A Brief History On July 27, 1789, the Department of Foreign Affairs was created, becoming the first of many US Federal departments and agencies.  As you may guess, this department is now called the Department of State. Digging Deeper How many agencies and departments does the Federal Government currently have?  We have 15 Cabinet level departments, each led by a secretary appointed by the President and approved by the Senate.  The most recently added Department is the Department of Homeland Security, added in 2002.  Meanwhile, we now have a staggering 438 Federal agencies. Despite this enormous growth in bureaucracy, there…

A Brief History This article presents a chronological list of notable events that happened on July 26th.  For each date below, please click on the date to be taken to an article covering that date’s event. Digging Deeper On July 26, 1739, George Clinton was born in a place then called Little Britain, Province of New York, British America. On July 26, 1767, Henrietta Howard, Countess of Suffolk, and one-time mistress of King George II of England, died. On July 26, 1861, Major General George McClellan was appointed the commander of the Army of the Potomac, a move President Lincoln…

A Brief History On July 26, 2005, Mumbai, India, received an incredible 39.17 inches of rain in a 24 hour period.  Mumbai is the most populous city in what is now the most populous country in the world, with 12.5 million inhabitants.  Obviously, such an enormous amount of rain created massive flooding, and sadly about 1100 people died in the floods. Digging Deeper To put this enormous amount of rain in perspective, Cleveland, Ohio, a typical US city, has a record 24 hour rainfall of just 4.59 inches on September 7, 1996.  The contiguous states US record for a single…

A Brief History This article presents a chronological list of notable events that happened on July 25th.  For each date below, please click on the date to be taken to an article covering that date’s event. Digging Deeper On July 25, 1593, Henry IV, King of France, converted from Calvinism back to the Catholicism of his birth. On July 25, 1609, the excellently named British ship, Sea Venture, encountered serious storms while crossing the Atlantic Ocean en route to Virginia, and was purposely run ashore to prevent loss of the ship and passengers. On July 25, 1722, a war started…

A Brief History On July 25, 1984, Soviet cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya exited her Salyut 7 space capsule while in orbit, thus becoming the first woman to ever engage in an EVA, or “extravehicular activity” in space.  Most of us usually call such activity a “spacewalk.” Digging Deeper The US has had 56 women in space, and the world has now sent into space about 75 ladies.  The Soviets were the real pioneers with women in space with Valentina Tereshkova becoming the first woman space traveler in 1963.  The Soviets did not send another woman into orbit until 1982, with the…