The Mountain Eagle
WHITESBURG WEATHER

Moments in time


 

 

On July 19, 1884, President Chester Arthur issues a proclamation that grants him and the federal government the power to quarantine persons entering the U.S. to avoid the spread of “pestilence” (tuberculosis).

• On July 17, 1941, New York Yankees center fielder Joe DiMaggio fails to get a hit against the Cleveland Indians, bringing his historic 56-game hitting streak to an end. DiMaggio also lost the $10,000 promised to him by Heinz ketchup for matching the number “57” featured on its labels.

• On July 21, 1959, Elijah Jerry “Pumpsie” Green makes his Boston Red Sox debut, becoming the first African American ever to play for the Red Sox, the last team in the major leagues to integrate.

• On July 15, 1965, the unmanned spacecraft Mariner 4 passes over Mars at an altitude of 6,000 feet and transmits the first close-up images of the red planet. The 22 pictures revealed a barren wasteland of craters, dismissing 19thcentury speculations that an advanced civilization might exist there.

• On July 20, 1972, a two-year study by the U.S. Department of Transportation concludes that 1960- 63 Chevrolet Corvairs are at least as safe as comparable models of other cars. In his book “Unsafe at Any Speed,” Ralph Nader had targeted the rear-engined Corvair due to its tendency to roll over.

• On July 18, 1986, new close-up videos of the sunken ocean liner Titanic are released. The wreck was found in 1985 off Newfoundland, 13,000 feet down on the ocean floor. The Titanic sank in 1912.

• On July 16, 1999, John F. Kennedy, Jr., his wife and her sister are killed when the single-engine plane he was piloting crashes into the Atlantic Ocean off Massachusetts. Kennedy had turned down an offer from a flight instructor to accompany him, saying he “wanted to do it alone.”

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