On This Day July 20

1990
Iran-Contra Affair: Lt. Col. Oliver North's conviction for destroying government documents is overturned by a federal appeals court.

1976
Gymnast wins with broken leg: Shun Fujimoto wins an Olympic gold medal as a member of the Japanese gymnastics team. He had broken his leg during his floor exercise routine. He continued and scored a 9.5 on the side horse and a 9.7 on the rings.

1976
Viking I lands on Mars and sends the first pictures sent from Mars' surface (pictured is the first image sent).

1973
First coast-to-coast black-owned and operated radio news network: The National Black Network (NBN) begins operations.

1969
First man on the Moon: Neil A. Armstrong arrives aboard Apollo 11. Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr. joined him a few minutes later.

1960
First Underwater Guided-Missile Launch: The submarine USS George Washington launches a pair of Polaris missiles. The target was more than 1,100 miles away.

1954
Elvis Presley: The future King of Rock 'n' Roll gives his first public performance; on a flatbed truck for a drugstore-opening in Memphis.

1950
Arthur Murray Party Time debuts on ABC. It was one of only four shows to appear on all four major TV networks (ABC, CBS, NBC, DuMont). Some consider it the longest running commercial on TV.

1944
Hitler assassination attempt: A bomb explodes during a meeting between Hitler and the military leaders of the Reich, killing one and wounding 12 others. Hitler was virtually unscathed. His first reaction was concern for his new boots.

1940
First Billboard Magazine music popularity chart: Frank Sinatra topped the list with I'll Never Smile Again.

1927
Charles A. Lindbergh: After completing the first solo transatlantic flight, he begins his tour of the U.S. He visited every state with his plane The Spirit of St. Louis.

1925
Monkey Trial: Prosecutor William Jennings Bryan takes the witness stand to defend his fundamentalist views against the teaching of evolution. He is completely humiliated by Clarence Darrow, who pointed out the absurdity of a strict reading of the Bible. The resulting stress may have contributed to Bryan's death six days later.

1924
Olympics: Future Tarzan Johnny Weissmuller wins gold medals for the 100-meter freestyle and the 4x200-meter relay.

1859
First baseball game to charge admission: 50¢, Long Island, N.Y. (Source: Famous First Facts)

1945
Kim Carnes, American Grammy-winning singer. Music: It Hurts So Bad (1956) and Bette Davis Eyes (1981, #1, Grammy).

1938 d. 1981
Natalie Wood (Natalia Nikolaevna Zakharenko, billed as Natasha Gurdin by the age of four), American actress. Film: Miracle on 34th Street (1947, as the little girl who trusted Santa Claus) and Rebel Without a Cause (1955, Judy). She drowned off the side of her yacht while it was docked (What kind of wood doesn't float?).

1924
Robert D. Maurer, American research physicist. He and his colleagues at Corning Glass Works, Dr. Donald B. Keck and Dr. Peter Schultz invented optical fiber. It is capable of carrying 65,000 times more information than conventional copper wire.

1919
Sir Edmund Percival Hillary, New Zealander explorer. He and Tenzing Norkay were first to climb Mt. Everest.

1836 d. 1925
Sir Thomas Clifford Allbut, English physician, inventor of the short clinical thermometer (1866).

1804 d. 1892
SirRichard Owen, English biologist, paleontologist. He coined the term Dinosaur (1842). He was strongly opposed to Darwinian evolution.

1992 b. circa 1919
Alvin "Tuffy" Coerber, American public official. He defeated his opponent in the August 1992 nomination for re-election for Kearny County Commissioner in Kansas - even though he had been dead for two weeks.

1984 b. 1932
James Fuller Fixx, American author, The Complete Book of Running (1977) which launched a running craze. He died of a heart attack while jogging. He also published three collections of puzzles: Games for the Super-Intelligent, More Games for the Super-Intelligent and Solve It!.

1973 b. 1940
Bruce Lee, American martial arts expert, actor. Film: Fists of Fury (1972) and Enter the Dragon (1973). TV: The Green Hornet (Kato).

1937 b. 1874
Guglielmo Marconi, Italian Nobel-winning physicist, radio pioneer, inventor of the wireless telegraph (1896).

1923 b. 1877
Pancho Villa, Mexican revolutionary. He raided Texas and New Mexico, and led revolutions against Mexico.

1870 b. 1828
Albrecht von Gräfe, German eye surgeon, regarded as the greatest German ophthalmologist of the 19th century. He was the first to successfully treat glaucoma.

July 20

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