hoffa’s disappearance and the location of his remains, but the truth remains unknown.
Another newsworthy even in history on this date concerned the Marquis de Lafayette, who took a position as major-general without pay, to assist the American rebels to achieve independence against the super power of that time, Great Britain:
July 31, 1777: Marquis de Lafayette becomes a major-general without pay
On this day in 1777, a 19-year-old French aristocrat, Marie-Joseph Paul Roch Yves Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, accepts a commission as a major-general in the Continental Army—without pay.
During his service as the Continental Congress' secret envoy to France, Silas Deane had, on December 7, 1776, struck an agreement with French military expert, Baron Johann DeKalb, and his protege, the Marquis de Lafayette, to offer their military knowledge and experience to the American cause. However, Deane was replaced with Benjamin Franklin and Arthur Lee, who were unenthused by the proposal. Meanwhile, King Louis XVI feared angering Britain and prohibited Lafayette's departure. The British ambassador to the French court at Versailles demanded the seizure of Lafayette's ship, which resulted in Lafayette's arrest. Lafayette, though, managed to escape, set sail and elude two British ships dispatched to recapture him. Following his safe arrival in South Carolina, Lafayette traveled to Philadelphia, expecting to be made General George Washington's second-in-command. Although Lafayette's youth made Congress reluctant to promote him over more experienced colonial officers, the young Frenchman's willingness to volunteer his services without pay won their respect and Lafayette was commissioned as a major-general.
Lafayette served at Brandywine in 1777, as well as Barren Hill, Monmouth and Rhode Island in 1778. Following the formal treaty of alliance with Lafayette's native France in February 1778 and Britain's subsequent declaration of war, Lafayette asked to return to Paris and consult the king as to his future service. Washington was willing to spare Lafayette, who departed in January 1779. By March, Franklin reported from Paris that Lafayette had become an excellent advocate for the American cause at the French court. Following his six-month respite in France, Lafayette returned to aid the American war effort in Virginia, where he participated in the successful siege of Yorktown in 1781, before returning to France and the further service of his own country.
Here is something else that occurred on this day in history. Goering ordered Heydrich to get ready for the implementation of the "Final Solution":
July 31, 1941: Goering orders Heydrich to prepare for the Final Solution
On this day in 1941, Herman Goering, writing under instructions from Hitler, ordered Reinhard Heydrich, SS general and Heinrich Himmler's number-two man, "to submit to me as soon as possible a general plan of the administrative material and financial measures necessary for carrying out the desired final solution of the Jewish question."
Goering recounted briefly the outline for that "final solution" that had been drawn up on January 24, 1939: "emigration and evacuation in the best possible way." This program of what would become mass, systematic extermination was to encompass "all the territories of Europe under German occupation."
Heydrich already had some experience with organizing such a plan, having reintroduced the cruel medieval concept of the ghetto in Warsaw after the German occupation of Poland. Jews were crammed into cramped walled areas of major cities and held as prisoners, as their property was confiscated and given to either local Germans or non-Jewish Polish peasants.
Behind this horrendous scheme, carried out month by month, country by country, was Hitler, whose "greatest weakness was found in the vast numbers of oppressed peoples who hated [him] and the immoral ways of his government." This assessment was Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin's, given at a Kremlin meeting that same day, July 31, with American adviser to the president Harry Hopkins.
Oh, and a happy birthday to Ringo Starr, as well!
Here's a more detailed look at events that transpired on this date throughout history:
30 BC - Battle of Alexandria: Mark Antony achieves a minor
victory over Octavian's forces, but most of his army subsequently deserts,
leading to his suicide.
432 - St Sixtus III begins his reign as Catholic Pope
768 - [Philip] begins & ends his reign as Catholic Pope
781 - The oldest recorded eruption of Mt. Fuji (Traditional
Japanese date: July 6, 781).
1291 - Egyptian Mamelukken occupies Akko, crusaders driven
out of Palestine
1423 - Hundred Years' War: Battle of Cravant - the French
army is defeated at Cravant on the banks of the river Yonne.
1451 - Jacques Cœur is arrested by order of Charles VII of
France.
1498 - Christopher Columbus discovers island of Trinidad
1588 - English fleet beats Spanish Armada
1620 - Pilgrim Fathers depart (through England) to America
1653 - Fronde-leaders surrender in Bordeaux
1655 - Russo-Polish War (1654-1667): the Russian army enters
the capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Vilnius, which it holds for six
years.
1658 - Aurangzeb appoints himself Mongol emperor
1664 - Pierre Corneille's "Othon," premieres in
Paris
1667 - Peace of Breda: 2nd English war-Suriname vs
New-Netherlands ends
1703 - Daniel Defoe is placed in a pillory for the crime of
seditious libel after publishing a politically satirical pamphlet, but is
pelted with flowers.
1718 - Battle at Cape Passaro: English fleet destroys
Spanish
1737 - Prince Frederick of Wales escapes English court
1741 - Charles Albert of Bavaria invades Upper Austria and
Bohemia.
Novelist Daniel DefoeNovelist Daniel Defoe 1751 - Fire in
Stockholm destroys 1,000 houses
1771 - Paul Potters "Great ossendrift" sold for
Ÿ9050 in Amsterdam
1777 - Marquis de Lafayette, 19, made major-general of
Continental Army
1790 - 1st US patent granted, to Samuel Hopkins for a potash
process
1792 - Cornerstone laid for 1st US government building: US
Mint in Phila
1794 - All Jacobijnse clubs together in Haarlem
1809 - 1st practical US railroad track (wooden, for
horse-drawn cars), Phila
1813 - British invade Plattsburgh NY
1849 - Benjamin Chambers patents breech loading cannon
1852 - Hottest July in Netherlands since at least 1783 (68.4°F
(20.2°C) avg)
1855 - Hottest July in Stockholm since at least 1756 (21.4°C
avg)
1856 - Christchurch, New Zealand is chartered as a city.
1861 - 9,300 mm rainfall in July in Cherrapunji, Assam:
world record
1864 - Ulysses S. Grant is named General of Volunteers
1865 - The first narrow gauge mainline railway in the world
opens at Grandchester, Australia.
US President Ulysses S. GrantUS President Ulysses S. Grant
1874 - Patrick Francis Healy, SJ, inaugurated as pres of Georgetown U
1876 - US Coast Guard officers' training school established
(New Bedford MA)
1893 - Henry Perky patents shredded wheat
1899 - Albert Trott hits Monty Noble over the Pavilion at
Lord's
1900 - Boer Generals Prinsloo & Roux surrenders in
Brandwater Basin
1901 - Abraham Kuyper becomes premier of Netherlands
1905 - Matumbi rebellion at Samanga German East Africa
1909 - Bill Burns has no-hitter broken up with 2 outs in 9th
1910 - Chic Cub King Cole no-hits St Louis, 4-0 in a 7
inning game
1910 - Clement van Maasdijk gives flying demonstration
1911 - Hungarian education is only taught in German
1912 - RBC soccer team forms in Roosendaal
1912 - US government prohibits movies & photos of prize
fights (censorship)
1914 - German Emperor Wilhelm II threatens war, orders
Russia to demobilize
1914 - Oil discovered in Lake of Maracaibo
1917 - 3rd battle of Ypres begins
1919 - Germany accepts Weimar Constitution
1922 - 18-year-old Ralph Samuelson rides world's 1st water
skis (Minn)
1922 - Italy's general strike against fascist violence
1923 - Belgian Chamber discusses bilinguality at Ghent
University
1925 - Last allied occupying troops leave Ruhrgebied
1925 - Unemployment Insurance Act passed in England
1928 - 1st woman to win a track and field olympic gold
medal, Halina Konopacka of Poland
1929 - Aristide Briand becomes premier of France
1930 - Lou Gehrig grand slams as Yanks beat Red Sox 14-13
1932 - 27th Davis Cup: France beats USA in Paris (3-2)
1932 - Cleveland Municipal Stadium opens-Phila A's beat
Indians 1-0
1932 - George Washington quarter goes into circulation
1932 - German Election (NSDAP gets 37.3%)
1934 - 29th Davis Cup: Great Britain beats USA in Wimbledon
(4-1)
1934 - St Louis Cards defeat Cin Reds 8-6 in 18 innings,
pitchers Dizzy Dean & Tony Freitos go the distant
1935 - 3rd Dutch government of Colijn sworn in
1936 - Tokyo Japan is awarded the 1940 Olympics (later
cancelled)
1937 - Politburo enables Operative Order 00447: execute
193,000 Russians
1938 - NY Yanks suspend Jake Powell, after he said on
Chicago radio he'd "hit every colored person in Chicago over head with a
club"
1938 - Archaeologists discover engraved gold and silver
plates from King Darius in Persepolis.
1940 - 38 U boats sinks this month (196,000 ton)
1940 - Riech's commissar Seyss-Inquart bans homosexuals
1941 - U boats sink 21 allied ships this month: 94,000 ton
1942 - German SS gases 1,000 Jews in Minsk, Belorussia
1942 - U boats sank 96 allied ships this month: 476,000 ton
1943 - Transport nr 58 departs with French Jews to nazi
Germany
1944 - Last deportation train out Mechelen departs to
Auschwitz
1944 - Transport nr 77 departs with French Jews to
nazi-Germany
1944 - US troops occupy Sansapor New-Guinea
1945 - Pierre Laval, the fugitive former leader of Vichy
France, surrenders to Allied soldiers in Austria.
1948 - "Brigadoon" closes at Ziegfeld Theater NYC
after 581 performances
1948 - Pres Harry Truman dedicates Idlewild Field (Kennedy
Airport), NY
1949 - Lightning strikes a baseball field in Fla, kills SS
& 3rd baseman
1951 - Japan Airlines is established.
1953 - Dept of Health, Education & Welfare created
1954 - Mil Braves' Joe Adcock sets record of 18 total bases
(4 hrs, 1 double)
1954 - First ascent of K2, by an Italian expedition led by
Ardito Desio.
1955 - Beverly Hanson wins LPGA Battle Creek Golf Open
1955 - KRNT (now KCCI) TV channel 8 in Des Moines, IA (CBS)
1st broadcast
1955 - WHIS (now WVVA) TV channel 6 in Bluefield, WV (NBC)
1st broadcast
1956 - Laker takes 10-53 in Australia's 2nd innings, 19-90
for match
1958 - Anti-Chinese uprising in Tibet
1959 - 1st exhibit of bongos at Cleveland Metroparks Zoo
opens
1960 - Elijah Muhammad, leader of Nation of Islam, calls for
a black state
1960 - KSOO (now KSFY) TV channel 13 in Sioux Falls, SD
(NBC) 1st broadcast
1960 - Patty Berg wins LPGA American Women's Golf Open
1961 - 31st All Star Baseball Game: 1-1 tie ends by rain at
Fenway, Boston
1961 - Israel welcomes its 1,000,000th immigrant
1962 - Federation of Malaysia forms
1962 - Statham is Test crickets' leading wkt-taker (229),
beating Lindwall
1963 - Arturo Illia elected president of Argentina
1963 - Cleve ties record of 4 consecutive HRS (Held, Ramos,
Francona, Brown)
1963 - Indians' Woodie Held, Pedro Ramos, Tito Francona,
& Larry Brown hit consecutive home runs in one inning (vs California
Angels)
1964 - Al Parker glides 644 miles without any motor
1964 - Rolling Stone concert in Ireland halts after 12
minutes due to riot
1964 - US Ranger 7 takes 4,316 pictures before crashing on
Moon
1965 - Cigarette Ads banned on British TV
1966 - Alabamans burn Beatle products due to John Lennon's
anti-Jesus remark
1967 - Rolling Stone Mick Jagger & Keith Richards end 1
month jail sentence
1968 - Beatles close Apple Boutique, giving clothes away for
free
1969 - KWIH TV channel 44 in Winona, MN (IND) begins broadcasting
1969 - Mariner 6 flies past Mars
1969 - National Guard mobilizes in racial disturbances in
Baton Rouge, La
1970 - 37th NFL Chicago All Star Game: Kansas City 24, All
Stars 3 (69,940)
1970 - Chet Huntley retires from NBC, ends
"Huntley-Brinkley Report"
1970 - Black Tot Day: The last day of the officially
sanctioned rum ration in the Royal Navy.
1971 - Apollo 15 astronauts take 6½ hour electric car ride
on Moon
1971 - Deventer Soccer team Go Ahead Eagles forms
1972 - Dick Allen is 7th to hit 2 inside-the-park homers in
a game
Rocker/Beatle John LennonRocker/Beatle John Lennon 1972 -
Thomas Eagleton withdraws as Democratic VP candidate
1973 - ABA Virginia Squires trade Julius Erving to NY Nets
1973 - Delta Airlines DC-9 crashes in fog at Logan Airport,
Boston, killing all but one of 89 aboard. Lone survivor dies 6 months later
1973 - Frank Hayes scores 106 on Test Cricket debut v WI as
England lose
1976 - Seychelles Independence (Independence day)
1976 - Waldemar Cierpinski runs Olympic marathon (2:09:55.0)
1977 - Debbie Austin wins LPGA Pocono Northeast Golf Classic
1977 - E Henry Knoche, ends term as deputy director of CIA
1977 - John F Blake promoted from acting to deputy director
of CIA
1978 - Gunman shoots his way into Iraqi Embassy in Paris
1978 - NY Yanks now 7½ out of 1st, picked up 7 games in
previous 2 weeks
1978 - Pete Rose ties NL record hitting streak at 44
1979 - "But Never Jam Today" opens at Longacre
Theater NYC for 7 performances
1980 - John Phillips of Mamas & Papas is arrested on
drug charges
1980 - Rangers snap Orioles pitcher Steve Stone's 14-game
winning streak
1980 - Soyuz 37 crew returns to Earth aboard Soyuz 36
1980 - USSR performs nuclear Test at Eastern
Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1981 - 42 day old, 2nd major league baseball strike ends
1981 - Arnette Hubbard installed as 1st woman president of
Natl Bar Association
1982 - 46 kids & 7 adults die as 2 buses & several
cars collide in France
1982 - Car/bus collision near Beaune, France, 53 die
1982 - Finland, Italy, Germany, Austria & France form
American European Football Federation (AEFF)
1982 - USSR performs nuclear Test
1983 - 38th US Women's Open Golf Championship won by Jan
Stephenson
1983 - B Robinson, J Marichal, G Kell, & W Alston
inducted into Hall of Fame
1983 - Dutch July avg temp is 20.1°C; warmest July since
1852
1984 - Leeza Gibbon's 1st appearance on Entertainment
Tonight
1984 - US men's gymnastics team won team gold medal at LA
Summer Olympics
1984 - Venz commandos terminate hijacking of an aircraft, 2
killed
1987 - "Living Daylights" premieres in US
1987 - Battle between Iranian pilgrims & Saudi-Arabian
troops, 402 killed
1987 - Eddie Murray hits his 300th HR
1987 - Guns & Roses song "Appetite for
Destruction" is released
1987 - Oriole Eddie Murray hits his 299th & 300th career
home runs
1987 - Rockwell International awarded contract to build a
5th shuttle
1987 - A rare, class F-4 tornado rips through Edmonton,
Alberta, killing 27 people and causing $330 million in damage.
1988 - Ayako Okamoto wins LPGA Greater Washington Golf Open
1988 - Jose Canseco is 1st to hit 30 HRs in 1st 3 years
1988 - Last Playboy club closes (Lansing Michigan)
1988 - Miami Dolphins beat SF 49ers 27-21 in London
1988 - Willie Stargell became 200th man inducted in
Baseball's Hall of Fame
1988 - 32 people are killed and 1,674 injured when a bridge
at the Sultan Abdul Halim ferry terminal collapses in Butterworth, Malaysia.
1989 - Twins trade AL Cy Young Award winner Frank Viola to
Mets
1990 - Bosnia-Hercegovina declares independence
1990 - Nolan Ryan becomes 20th major league pitcher to win
300 games
1991 - Russia & US sign long range nuclear weapons
reduction pact
1991 - Senate votes to allow women to fly combat aircraft
1991 - The Medininkai Massacre in Lithuania. Soviet OMON
attacks Lithuanian customs post in Medininkai, killing 7 officers and severely
wounding one other.
1992 - Jeff Rouse swims world record/OR 100m backstroke
(53.86 sec)
1992 - Kieren John Perkins swims world record/OR 1500m free
style (14:43.4)
1992 - Tamas Darnyi swims world record/Olympics 200m
backstroke (1:59.36)
1992 - Thai Airbus crashes into mountain at Kathmandu, 113
die
1992 - Yang Wenyi swims world record/OR 50m freestyle (24.79
sec)
1993 - A's trade Rickey Henderson to Blue Jays
1993 - Allman Bros guitarist Dickey Betts arrested for
shoving 2 cops
1993 - Inkatha-arm forces killed 49 ANC-followers in
Johannesburg
1993 - Prince Ronald "Ronnie" Mutebi crowned king
of Uganda
1994 - 102.7°F (39.3°C) in Pleschen, East-Germany
1994 - 28th Curtis Cup: Draw, 9-9
1994 - Arcen Limburg averages 71.6°F (22.0°C) in July:
record
1994 - Helen Alfredss wins LPGA Ping Welch's Golf
Championship
1994 - Neth averages 21.4°C; their warmest July since 1783
1994 - Phil Rizzuto (Yanks) & Steve Carlton (Phils)
enter the Hall of Fame
1994 - Sergei Bubka ploe vaults his 35th world record (6.14
m)
1994 - Stockholms avgs 21.5°C; their warmest July since 1855
1994 - UN votes 12-0 (2 abstentions) to authorize use of
force against Haiti
1997 - A's trade Mark McGwire to St Louis Cards
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.
2007 - Operation Banner, the presence of the British Army in
Northern Ireland, and longest-running British Army operation ever, comes to an
end.
2012 - Two car bombs kill 21 people in Baghdad, Iraq
2012 - A second power grid failure in two days leaves 670
million people in India without power
1498 - Christopher Columbus, on his third voyage to the Western Hemisphere, arrived at the island of Trinidad. 1790 - The first U.S. patent was issued to Samuel Hopkins for his process for making potash and pearl ashes. The substance was used in fertilizer. 1792 - The cornerstone of the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia, PA, was laid. It was the first building to be used only as a U.S. government building. 1919 - Germany's Weimar Constitution was adopted. 1928 - MGM’s Leo the lion roared for the first time. He introduced MGM’s first talking picture, "White Shadows on the South Seas." 1932 - Enzo Ferrari retired from racing. In 1950 he launched a series of cars under his name. 1945 - Pierre Laval of France surrendered to Americans in Austria. 1948 - U.S. President Truman helped dedicate New York International Airport (later John F. Kennedy International Airport) at Idlewild Field. 1955 - Marilyn Bell of Toronto, Canada, at age 17, became the youngest person to swim the English Channel. 1959 - The Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA) was founded. The group is known for being an armed Basque nationalist and separatist organization. 1961 - The first tie in All-Star Game major league baseball history was recorded when it was stopped in the 9th inning due to rain at Boston's Fenway Park. 1964 - The American space probe Ranger 7 transmitted pictures of the moon's surface. 1971 - Men rode in a vehicle on the moon for the first time in a lunar rover vehicle (LRV). 1981 - The seven-week baseball players’ strike came to an end when the players and owners agreed on the issue of free agent compensation. 1982 - Yugoslavia imposed a six-month freeze on prices. 1989 - A pro-Iranian group in Lebanon released a videotape reportedly showing the hanged body of American hostage William R. Higgins. 1991 - U.S. President George H.W. Bush and Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev signed the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty. 1995 - The Walt Disney Company agreed to acquire Capital Cities/ABC in a $19 billion deal. Disney movies, music and books 1999 - The spacecraft Lunar Prospect crashed into the moon. It was a mission to detect frozen water on the moon's surface. The craft had been launched on January 6, 1998. 2007 - The iTunes Music Store reached 2 million feature length films sold.
1498 Columbus arrived at the island of Trinidad. 1777 The Marquis de Lafayette became a major-general in the American Continental Army. 1790 The first U.S. patent was issued to Samuel Hopkins of Vermont for a process of making fertilizer. 1875 Andrew Johnson, the 17th president of the United States, died in Tennessee. 1954 Mount Godwin-Austen (K2), the world's second-highest peak, was climbed for the first time, by an Italian team led by Ardito Desio. 1964 The U.S. space probe Ranger 7 transmitted pictures of the Moon’s surface.
The following links are to web sites that were used to complete this blog entry:
http://www.historyorb.com/today/events.php
http://on-this-day.com/onthisday/thedays/alldays/jul31.htm
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history
http://www.infoplease.com/dayinhistory
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