On This Day in History - July 27 Robespierre Overthrown During "Reign of Terror" & Last Citroen 2CV Made in Portugal

Once again, it should be reiterated, that this does not pretend to be a very extensive history of what happened on this day (nor is it the most original - the links can be found down below). If you know something that I am missing, by all means, shoot me an email or leave a comment, and let me know!

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history

July 27, 1974: House begins impeachment of Nixon

On this day in 1974, the House Judiciary Committee recommends that America's 37th president, Richard M. Nixon, be impeached and removed from office. The impeachment proceedings resulted from a series of political scandals involving the Nixon administration that came to be collectively known as Watergate.  

The Watergate scandal first came to light following a break-in on June 17, 1972, at the Democratic Party’s national headquarters in the Watergate apartment-hotel complex in Washington, D.C. A group of men linked to the White House were later arrested and charged with the crime. Nixon denied any involvement with the break-in, but several of his staff members were eventually implicated in an illegal cover-up and forced to resign. Subsequent government investigations revealed "dirty tricks" political campaigning by the Committee to Re-Elect the President, along with a White House "enemies list." In July 1973, one of Nixon’s former staff members revealed the existence of secretly taped conversations between the president and his aides. Nixon initially refused to release the tapes, on grounds of executive privilege and national security, but a judge later ordered the president to turn them over. The White House provided some but not all of the tapes, including one from which a portion of the conversation appeared to have been erased.  

In May 1974, the House Judiciary Committee began formal impeachment hearings against Nixon. On July 27 of that year, the first article of impeachment against the president was passed. Two more articles, for abuse of power and contempt of Congress, were approved on July 29 and 30. On August 5, Nixon complied with a U.S. Supreme Court ruling requiring that he provide transcripts of the missing tapes, and the new evidence clearly implicated him in a cover up of the Watergate break-in. On August 8, Nixon announced his resignation, becoming the first president in U.S. history to voluntarily leave office. After departing the White House on August 9, Nixon was succeeded by Vice President Gerald Ford, who, in a controversial move, pardoned Nixon on September 8, 1974, making it impossible for the former president to be prosecuted for any crimes he might have committed while in office. Only two other presidents in U.S. history have been impeached: Andrew Johnson in 1868 and Bill Clinton in 1998.




July 27, 1943: Stalin issues Order No. 227—outlawing cowards

On this day in 1943, Joseph Stalin, premier and dictator of the Soviet Union, issues Order No. 227, what came to be known as the "Not one step backward" order, in light of German advances into Russian territory. The order declared, "Panic makers and cowards must be liquidated on the spot. Not one step backward without orders from higher headquarters! Commanders...who abandon a position without an order from higher headquarters are traitors to the Fatherland."  

Early German successes against Russia had emboldened Hitler in his goal of taking Leningrad and Stalingrad. But the German attack on Stalingrad, thought foolhardy by Hitler's generals, because of Russia's superior manpower and the enormous drain on German resources and troop strength, was repulsed by a fierce Soviet fighting force, which had been reinforced with greater numbers of men and materials. The Germans then turned their sights on Leningrad. Stalin needed to "motivate" both officers and civilians alike in their defense of Leningrad—hence, Order No. 227. But it was hardly necessary. On the same day the order was given, Russian peasants and partisans in the Leningrad region killed a German official, Adolf Beck, whose job was to send agricultural products from occupied Russia to Germany or German troops. The Russian patriots also set fire to the granaries and barns in which the stash of agricultural products was stored before transport. A partisan pamphlet issued an order of its own: "Russians! Destroy the German landowners. Drive the Germans from the land of the Soviets!"

Today, the coup of Thermidor/the fall of Robespierre, took place.

July 27, 1794 -  Robespierre overthrown in France

Maximilien Robespierre, the architect of the French Revolution's Reign of Terror, is overthrown and arrested by the National Convention. As the leading member of the Committee of Public Safety from 1793, Robespierre encouraged the execution, mostly by guillotine, of more than 17,000 enemies of the Revolution. The day after his arrest, Robespierre and 21 of his followers were guillotined before a cheering mob in the Place de la Revolution in Paris.

Maximilien Robespierre was born in Arras, France, in 1758. He studied law through a scholarship and in 1789 was elected to be a representative of the Arras commoners in the Estates General. After the Third Estate, which represented commoners and the lower clergy, declared itself the National Assembly, Robespierre became a prominent member of the Revolutionary body. He took a radical, democratic stance and was known as "the Incorruptible" for his dedication to civic morality. In April 1790, he presided over the Jacobins, a powerful political club that promoted the ideas of the French Revolution.

He called for King Louis XVI to be put on trial for treason and won many enemies, but the people of Paris consistently came to his defense. In 1791, he excluded himself from the new Legislative Assembly but continued to be politically active as a member of the Jacobin Club. In 1792, he opposed the war proposal of the Girondins--moderate leaders in the Legislative Assembly--and lost some popularity. However, after the people of Paris rose up against the king in August 1792, Robespierre was elected to the insurrectionary Commune of Paris. He then was elected to head the Paris delegation to the new National Convention.

In the National Convention, he emerged as the leader of the Mountain, as the Jacobin faction was known, and opposed the Girondins. In December 1792, he successfully argued in favor of Louis XVI's execution, and in May 1793 he encouraged the people to rise up in insurrection over military defeats and a food shortage. The uprising gave him an opportunity to finally purge the Girondins.

On July 27, 1793, Robespierre was elected to the Committee of Public Safety, which was formed in April to protect France against its enemies, foreign and domestic, and to oversee the government. Under his leadership, the committee came to exercise virtual dictatorial control over the French government. Faced with the threat of civil war and foreign invasion, the Revolutionary government inaugurated the Reign of Terror in September. In less than a year, 300,000 suspected enemies of the Revolution were arrested; at least 10,000 died in prison, and 17,000 were officially executed, many by guillotine in the Place de la Revolution. In the orgy of bloodshed, Robespierre succeeded in purging many of his political opponents.

On June 4, 1794, Robespierre was almost unanimously elected president of the National Convention. Six days later, a law was passed that suspended a suspect's right to public trial and to legal assistance. In just a month, 1,400 enemies of the Revolution were guillotined. The Terror was being escalated just when foreign invasion no longer threatened the republic, and an awkward coalition of the right and the left formed to oppose Robespierre and his followers

On July 27, 1794 (9 Thermidor in the Revolutionary calendar), Robespierre and his allies were placed under arrest by the National Assembly. Robespierre was taken to the Luxembourg prison in Paris, but the warden refused to jail him, and he fled to the Hotel de Ville. Armed supporters arrived to aid him, but he refused to lead a new insurrection. When he received word that the National Convention had declared him an outlaw, he shot himself in the head but only succeeded in wounding his jaw. Shortly thereafter, troops of the National Convention attacked the Hotel de Ville and seized Robespierre and his allies. The next evening--July 28--Robespierre and 21 others were guillotined without a trial in the Place de la Revolution. During the next few days, another 82 Robespierre followers were executed. The Reign of Terror was at an end.

In the aftermath of the coup, the Committee of Public Safety lost its authority, the prisons were emptied, and the French Revolution became decidedly less radical. The Directory that followed saw a return to bourgeois values, corruption, and military failure. In 1799, the Directory was overthrown in a military coup led by Napoleon Bonaparte, who wielded dictatorial powers in France as first consul and, after 1804, as French emperor.

Also, something more of a pleasant memory to me than anything else, it was on this day in history, back in 1990, that the last ever Citroen 2CV, one of my personal favorite cars of all time, rolled off a factory line in Portugal. This car was France's answer to the Volkswagon Beetle, and has a funny history in it's own right (perhaps I will get more into that in some future blog entry). It is an oddly charming looking car, with a distinctive shape. It looked old, even antique. The main idea was that it was a small, affordable car, and it had some really cool advantages. In particular, it was simple (which is what helped to make it financially viable), and so easy to fix as a result. As the name suggests, it only had two horsepower, but it was a car, and it had the advantage of being easily converted into a makeshift convertible. These cars used to be all over the place in France, among other places - as common as the Volkswagon Beetle. But all good things come to an end, and the last one was made in Portugal in 1990.



July 27, 1990: Last Citroen 2CV rolls off the line in Portugal

The last Citroen 2CV, known as the "Tin Snail" for its distinctive shape, rolls off the production line at the company's plant in Mangualde, Portugal at four o'clock on the afternoon of July 27, 1990. Since its debut in 1948, a total of 5,114,959 2CVs had been produced worldwide.

The French engineer and industrialist Andre Citroen converted his munitions plant into an automobile company after World War I; beginning in 1919, it was the first automaker to mass-produce cars outside of the United States. As in Germany (the Volkswagen Beetle), Italy (the Fiat 500) and Britain (Austin Mini), the rise of mass car ownership in France in the 1930s led to a demand for a light, economical "people's car," which Citroen answered in the post-World War II years with the 2CV. The company actually began testing the 2CV before the war but kept the project under wraps when war broke out; the original production model was only discovered by chance in the late 1960s. When Citroen finally unveiled the car at the 1948 Paris Motor Show, it was an immediate success: At one point, the waiting time to buy one was five years.

The 2CV ("Deux Chevaux Vapeur" in French, or "two steam horses," a reference to France's policy of taxing cars based on their engine output) was a trailblazer among other small cars of its era. Its innovations included a sophisticated suspension system, front-wheel drive, inboard front brakes, a lightweight, air-cooled engine and a four-speed manual transmission. Its front and rear wings, doors, bonnet, fabric sunroof and trunk lid were all detachable. The 2CV's endearingly unfashionable form joined the Eiffel Tower as a quintessential symbol of France in popular culture. Citroen released a 2CV van in 1951 and a luxury version, the 2CV AZL, in 1956. New models came out over the years, including the 2CV4 and 2CV 6, capable of reaching speeds above 100 kilometers per hour, in 1970; and the popular "Charleston" model in 1981. That same year, Roger Moore--playing the superspy James Bond in "For Your Eyes Only"--drove a bright yellow, high-performance version of the 2CV, evading his pursuers (in Peugeots) in the requisite Bond movie high-speed car chase.

By the late 1980s, however, consumers were no longer wild about the 2CV's quirky, antiquated design. This fact, combined with poor performance according to crash-testing and anti-pollution standards, led to the Tin Snail's demise. In 1988, production moved from France to Portugal, and the last 2CV was produced two years later.


Here's a more detailed look at events that transpired on this date throughout history:

432 - St Celestine I ends his reign as Catholic Pope

1214 - 1st battle of Bouvines - King Philips II vs Emperor Otto IV

1230 - Treaty of San-Germano between Emperor Frederik II & Pope Gregory IX

1280 - Sogen Mugaku, founder of Engakuji temple arrives in Japan from China

1298 - Albert (Albrecht) I, son of Rudolf of Habsburg, crowned King of the Germans

1360 - Danish King Waldemar IV destroys Visby Gotland

1501 - Copernicus formally installed as canon of Frauenberg Cathedral

1549 - Jesuit priest Francis Xavier's ship reached Japan.

1563 - French army recaptures Le Havre

1586 - Sir Walter Raleigh brings 1st tobacco to England from Virginia

1641 - Prince Frederik Henry captures castle of Gennep

1643 - Cromwell defeats Royalist at Battle of Gainsborough

1655 - Jews of New Amsterdam petition for a Jewish cemetery

1655 - Netherlands & Brandenburg sign military treaty

1661 - Parliament confirms Navigation Act

1663 - English parliament accepts Staple Act

1689 - Battle of Killicrankie Jacobite Scottish Highlanders under Viscount Dundee defeat royal force under General MacKay

1694 - Bank of England granted 12 year charter by Act of Parliament

1713 - Russia & Turkey sign peace treaty

Mathematician and Astronomer Nicolaus CopernicusMathematician and Astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus 1714 - Battle at Hango (Hangut): Russians beat Swedish fleet

1714 - English Queen Anne fires premier Robert Haley

1720 - The second important victory of the Russian Navy - the Battle of Grengam.

1789 - Congress establishes Dept of Foreign Affairs (State dept)

1794 - Coup of thermidor/fall of Robespierre in Paris

1795 - Spain & France sign peace treaty

1809 - Battle at Talavera: British/Spanish army vs French army

1816 - US troops destroy Ft Apalachicola, a Seminole fort, to punish Indians for harboring runaway slaves

1830 - Revolution breaks out in Paris, opposing laws of Charles X

1836 - Adelaide, South Australia founded

1837 - US Mint opens in Charlotte, NC

1839 - Chartist riots break out in Birmingham England

1844 - Fire destroys US mint at Charlotte, NC

1861 - Battle of Mathias Point, VA - Rebel forces repel a Federal landing

1861 - Battle of St Augustine Springs, NM Terr

1861 - Confederate troops occupy Fort Fillmore, New Mexico

1861 - Union General George McClellan takes command from McDowell of Potamic Army

1862 - Hurricane hits Canton; about 40,000 die

1862 - Steamer "Golden Gate" burns & sinks off west coast of Mexico

1864 - Battle of Darbytown, VA (Deep Bottom, Newmarket Road) (Strawberry Plains)

1865 - Welsh settlers arrive at Chubut in Argentina.

1866 - Atlantic telegraph cable successfully laid (1,686 miles long)

1880 - A P Abourne patents a process for refining coconut oil

1880 - Battle of Maiwand, at which Dr Watson is wounded, breaks out

1888 - Philip Pratt unveils 1st electric automobile

1891 - Titus van Wyck succeeds M de Savornin Lohman as gov of Suriname

1897 - 14.75" (37.5 cm) of rainfall, Jewell, Maryland (state 24-hr record)

1897 - Dutch government of Pierson/Goeman Borgesius resigns

1898 - Start of Sherlock Holmes "Adventure of Dancing Men" (BG)

Aviator Orville WrightAviator Orville Wright 1909 - Orville Wright tests 1st US Army airplane, flying 1h12m40s

1913 - Belgian Philippe Thys wins Tour de France

1914 - Roda JC soccer team forms in Kerkrade

1914 - Felix Manalo registers the Iglesia ni Cristo with the Filipino government.

1917 - The Allies reach the Yser Canal at the Battle of Passchendaele.

1918 - Socony 200, 1st concrete barge in US, launched to carry oil, NY

1919 - Chicago race riot (15 whites & 23 blacks killed, 500 injured)

1920 - Radio compass used for 1st time for aircraft navigation

1920 - Resolute beats Shamrock IV (England) in 14th running of America's Cup

1921 - 2nd government of Ruijs de Beerenbrouck forms

1921 - Frederick Banting & Charles Best isolates insulin at U of Toronto

1922 - International Geographical Union forms in Brussels

1924 - 8th Olympic games closes in Paris

1927 - Mel Ott, 18, hits his 1st league home run (inside the park)

1928 - AVRO, General Vereniging Radio Omroep, forms

1928 - Tich Freeman becomes only bowler ever to take 200 first-class wickets before end of July.

1929 - Dike of Wieringermeerpolder finished

1930 - Andre Leducq wins Tour de France

1931 - Chilean president Carlos Ibáñez forced out

1931 - Grasshoppers in Iowa, Nebr & SD destroyed thousands of acres of crops

1932 - Paul Gorgoulov, French president Doumer's assassin, sentenced to death

1934 - French socialist/communist party of People's Front forms

1935 - Floods at Yangtzee Jiang & Hoangh, kills 200,000

1937 - 32nd Davis Cup: USA beats Great Britain in Wimbledon (4-1)

1940 - Billboard magazine starts publishing bestseller charts

1940 - Bugs Bunny debuts in "Wild Hare"

1941 - 103°F highest temperature ever recorded in Cleveland in July

1941 - German army enters Ukraine

1941 - Japanese forces land in Indo-China

1943 - 772 British bombers attack Hamburg

1944 - 1st British jet fighter used in combat (Gloster Meteor)

1944 - Soviet Army frees Majdanek concentration camp

1944 - US regains possession of Guam from Japanese

1944 - US troops occupy le Mesnil-Herman/Hill 183 Normandy

1945 - Cubs purchase pitcher Hank Borowy from NY Yankees

1945 - US Communist Party forms

1946 - Boston Red Sox Rudy York hits 2 grand slams in 1 game, gets 10 RBIs

1947 - Yogi Berri starts record 148 game errorless streak

1948 - Australia set 404 to win v England at Headingley

1948 - Bradman's 29th & last Test Cricket century, part of winning 3-404

1948 - Otto Skorzeny escapes anti-nazi camp at Darmstadt

1949 - 1st jet-propelled airline (De Havilland Comet) flies

1950 - Pres Harry Truman promises aid to Taiwan

1952 - Emile Zatopek runs Olympic record marathon (2:23:03.2)

1953 - 1st insulin isolated by F Banting & C Best in Toronto

1953 - North Korea & UN sign armistice

1953 - Vatican disallows priest holiday work in factory

1953 - Dizzy Dean, Al Simmons Chief Bender, Bobby Wallace, Harry Wright, Ed Barrow, & Bill Klem & Tom Connolly are inducted into Hall of Fame

1954 - 36th PGA Championship: Chick Herbert at Keller GC St Paul Minn

1954 - Armistice divides Vietnam into two countries

1955 - Austria regains full independence after 4-power occupation

1955 - Israeli passenger plane shot down above Bulgaria, 58 die

1956 - Jim Laker takes 9-37 in Australia's 1st innings at Manchester

1957 - St James' Theater in London closes

1958 - Louise Suggs wins LPGA French Lick Golf Open

1959 - Abbas Ali Baig scores 112 for India v England on debut

1959 - William Shea announces he plans to have a baseball team in NYC in 1961

1960 - VP Nixon nominated for presidential candidate at Republican convention in Chicago

1962 - Mariner 2 launched to Venus; flyby mission

Clergyman and civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr.Clergyman and civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. 1962 - Martin Luther King Jr jailed in Albany Georgia

1962 - USSR performs nuclear Test at Novaya Zemlya USSR

1963 - Fritz Von Erich beats Verne Gagne in Omaha, to become NWA champ

1963 - General Amin al-Hafez becomes president of Syria

1965 - Pierre Harmel forms Belgium government

1965 - Pres Johnson signs a bill requiring cigarette makers to print health warnings on all cigarette packages about the effects of smoking

1967 - Arabs Federation premier Hoesein Al Bayoomi resigns

1967 - Helmond Sport soccer team forms

1967 - LBJ sets up commission to study cause of urban violence

1967 - US performs nuclear Test at Nevada Test Site

1968 - Carol Mann wins LPGA Supertest Canadian Golf Open

1968 - Race Riot in Gary Indiana

1969 - 15th LPGA Championship won by Betsy Rawls

1969 - Pioneer 10 launched

1970 - Expos beat White Sox 10-6 in the annual Hall of Fame game

36th US President Lyndon B. Johnson36th US President Lyndon B. Johnson 1970 - France performs nuclear Test at Muruora Island

1970 - L Boudreau, Earle Combs, Ford Frick, & Jesse Haines enter Hall of Fame

1972 - NHL star Maurice "Rocket" Richard signs with WHL Quebec Nordiques

1972 - The F-15 Eagle flies for the first time.

1973 - 40th NFL Chicago All Star Game: Miami 14, All Stars 3 (54,103)

1973 - Walter Blum becomes 6th jockey to ride 4,000 winners

1974 - House Judiciary Committee votes 27-11 recommends Nixon impeachment

1974 - Kanhai & Jameson add 465 for 2nd wicket, Warwickshire v Gloucs

1975 - Carol Mann wins LPGA George Washington Ladies Golf Classic

1976 - 8.2 Tangshan earthquake kills estimated 240,000 Chinese

1976 - Japanese ex-premier Tanaka arrested (Lockheed Affair)

1977 - John Lennon is granted a green card for permanent residence in US

1978 - Indians Duane Kuiper is 3rd to hit 2 bases-loaded triples (vs Yanks)

1978 - Portuguese pres Eanes fires premier Soares

1979 - "Broadway Opry '79" opens at St James Theater NYC for 6 performances

1979 - France performs nuclear Test

1980 - Palestinian throws hand grenade on Jewish children in Antwerp, 1 dead

1980 - Sally Little wins LPGA WUI Golf Classic

1982 - California catches A's Rickey Henderson stealing 3 times

1982 - Indian PM Indira Gandhi 1st visit to US in almost 11 years

1982 - Menken & Ashman's musical "Little Shop of Horrors," premieres in NYC

1983 - 104°F (40.3°C) in Garmersdorf (German record)

1983 - Gaylord Perry joins Nolan Ryan & Steve Carlton to reach 3,500 career strikeouts this season, he also wins his 1st game as a Royal

1984 - Reds' Pete Rose collects record 3,053rd career single (vs Phila)

1986 - 14th du Maurier Golf Classic: Pat Bradley

1986 - 24th Tennis Fed Cup: USA beats Czechoslovakia in Prague Czech (3-0)

1986 - Greg Lemond is 1st American to win Tour de France

1987 - John Demjanjuk, accused Nazi "Ivan the Terrible" testifies in Israel

1987 - Salt Lake City Trappers lose 7-5 to Billings Mustangs, ending their professional-record winning streak at 29 consecutive

1987 - First expedited salvaging of Titanic wreckage begins by RMS Titanic, Inc.

1988 - Boston's worst traffic jam in 30 years

1988 - General Sein Lwin succeeds Ne Win as pres of Burma

1988 - Radio Shack announces Tandy 1000 SL computer

1988 - Tommy John commits rec 3 errors on 1 play as Yanks rout Brewers 16-3

1989 - Atlanta Brave Dale Murphy is 10th to get 6 RBIs in an inning (6th)

1990 - Graham Gooch scores 333 v India at Lord's

1990 - Tom Moody scores 100 in 26 mins in county cricket, world record

1990 - White-Russia declares independence

1990 - Zsa Zsa Gabor begins a 3 day jail sentence for slapping a cop

1991 - TV Guide publishes it's 2000th edition

1992 - Astros begins 26-game road trip to make room for Rep Natl Convention

1992 - Dimitri Lepikov, Vladimir Pychenko, Veniamin Taianovitch & Evgueni

1992 - Sadovyi swim world record 4x200m freestyle (7:11.95)

1993 - Detroit Tiger Fryman hits for cycle but loses 12-7 to Yankees

1993 - Javier Sotomayor jumps world record 2.45 m high

1993 - Mafia bombs historical buildings in Rome/Milan/Vatican City, 5 killed

1993 - NBC TV awarded 1996 Olympic coverage for $456 million

1993 - NY Met Anthony Young wins ending his losing streak at 27 games

1995 - In Washington, DC, the Korean War Veterans Memorial is dedicated.

1996 - Bomb explodes at Atlanta Olympic Park, 1 killed, 110 injured

1996 - David Sales makes 210 on 1st class cricket debut for Northants v Worcs

1997 - "Candide," closes at Gershwin Theater NYC after 103 performances

1997 - "Victor/Victoria" closes at Marquis Theater NYC after 738 performances

1997 - Detroit Tigers retire pitching great Hal Newhouser's #16

1997 - Franklin Quest Senior Golf Championship

1997 - Stewart Cink wins golfs Greater Hartford Open (267)

1997 - Tammie Green wins Giant Eagle LPGA Classic

1997 - Si Zerrouk massacre in Algeria; about 50 people killed.

2002 - Ukraine airshow disaster: A Sukhoi Su-27 fighter crashes during an air show at Lviv, Ukraine killing 85 and injuring more than 100 others, the largest air show disaster in history.

2005 - STS-114: NASA grounds the Space shuttle, pending an investigation of the external tank's continued foam-shedding problem. During ascent, the external tank of the Space Shuttle Discovery sheds a piece of foam slightly smaller than the piece that caused the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster; this foam does not strike the spacecraft.

2006 - The Federal Republic of Germany is deemed guilty in the loss of Bashkirian 2937 and DHL Flight 611, because it is illegal to outsource flight surveillance.

2007 - Phoenix News Helicopter Collision: News helicopters from Phoenix, Arizona television stations KNXV and KTVK collide over Steele Indian School Park in central Phoenix while covering a police chase; there were no survivors. This was the first known incidence of two news helicopters colliding in mid-air, and the worst civil aviation incident in Phoenix history.

Queen of the United Kingdom Elizabeth IIQueen of the United Kingdom Elizabeth II 2012 - Queen Elizabeth II announces the opening of the London 2012 Olympics at the opening ceremony

1214 - At the Battle of Bouvines in France, Philip Augustus of France defeated John of England.

1245 - Frederick II was deposed by a council at Lyons after they found him guilty of sacrilege.

1663 - The British Parliament passed a second Navigation Act, which required all goods bound for the colonies be sent in British ships from British ports.

1689 - Government forces defeated the Scottish Jacobites at the Battle of Killiecrankie.

1694 - The Bank of England received a royal charter as a commercial institution.

1775 - Benjamin Rush began his service as the first Surgeon General of the Continental Army.

1784 - "Courier De L’Amerique" became the first French newspaper to be published in the United States. It was printed in Philadelphia, PA.

1777 - The marquis of Lafayette arrived in New England to help the rebellious American colonists fight the British.

1778 - The British and French fleets fought to a standoff in the first Battle of Ushant.

1789 - The Department of Foreign Affairs was established by the U.S. Congress. The agency was later known as the Department of State.

1804 - The 12th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified. With the amendment Electors were directed to vote for a President and for a Vice-President rather than for two choices for President.

1866 - Cyrus Field successfully completed the Atlantic Cable. It was an underwater telegraph from North America to Europe.

1909 - Orville Wright set a record for the longest airplane flight. He was testing the first Army airplane and kept it in the air for 1 hour 12 minutes and 40 seconds.

1914 - British troops invaded the streets of Dublin, Ireland, and began to disarm Irish rebels.

1918 - The Socony 200 was launched. It was the first concrete barge and was used to carry oil.

1921 - Canadian biochemist Frederick Banting and associates announced the discovery of the hormone insulin.

1940 - Bugs Bunny made his official debut in the Warner Bros. animated cartoon "A Wild Hare."

1944 - U.S. troops completed the liberation of Guam.

1947 - The World Water Ski Organization was founded in Geneva, Switzerland.

1953 - The armistice agreement that ended the Korean War was signed at Panmunjon, Korea.

1955 - The Allied occupation of Austria ended.

1964 - U.S. President Lyndon Johnson sent an additional 5,000 advisers to South Vietnam.

1965 - In the U.S., the Federal Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act was signed into law. The law required health warnings on all cigarette packages.

1967 - U.S. President Johnson appointed the Kerner Commission to assess the causes of the violence in the wake of urban rioting.

1974 - NBC-TV took "Dinah's Place" off of its daytime programming roster.

1974 - The U.S. Congress asked for impeachment procedures against President Richard Nixon.

1980 - The deposed shah of Iran, Muhammad Riza Pahlavi, died in a hospital near Cairo, Egypt.

1984 - Pete Rose passed Ty Cobb’s record for most singles in a career when he got his 3,503rd base hit.

1992 - Boston Celtics star Reggie Lewis died after collapsing on a Brandeis University basketball court during practice. He was 27 years old.

1993 - IBM's new chairman, Louis V. Gerstner, Jr., announced an $8.9 billion plan to cut the company's costs.

1995 - The Korean War Veterans Memorial was dedicated in Washington, DC, by U.S. President Clinton and South Korean President Kim Young-sam.

1998 - Robert Vaughn received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

1999 - The U.S. space shuttle Discovery completed a five-day mission commanded by Air Force Col. Eileen Collins. It was the first shuttle mission to be commanded by a woman.

2001 - The ribbon cutting ceremony was held for American Airlines Center in Dallas, TX. The event set two new world records, one for the 3 mile long ribbon and one for the 2,000 people that cut it.

2003 - It was reported by the BBC (British Broadcasting Corp.) that there was no monster in Loch Ness. The investigation used 600 separate sonar beams and satellite navigation technology to trawl the loch. Reports of sightings of the "Loch Ness Monster" began in the 6th century.

2006 - Intel Corp introduced its Core 2 Duo microprocessors.

1861 Union general George B. McClellan was put in command of the Army of the Potomac during the Civil War. 1940 Bugs Bunny made his debut in the cartoon A Wild Hare. 1940 Billboard magazine published its first singles record chart (for the week of July 20). 1953 An armistice was signed ending the Korean War. 1974 The House Judiciary Committee voted to impeach Richard Nixon for obstructing justice in the Watergate case. 1995 The Korean War Veterans Memorial was dedicated in Washington, DC. 1996 A pipe bomb exploded in an Atlanta park during the Olympic Games. 2003 Lance Armstrong won his fifth straight Tour de France, tying Miguel Indurain's record. 2003 Comedian Bob Hope died in his home, at the age of 100. 2012 The 2012 Summer Olympics began in London

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/jul27.htm

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history

http://www.infoplease.com/dayinhistory