Today is Wednesday, July 31, the th day of There are days left in the year. Today in history: On July 31, , at the Summer Olympics in London, swimmer Michael Phelps won his 19th Olympic medal, becoming the most decorated Olympian of all time. He would finish his career with 28 total Olympic medals, 23 of them gold.
In , a fleet of Spanish ships carrying gold, silver and jewelry sank during a hurricane off the east Florida coast; of some 2, crew members, more than 1, died. In , the year-old Marquis de Lafayette received a commission as major general in the Continental Army by the Second Continental Congress. In , the Distant Early Warning Line, a system of radar stations designed to detect Soviet bombers approaching North America, went into operation. In , the U.
In , Apollo 15 crew members David Scott and James Irwin became the first astronauts to use a lunar rover on the surface of the moon. In , vice-presidential candidate Thomas Eagleton withdrew from the Democratic ticket with George McGovern following disclosures that Eagleton had received electroshock therapy to treat clinical depression. In , President George H.
Bush and Soviet President Mikhail S. The Supreme Court later reimposed the sentence. By Associated Press ap dfmdev. More in News.
