George Carlin Arrested for Seven Words

July 21, 1972

The comedian George Carlin is arrested in Milwaukee for performing his Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television routine. The charges were dismissed when the judge declared that the language was indecent but Carlin had the freedom to say it as long as he caused no disturbance.

First Regularly-Scheduled 7-Day a Week TV Broadcasts

July 21, 1931

CBS begins broadcasting from their experimental station W2XAB in New York, New York. Their first program was hosted by New York Mayor Jimmy Walker and featured Kate Smith, the Boswell Sisters, and George Gershwin. The station used a 60-line mechanical television system and had the first regular seven-day broadcasting schedule in U.S. television, broadcasting 28 hours a week. Their schedule included programs such as The Television Ghost (1931-33), Helen Haynes (1931-32), and Piano Lessons (1931-32).

Monkey Trial

July 21, 1925

John T. Scopes is found guilty of teaching evolution in Tennessee and fined $100. The previous March, Tennessee made it a misdemeanor to "teach any theory that denies the story of the Divine Creation of man as taught in the Bible, and to teach instead that man has descended from a lower order of animals." High school teacher John T. Scopes defied this law by teaching evolution in his classroom. Famous lawyer, and three-time U.S. presidential candidate, William Jennings Bryan volunteered for the prosecution. Attorney Clarence Darrow joined the ACLU for the defense. Darrow called as his sole witness for the defense the prosecuting attorney Bryan, in an attempt to discredit his literal interpretation of the Bible. Bryan was ridiculed and forced to make contradictory statements. In an unusual twist, the defense attorney in his closing remarks asked the jury to convict his client. This accomplished two things: It allowed the case to be taken to the Tennessee Supreme Court and it prevented the prosecutor from delivering his closing speech that he had spent weeks preparing. Scopes was found guilty and ordered to pay a fine of $100. Even though Bryan the prosecutor won, he was publicly humiliated and many believe the public ridicule contributed to his death six days later. The conviction was eventually overturned by the Tennessee Supreme Court.

Dillinger's First Offense

July 21, 1923

Twenty-year-old John Dillinger commits his first criminal offense; a car theft in Indiana for which he was never caught. He abandoned it 17 miles away.
Dillinger's crimes continued, and after serving eight and a half years for armed robbery, Dillinger was released from prison in 1933 when a petition of 188 signatures was presented to the governor. Even his victim signed the petition. He immediately began his famous crime spree using skills he learned in prison, robbing his first bank the following month.

Jesse James' First Train Robbery

July 21, 1873

The outlaws Jesse James, his brother Frank James, and the Younger brothers rob their first train. Wearing Ku Klux Klan masks, they derailed a Rock Island Line train west of Adair, Iowa. The train engineer and fireman died as a result of the wreck. They stole $2,000 from the safe and $1,000 from the passengers. There was supposed to be a shipment of gold on the train, but it had been delayed.
This marked the first time in the U.S. train robbers had stopped a moving train to rob it. A $10,000 reward was offered for their capture.
They had formed their gang in 1866, and up to now had been robbing mostly banks and stagecoaches.

Civil War - First Battle of Bull Run

July 21, 1861

The first major battle of the war, and from which Confederate General Stonewall Jackson received his nickname for delaying his attack. The Union, expecting a quick victory, was routed by the South. Confederate President Jefferson Davis credited the spy Rose O'Neal Greenhow for the victory due to the information she gathered. Some speculate she gathered the information from then Senator and future Vice President Henry Wilson, with whom she was having an affair.

Robin Williams

Born July 21, 1951 d. 2014

American actor. Film: The World According to Garp (1982), Good Morning, Vietnam (1987), and Aladdin (1992, the voice of the genie). TV: Mork & Mindy (1978-82, Mork from Ork).

Cat Stevens (Steven Demitri Georgiou)

Born July 21, 1948

British singer. Music: Wild World (1971) and Oh Very Young (1974).
In 1976, while nearly drowning off the coast of Malibu, California, he shouted, "Oh, God! If you save me I will work for you." He claims that a wave then appeared and carried him back to shore. This event sparked a quest for spiritual truth with him looking into Buddhism, Zen, I Ching, numerology, tarot cards, and astrology. Stevens' brother, a convert to Judaism, gave him a copy of the Qur'an as a birthday gift and Stevens was taken with its content, eventually converting to the Muslim faith. In 1978, he changed his name to Yusuf Islam and put his music career on hold until the 1990s. He has used his wealth to support a number of Muslim-based charities.

Don Knotts

Born July 21, 1924 d. 2006

American Emmy-winning actor. TV: Search For Tomorrow (1953-55, the mute Wilbur Peabody), The Andy Griffith Show (1960-68, Barney Fife), and Three's Company (1979-84, Mr. Furley). Film: The Incredible Mr. Limpet (1964), The Ghost and Mr. Chicken (1966), The Reluctant Astronaut (1967), and The Apple Dumpling Gang (1975).

Ernest Hemingway

Born July 21, 1899 d. 1961

American Nobel and Pulitzer-winning author. Writings: The Sun Also Rises (1926), To Have and Have Not (1937), For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940), and The Old Man and the Sea (1952, Pulitzer).

Inventor of Long-Distance Television Transmission

Herbert E. Ives (Herbert Eugene Ives)

Born July 21, 1882 d. 1953

American inventor. He invented long-distance television transmission (1927). He transmitted live images of then U.S. Commerce Secretary and future U.S. President Herbert Hoover from Washington D.C. to New York over long-distance wires.
He is also known for the 1938 Ives-Stilwell experiment, which provided direct confirmation of special relativity's time dilation, although he himself did not accept special relativity, and argued instead for an alternative interpretation of the experimental results.
In 1924, Ives sent and received the first color facsimile, a color photograph of silent film star Rudolph Valentino.