Moments in Time – July 24, 2024

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• On Aug. 5, 1981, President Ronald Reagan began firing 11,359 air-traffic controllers who’d gone on strike two days before, after negotiations with the federal government to raise their salaries and shorten their workweek failed. His action, which many regarded as extreme, significantly slowed air travel for months.
• On Aug. 6, 1930, New York Supreme Court Judge Joseph Force Crater vanished on the streets of Manhattan, setting off a massive investigation that captured the nation’s attention and earned him the notable title of “the missingest man in New York.” Crater was declared legally dead nine years later. But although evidence surfaced in 2005 that he may have been murdered, the case was never officially solved.
• On Aug. 7, 1782, Gen. George Washington created the “Badge for Military Merit,” today better known as the Purple Heart, a decoration consisting of a purple, heart-shaped piece of silk edged with a narrow binding of silver and the word “Merit” stitched in silver across the face, designed to be presented to soldiers for “any singularly meritorious action.”
• On Aug. 8, 1975, the term “global warming” appeared in print for the first time in Wallace Smith Broecker’s paper “Climatic Change: Are We on the Brink of a Pronounced Global Warming?”
• On Aug. 9, 2010, Steven Slater, a JetBlue flight attendant, bade his job goodbye in astonishing style by sliding down his plane’s emergency escape chute while the aircraft was stopped near the terminal gate at John F. Kennedy International Airport. Slater claimed his exit was prompted by a rude passenger’s behavior, and became a media sensation.
• On Aug. 10, 1957, Dr. W.E. Peterson was confident that the invention of “protective milk” could cure illnesses including cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, rheumatic fever and even the common cold. Peterson had been experimenting with injecting bacteria into cow’s udders to produce immunity in those who drank the milk, but it had not been tried out on large groups of people.
• On Aug. 11, 1984, South African runner Zola Budd collided with American favorite Mary Decker at the Olympic Games in Los Angeles, causing Decker to fall and drop out of the race. The crowd began booing, and Budd, who many believed would be a medal winner with Decker, ended up in seventh place.

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