Daily Almanac for Monday July 29, 2024

By Michelle Dumas

Former Politician Elizabeth Dole is 88 today. This is her Official portrait, 2003, U.S. Senator from North Carolina. By United States Congress, Public Domain, https commons.wikimedia.org

FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS

Mary Elizabeth Alexander Dole (née Hanford; born July 29, 1936) is an American attorney, author, and politician who served as a United States Senator from North Carolina from 2003 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, she previously served in five presidential administrations, including as U.S. Secretary of Transportation under President Ronald Reagan from 1983 to 1987 and as U.S. Secretary of Labor under Reagan’s successor, George H. W. Bush, from 1989 until 1990. Dole then left government to serve as president of the American Red Cross from 1991 to 1999; she departed from that position to seek the Republican nomination in the 2000 presidential election but eventually withdrew from the race.

Dole graduated from Duke University in 1958 and earned a Juris Doctor degree from Harvard Law School in 1965. Throughout her public career, she was the first woman to hold a number of positions, including secretary of transportation, becoming the first woman to serve in two different presidential cabinet positions for two presidents after being appointed secretary of labor, as well as the first female U.S. senator from North Carolina and chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee. She was also the third female secretary of labor and just the second woman to lead the American Red Cross since its founder, Clara Barton. She is the widow of U.S. Senator Bob Dole from Kansas, who served as the Republican Senate leader and was the party’s presidential nominee in the 1996 election and vice presidential nominee in the 1976 election.

AWARDS

In 1995, Dole was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame.

In 1999, Dole received the S. Roger Horchow Award for Greatest Public Service by a Private Citizen, an award given out annually by Jefferson Awards.

In 2014, Dole was inducted into Indiana Wesleyan University‘s Society of World Changers for her humanitarian public service efforts.

In July 2018, Dole was honored with the 4th annual Leo K. Thorsness Leadership Award. Named after the Medal of Honor recipient, the award recognizes outstanding service to veteran communities.

In September 2023, Dole was awarded the United States Military Academies highest civilian award, the Sylvanus Thayer Award. Named after the father of the academy, the award recognizes outstanding selfless service to the nation.

In 2024, Dole was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Joe Biden.

TODAY’S ALMANAC

Question of the Day

How much water should I give my shrubs and trees?

Your trees and shrubs need watering, just like everything else growing in your yard, especially in periods of little rain. Watering cools them off in hot weather and helps the plants absorb nutrients from the soil, as well as make their own food. Don’t get overzealous, however. Wait for signs of water stress, including wilting and loss of leaves. Here’s a rule of thumb for watering: Give your trees an inch of water every two weeks if you’ve had less than an inch of rain. Try to saturate the soil all at once, so the water goes deep. To monitor your watering, use a sprinkler and place an empty tuna can nearby. When the can is full of water, empty it and then fill again. Two fills will ensure adequate soil saturation. Water in the early morning or late evening to avoid quick evaporation.

Advice of the Day

At sea, with low and falling glass, Soundly sleeps the careless ass.

Home Hint of the Day

Clean wooden bowls with warm, soapy water, then rinse and wipe dry. If the inside of a bowl is worn, apply a coat of vegetable or mineral oil.

Word of the Day

Chockablock

Hoisted as high as the tackle will admit; brought close together, as the two blocks of a tackle in hoisting.

Puzzle of the Day

My whole is under my second and surrounds my first.(What’s the word? Each clue is a syllable!)

Waist-coat

Born

John Sargent Pillsbury (manufacturer) – 1828
Booth Tarkington (author) – 1869
William Powell (actor) – 1892
Edwin O’Connor (novelist) – 1918
Norma Lyon (fourth butter cow sculptor of the Iowa State Fair) – 1929
Paul Taylor (dancer) – 1930
Nancy Landon Kassebaum Baker (politician) – 1932
Elizabeth Dole (government official) – 1936
Peter Jennings (journalist) – 1938
Ken Burns (filmmaker) – 1953
Martina McBride (singer) – 1966
Wil Wheaton (actor) – 1972
Stephen Dorff (actor) – 1973
Josh Radnor (actor) – 1974
Allison Mack (actress) – 1982

Died

Vincent van Gogh (Dutch artist ) – 1890
Mama Cass Elliot (singer) – 1974
David Niven (actor) – 1983
Jerome Robbins (choreographer) – 1998
Tom Snyder (talk show host) – 2007

Events

The Spanish Armada was defeated by an English naval force off the coast of Gravelines, France– 1588
The Pittsburgh Gazette became the first newspaper published west of the Allegheny Mountains– 1786
Annibale de Gasparis discovered asteroid 15 Eunomia– 1851
First successful transcontinental telephone call– 1914
Lightning caused a deadly fire in Cochrane and Matheson, Ontario– 1916
President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958 establishing the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)– 1958
Schooner Bluenose II was donated to Nova Scotia– 1971
First Chicken Wing Day, Buffalo, New York– 1977
Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer married at St. Paul’s in London, England– 1981
Bill Mueller of the Boston Red Sox became the first baseball player in major league history to hit grand slams from both sides of the plate in one game– 2003
184-pound wahoo caught, Cabo San Lucas, Mexico– 2005
A 5.4-magnitude earthquake shook Los Angeles, California– 2008
A pair of Winston Churchill’s wartime dentures sold at auction for approximately $23,750– 2010
Rare panda triplets born at the Chimelong Safari Park in Guangzhou, China– 2014

Weather

Four inches of rain fell on Tucson, Arizona, causing thousands of dollars in damage– 1959
Barnet, Vermont, reported a morning low of 33 degrees F, with frost appearing on vegetation– 1987
St. Johnsbury, Vermont, had a low temperature of 42 degrees F– 1987
Greeley, Colorado, received 6 to 7.5 inches of rain in eight hours– 1989
Thermometers in Oymyakon, Eastern Siberia (considered one of the coldest places on Earth) recorded 90 degrees F in the evening– 2010
Moscow had a record temperature of 100 degrees F– 2010

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