EarthStation1 MediaOutlet News: Today's 15% Off Specials & #OnThisDay Commemorative Memorial Titles At EarthStation1.com!

July 31, 1934: #BOTD: #HBD! Jolene Brand, American actress, model and beauty, is #born Jolene Marie Bufkin in Los Angeles, California. She acted most in the 1950s and 1960s, and regularly appeared in various Ernie Kovacs television programs until the comedian's death in 1962. She is married to George Schlatter and has two daughters - Andrea Justine Schlatter and Maria S. Schlatter. Brand and her husband were close friends with Kovacs and his wife, Edie Adams; George Schlatter was largely inspired by Kovac's work and Jolene's experiences working with Kovacs to become the creative force behind and executive producer of Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, the great American sketch comedy television program. In 1958, she acted in the B-film Giant from the Unknown, about a man who was frozen in suspended animation for 500 years and was freed by a lightning bolt and goes on a killing spree. Later that year she was signed up to play a part in the Disney television show Zorro. She played the romantic interest for the main character played by Guy Williams. She was a model on the television series Queen For A Day as well. Brand portrayed "Indian Emily" in the 1959 episode of the same name on the syndicated television anthology series, Death Valley Days, hosted by Stanley Andrews. The setting is the United States Army outpost at Fort Davis, Texas. Emily, an Apache captive, adopts the white man's ways but flees when a young officer, Tom Easton (Burt Metcalfe), whom she loves, prepares to marry someone else. She returns to warn the fort of a pending Apache attack, and dies of a gunshot wound fired in error after saving the fort. Meg Wyllie played Tom's compassionate mother, Mrs. Easton. A memorial at Fort Davis honors the heroism of Indian Emily. On Sale Until Midnight Tonight PT! https://store.earthstation1.com/lost-ernie-kovacs-dual-layer-dvd-old-time-tv-shows.html

Today's EarthStation1.com #OnThisDay Commemorative Memorial Title: TV Commercials: The Cable Age Classics II DVD, Download, USB Drive
Today, July 31, 2026
July 31: Shredded Wheat Day: -- Shredded wheat is one of the oldest cereals in the world. It's made from whole wheat and baked into pillow-shaped biscuits. Some manufacturers have developed different varieties of shredded wheat that include blueberry, raspberry, cherry, and cranberry flavors. Did you know that shredded wheat is rich in vitamins and contains a high amount of fiber that helps to prevent heart diseases and type-2 diabetes? Shredded wheat has been around for over a century. It was invented by Henry D. Perky in Denver, Colorado. He came up with the idea in 1892 when, on the advice of his doctor, Perky began to eat whole, boiled wheat, and vegetables as a dietary cure for the diarrhea he experienced in 1890. He continued to consume the boiled wheat until he observed another diarrhea patient blending whole wheat with milk in 1892. The event inspired Perky to take his boiled wheat product to his machinist friend, William H. Ford, who helped to build a machine that shredded boiled wheat and weaved it into pillow-shaped biscuits. Perky didn't give as much importance to the biscuits as he did the machine. He began to sell the biscuits to vegetarian restaurants to create awareness until the popularity of the biscuits eclipsed that of the machine. In 1893, Perky established a shredded wheat-producing company, The Boston Shredded Cereal Food Company, alongside his Cereal Machine Company. Due to energy expenses, the company was moved to Niagara Falls, New York, where hydroelectric power was more affordable. A series of acquisitions occurred after Perky's death in the early 20th century. In 1928, the company was acquired by the National Biscuit Company, and in 1993, Nabisco sold the shredded wheat brand to Kraft-General Foods. Since then, the shredded wheat brand has been marketed by Post, a subsidiary of Kraft Foods. The earliest-known celebration of shredded wheat took place on the centenary of the cereal's invention in 1992. Although no official day was declared to celebrate the whole grain in succeeding years, the occasion held in Niagara Falls may have heralded the observation of Shredded Wheat Day. https://store.earthstation1.com/tv-commercials-the-cable-age-classics-ii-dvd.html

Today's EarthStation1.com #OnThisDay Commemorative Memorial Title: The Gulf Crisis: The Road To War TV Series + Bonus 2 DVDs MP4 Download
Today, July 31, 2026
July 31, 1990: The Aftermath Of World War II: The Cold War: The Origins Of The Gulf War (The Persian Gulf War, Gulf War I): Events Leading To The Gulf War: -- Egypt and Saudi Arabia attempt to mediate between Iraq and Kuwait with a meeting in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, where Iraq clearly states that it would not use armed forces against neighboring countries; however, at dawn two days later, on August 2, the Iraqi army that was amassed near the border suddenly invaded Kuwait, contrary to their prior statement. On July 15, 1990, Iraq had accused Kuwait of stealing oil from the Rumaila oil field, an Iraqi oil field near the Iraqi-Kuwaiti border, and threatened military action in response. In 1988 Iraq's Oil Minister, Issam al-Chalabi, stressed a further reduction in the crude oil production quota of Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) members so as to end the 1980s oil glut. Chalabi argued that higher oil prices would help Iraq increase its revenues and pay back its 60B USD debt. However, given its large downstream petroleum industry, Kuwait was less concerned about the prices of crude oil and in 1989, Kuwait requested OPEC to increase the country's total oil production ceiling by 50% to 1.35 million bpd. Throughout much of the 1980s, Kuwait's oil production was considerably above its mandatory OPEC quota and this had prevented a further increase in crude oil prices. A lack of consensus among OPEC members undermined Iraq's efforts to end the oil glut and consequently prevented the recovery of its war-crippled economy. According to former Iraqi Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz, "every 1 USD drop in the price of a barrel of oil caused a 1B USD drop in Iraq's annual revenues triggering an acute financial crisis in Baghdad". Kuwait's refusal to decrease its oil production was viewed by Iraq as an act of aggression against it. The increasingly tense relations between Iraq and Kuwait were further aggravated when Iraq alleged that Kuwait was slant-drilling across the border into Iraq's Rumaila field. The dispute over Rumaila field started in 1960 when an Arab League declaration marked the Iraq-Kuwait border 2 miles north of the southernmost tip of the Rumaila field. During the Iran-Iraq War, Iraqi oil drilling operations in Rumaila declined while Kuwait's operations increased. In 1989, Iraq accused Kuwait of using "advanced drilling techniques" to exploit oil from its share of the Rumaila field. Iraq estimated that 2.4B USD worth of Iraqi oil was "stolen" by Kuwait and demanded compensation. Kuwait dismissed the accusations as a false Iraqi ploy to justify military action against it. Several foreign firms working in the Rumaila field also dismissed Iraq's slant-drilling claims as a "smokescreen to disguise Iraq's more ambitious intentions". On July 25, 1990, only a few days before the Iraqi invasion, OPEC officials said that Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates had agreed to a proposal to limit daily oil output to 1.5 million barrels, thus potentially settling differences over oil policy between Kuwait and Iraq. At the time of the settlement, more than 100,000 Iraqi troops were deployed along the Iraq-Kuwait border, and American officials expressed little indication of decline in tensions despite the OPEC settlement. https://store.earthstation1.com/the-gulf-crisis-the-road-to-war-tv-documentary-series-dvd-mp4-us4.html

Today's EarthStation1.com #OnThisDay Commemorative Memorial Title: Portraits Of American Presidents Nos. 1-42 TV Series MP4 Download DVD
Today, July 31, 2026
July 31, 1875: #DOTD: Andrew Johnson, American general and politician, 17th President of the United States from 1865 to 1869 and Freemason (b. December 29, 1808) #dies of a stroke in Elizabethton, Tennessee aged 66, five months into his term as a senator from Tennesee, the only former president to serve in the Senate. He was buried in Greeneville, Tennessee with his body wrapped in an American flag and a copy of the U.S. Constitution placed under his head, according to his wishes. The burial ground was dedicated as the Andrew Johnson National Cemetery in 1906, and with his home and tailor's shop, is part of the Andrew Johnson National Historic Site. He was born in Raleigh, North Carolina. He assumed the presidency as he was vice president at the time of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Johnson was a Democrat who ran with Lincoln on the National Union ticket, coming to office as the Civil War concluded. He favored quick restoration of the seceded states to the Union without protection for the former slaves. This led to conflict with the Republican-dominated Congress, culminating in his impeachment by the House of Representatives in 1868. He was acquitted in the Senate by one vote. His main accomplishment as president was the Alaska purchase. Johnson was born in poverty in Raleigh, North Carolina, and never attended school. He was apprenticed as a tailor and worked in several frontier towns before settling in Greeneville, Tennessee. He served as alderman and mayor there before being elected to the Tennessee House of Representatives in 1835. After brief service in the Tennessee Senate, Johnson was elected to the House of Representatives in 1843, where he served five two-year terms. He became governor of Tennessee for four years, and was elected by the legislature to the Senate in 1857. In his congressional service, he sought passage of the Homestead Bill which was enacted soon after he left his Senate seat in 1862. Southern slave states seceded to form the Confederate States of America, including Tennessee, but Johnson remained firmly with the Union. He was the only sitting senator from a Confederate state who did not resign his seat upon learning of his state's secession. In 1862, Lincoln appointed him as military governor of Tennessee after most of it had been retaken. In 1864, Johnson was a logical choice as running mate for Lincoln, who wished to send a message of national unity in his re-election campaign; their ticket easily won. Johnson was sworn in as vice president in March 1865 and gave a rambling speech, after which he secluded himself to avoid public ridicule. Six weeks later, the assassination of Lincoln made him president. Johnson implemented his own form of Presidential Reconstruction, a series of proclamations directing the seceded states to hold conventions and elections to reform their civil governments. Southern states returned many of their old leaders and passed Black Codes to deprive the freedmen of many civil liberties, but Congressional Republicans refused to seat legislators from those states and advanced legislation to overrule the Southern actions. Johnson vetoed their bills, and Congressional Republicans overrode him, setting a pattern for the remainder of his presidency. Johnson opposed the Fourteenth Amendment which gave citizenship to former slaves. In 1866, he went on an unprecedented national tour promoting his executive policies, seeking to break Republican opposition. As the conflict grew between the branches of government, Congress passed the Tenure of Office Act restricting Johnson's ability to fire Cabinet officials. He persisted in trying to dismiss Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, but ended up being impeached by the House of Representatives and narrowly avoided conviction in the Senate. He did not win the 1868 Democratic presidential nomination and left office the following year. Johnson returned to Tennessee after his presidency and gained some vindication when he was elected to the Senate in 1875, making him the only former president to serve in the Senate. Johnson's strong opposition to federally guaranteed rights for black Americans is widely criticized; he is regarded by many historians as one of the worst presidents in American history. https://store.earthstation1.com/portraits-of-american-presidents-nos-142-tv-series-mp4-download1424.html

Today's EarthStation1.com #OnThisDay Commemorative Memorial Title: France: Conquest To Liberation In World War II MP4 Video Download DVD
Today, July 31, 2026
July 31, 1945: The European Civil War: World War II: The Second European War (The European Theater Of World War II): Vichy France (The French State): The Liberation Of France: The Aftermath Of World War II: The Surrender Of Pierre Laval: -- Pierre Laval, the fugitive former leader of Vichy France, surrenders to Allied soldiers in Austria. Pierre Jean-Marie Laval was a French politician who, during the time of the Third Republic, served as Prime Minister of France from January 27, 1931 to February 20, 1932, and a second time from June 7, 1935 to January 24, 1936. Laval began his career as a socialist, but over time drifted far to the right. Following France's defeat and armistice with Germany in 1940, he served in prominent roles in Philippe Petain's Vichy Regime, first as the vice-president of the Council of Ministers from 11 July 1940 to 13 December 1940, and later as the head of government from 18 April 1942 to 20 August 1944. After the liberation of France in 1944, Laval was arrested by the French government under General Charles de Gaulle. In what was widely regarded as a flawed trial, Laval was found guilty of high treason, and after a thwarted suicide attempt, he was executed by firing squad. His manifold political activities left a complicated and controversial legacy, resulting in more than a dozen conflicting biographies of him. https://store.earthstation1.com/france-conquest-to-liberation-occupied-and-vichy-wwii.html

Today's EarthStation1.com #OnThisDay Commemorative Memorial Title: The Romantic Spirit TV Series DVD, Video Download, USB Flash Drive
Today, July 31, 2026
July 31, 1886: #DOTD: #RIP: Franz Liszt, prolific 19th-century Hungarian composer, virtuoso pianist, conductor, music teacher, arranger, organist, philanthropist, author, nationalist and a Franciscan tertiary (holy order members of the Third Order of Saint Francis) during the Romantic era (b. October 22, 1811) #dies in Bayreuth, Kingdom of Bavaria, German Empire, aged 74, officially as a result of pneumonia, which he may have contracted during the Bayreuth Festival hosted by his daughter Cosima. Questions have been posed as to whether medical malpractice played a part in his death. He was buried on August 3, 1886, in the municipal cemetery of Bayreuth against his wishes. Franz Liszt (German: Franz Liszt; Hungarian: Liszt Ferencz, in modern usage Liszt Ferenc) was born in Doborjan (German: Raiding) in Sopron County, Kingdom Of Hungary, Austrian Empire. He gained renown in Europe during the early nineteenth century for his prodigious virtuosic skill as a pianist. He was a friend, musical promoter and benefactor to many composers of his time, including Frederic Chopin, Richard Wagner, Hector Berlioz, Robert Schumann, Camille Saint-Saens, Edvard Grieg, Ole Bull, Joachim Raff, Mikhail Glinka, and Alexander Borodin. As a composer, Liszt was one of the most prominent representatives of the New German School (Neudeutsche Schule). He left behind an extensive and diverse body of work in which he influenced his forward-looking contemporaries and anticipated many 20th-century ideas and trends. Some of his most notable musical contributions were the invention of the symphonic poem, developing the concept of thematic transformation as part of his experiments in musical form, and making radical departures in harmony. He is best known for the Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2, Liebestraum No. 3, and his Faust and Dante symphonies. https://store.earthstation1.com/the-romantic-spirit-tv-series-all-14-episodes-5-dual-layer-d145.html

Today's EarthStation1.com #OnThisDay Commemorative Memorial Title: Lady Day: The Many Faces of Billie Holiday DVD, Download, Flash Drive
Today, July 31, 2026
July 31, 1986: #DOTD: #RIP: Teddy Wilson, African African American swing jazz bandleader and pianist who recorded many of the most important jazz records, and peformed in many of the most important jazz performances (b. November 24, 1912) #dies of stomach cancer in New Britain, Connecticut, aged 73. He is buried at Fairview Cemetery in New Britain. He was born Theodore Shaw Wilson in Austin, Texas, and studied piano and violin at Tuskegee Institute in Tuskegee, Alabama. Wilson had a sophisticated, elegant style that was featured on the records of many of the biggest names in jazz, including Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Lena Horne, Lester Young, Gene Krupa, Lionel Hampton and many others. With Goodman, he was one of the first black musicians to appear prominently with white musicians. In addition to his extensive work as a sideman, Wilson also led his own groups and recording sessions from the late 1920s to the 1980s. https://store.earthstation1.com/lady-day-the-many-faces-of-billie-holiday-dvd-plus-bonus.html

Today's EarthStation1.com #OnThisDay Commemorative Memorial Title: Boarding House Blues 1948 Moms Mabley Dusty Fletcher MP4 Download DVD
Today, July 31, 2026
July 31, 1989: #DOTD: #RIP: Bull Moose Jackson, African American blues and rhythm and blues singer and saxophone player who was most successful in the late 1940s, performer of dirty blues because of the suggestive nature of some of his songs, such as "I Want a Bowlegged Woman" and "Big Ten Inch Record" (b. April 22, 1919) #dies of lung cancer in the city of his birth, Cleveland, Ohio, at the age of 70, having fallen ill in 1987 and retiring from the touring circuit in the spring of 1988. An old girlfriend of his came back to care for him during his final days. His burial details are not publicly disclosed. In 1947, Benjamin Clarence Jackson's recording of "I Love You, Yes I Do" reputedly became the first R & B single to sell a million copies, holding the number 1 spot on the R & B chart for three weeks and crossing over to the pop chart, where it reached number 24. He formed his own group, the Buffalo Bearcats, and over the next five years recorded in a wide variety of musical styles, including both romantic crooning and bawdy jump blues. His big hits in 1948 included the double-sided hit "All My Love Belongs to You" / "I Want a Bowlegged Woman", and his biggest R & B chart hit, "I Can't Go on Without You", which stayed at number 1 on the R & B chart for eight weeks. He also made an appearance in the 1948 film Boarding House Blues, with Millinder; Millinder had originally encouraged Jackson to sign a solo contract with Syd Nathan of King Records to play rhythm and blues. The first recording in his own right was "I Know Who Threw the Whiskey", in 1946, an answer song to Millinder's "Who Threw the Whiskey in the Well". Millinder also had first recruited Jackson as a saxophonist, and the musicians in Millinder's band gave him the nickname "Bull Moose" for his appearance. He began singing when he was required to stand in for Wynonie Harris at a show in Lubbock, Texas, himself a pioneer of dirty blues. In 1949, Jackson covered "Why Don't You Haul Off and Love Me", a song that been successful for Wayne Raney and also for several country-and-western performers. Jackson toured throughout the late 1940s and early 1950s. Around 1951, his band included the bebop composer and arranger Tadd Dameron on piano and Benny Golson, another jazz musician, on saxophone. Some of Jackson's later risque material, including "Big Ten Inch Record" and "Nosey Joe" (written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller), caused a sensation during live performances but were too suggestive for the radio, and few of the records were sold. However, his band faithfully played "Big Ten Inch Record" at every show. By the mid-1950s, Jackson was tired of touring and retired from music to work for a catering firm in Washington, D.C., although he occasionally still performed at private parties. In 1961, he re-recorded "I Love You, Yes I Do" with modern high-fidelity equipment and had a minor hit. Twenty years later, the Flashcats, a blues band that performed in western Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia, regularly included "Big Ten Inch Record" in their performances. A local DJ reputedly told the Flashcats that he knew Bull Moose Jackson, and the band's frontman, Carl Grefensette, found him catering at Howard University. Grefensette convinced Jackson to perform with them, and they quickly became a sensation in western Pennsylvania. Jackson then made the Flashcats his backing band and began a revival of his career. He also recorded a comeback album, Moosemania! (1985). During the 1980s, Jackson, then in his 60s, had an extremely successful run performing in the United States and internationally. https://store.earthstation1.com/boarding-house-blues-dvd-moms-mabley-dusty-fletcher-race-film.html

Today's EarthStation1.com #OnThisDay Commemorative Memorial Title: The History Of Jazz A Video Retrospective DVD, MP4 Download, USB Drive
Today, July 31, 2026
July 31, 1966: #DOTD: #RIP: Bud Powell, nicknamed "The Charlie Parker Of The Piano", African American jazz pianist virtuoso and composer, who along with Charlie Parker, Monk, and Dizzy Gillespie was a leading figure in the development of modern jazz and bebop (b. September 27, 1924) #dies in New York City aged 41 of tuberculosis, malnutrition, and alcoholism. He was given the last rites of the Catholic Church. He is buried at Fairview Cemetery in Willow Grove, Pennsylvania. Bud Powell was born Earl Rudolph Powell in Harlem, New York. Many jazz critics credit his works and his playing as having greatly extended the range of jazz harmonies. Though Thelonious Monk was a close friend and influence, his greatest piano influence was Art Tatum. In 1963, Powell contracted tuberculosis. During the next year, he returned to New York to perform at Birdland with drummer Horace Arnold and bassist John Ore. His performances during these years were adversely affected by his alcoholism. His emotions became unbalanced, and he was hospitalized in New York after months of erratic behavior and self-neglect. https://store.earthstation1.com/the-history-of-jazz-by-billy-taylor-parts-i-amp-ii-dvd.html

Today's EarthStation1.com #OnThisDay Commemorative Memorial Title: Frank Sinatra: The Voice Of Our Time DVD, Video Download, USB Drive
Today, July 31, 2026
July 31, 2010: #DOTD: #RIP: Mitch Miller, American singer, oboist, conductor, record producer and record industry executive (b. July 4, 1911) #dies on Saturday at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, after a short undisclosed illness, nearly four weeks after his 99th birthday. His remains were cremated, and the final disposition of his ashes are not publicly disclosed other than they were given either to family or friend(s). Mitch Miller was born Mitchell William Miller in Rochester, New York into a Jewish family of German and Russian ancestry. Mitch Miller was involved in almost all aspects of the music industry, particularly as a conductor and artist and repertoire (A & R) man. Miller was one of the most influential people in American popular music during the 1950s and early 1960s, both as the head of A & R at Columbia Records and as a best-selling recording artist with an NBC television series, Sing Along with Mitch. A graduate of the Eastman School of Music of the University of Rochester in the early 1930s, Miller began his musical career as a player of the oboe and English horn, making numerous highly regarded classical and popular recordings. He was a choral conductor on television and a recordings executive. Music historian Will Friedwald wrote in his book Jazz Singing (Da Capo Press, 1996) that "Miller exemplified the worst in American pop. He first aroused the ire of intelligent listeners by trying to turn - and darn near succeeding in turning - great artists like Sinatra, Clooney, and Tony Bennett into hacks. Miller chose the worst songs and put together the worst backings imaginable - not with the hit-or-miss attitude that bad musicians traditionally used, but with insight, forethought, careful planning, and perverted brilliance." https://store.earthstation1.com/frank-sinatra-the-voice-of-our-time-dvd-documentary.html

Today's EarthStation1.com #OnThisDay Commemorative Memorial Title: Dick Cavett Interviews Gore Vidal DVD, Video Download, USB Flash Drive
Today, July 31, 2026
July 31, 2012: #DOTD: #RIP: Gore Vidal, American novelist, screenwriter, writer, historian, critic, satirists and public intellectual known for his patrician manner, epigrammatic wit, and polished style of writing (b. October 3, 1925) #dies of pneumonia at his home in the Hollywood Hills at the age of 86. A memorial service was held for him at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre in New York City on August 23, 2012. He is buried next to Howard Austen in Rock Creek Cemetery, in Washington, D.C.. Gore Vidal was born Eugene Luther Gore Vidal into a prominent political family; his maternal grandfather, Thomas Pryor Gore, served as United States senator from Oklahoma (1907-1921 and 1931-1937). He was a Democratic Party politician who twice sought elected office; first to the United States House Of Representatives (New York State, 1960), then to the U.S. Senate (California, 1982). As a political commentator and essayist, Vidal's principal subject was the history of the United States and its society, especially how the militaristic foreign policy reduced the country to a decadent empire. His political and cultural essays were published in The Nation, the New Statesman, the New York Review of Books, and Esquire magazines. As a public intellectual, Gore Vidal's topical debates on sex, politics, and religion with other intellectuals and writers occasionally turned into quarrels with the likes of William F. Buckley Jr. and Norman Mailer. As such, and because he thought all men and women are potentially bisexual, Vidal rejected the adjectives "homosexual" and "heterosexual" when used as nouns, as inherently false terms used to classify and control people in society. As a novelist Vidal explored the nature of corruption in public and private life. His polished and erudite style of narration readily evoked the time and place of his stories, and perceptively delineated the psychology of his characters. His third novel, The City and the Pillar, offended the literary, political, and moral sensibilities of conservative book reviewers, with a dispassionately presented male homosexual relationship. In the historical novel genre, Vidal re-created in Julian (1964) the imperial world of Julian the Apostate (r. AD 361-63), the Roman emperor who used general religious toleration to re-establish pagan polytheism to counter the political subversion of Christian monotheism. In the genre of social satire, Myra Breckinridge (1968) explores the mutability of gender role and sexual orientation as being social constructs established by social mores. In Burr (1973) and Lincoln (1984), the protagonist is presented as "A Man of the People" and as "A Man" in a narrative exploration of how the public and private facets of personality affect the national politics of the U.S. Gore Vidal died on July 31, 2012 of pneumonia at his home in the Hollywood Hills at the age of 86. A memorial service was held for him at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre in New York City on August 23, 2012. He was buried next to Howard Austen in Rock Creek Cemetery, in Washington, D.C.. https://store.earthstation1.com/dick-cavett-interviews-gore-vidal-dvd.html

Today's EarthStation1.com #OnThisDay Commemorative Memorial Title: Portraits Of The Presidency: POTUS Documentaries DVD, Download, USB
Today, July 31, 2026
July 31, 1953: #DOTD: #RIP: Robert A. Taft, American conservative politician, lawyer, senator and soldier, son of U.S. President and 10th Chief Justice of the U.S. William Howard Taft (b. September 8, 1889) #dies of a a brain hemorrhage caused by metastasized pancreatic cancer, after being elected Senate Majority Leader earlier that year. His body lay in state at the United States Capitol rotunda, where thousands of mourners offered their respects at his coffin. On August 3, 1953, a memorial service was held in the rotunda; in addition to his family the service was attended by Eisenhower, Vice President Nixon, the cabinet, members of the Supreme Court, and Taft's congressional colleagues. Following the service his body was flown to Cincinnati, where he was buried in a private ceremony at Indian Hill Episcopal Church Cemetery. In 1957, a committee led by Senator John F. Kennedy selected Taft as one of the five greatest senators -- along with Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, John C. Calhoun, and Robert M. La Follette Sr. -- whose portraits would adorn the President's Room off the Senate floor. Kennedy would feature him in Profiles in Courage, and Taft continues to be regarded by historians as one of the most powerful senators of the 20th century. Robert Alphonso Taft Sr., a member of the Republican Party, represented Ohio in the United States Senate and briefly served as Senate Majority Leader. The elder son of William Howard Taft, the 27th President of the United States, Robert Taft was born in Cincinnati, Ohio. He pursued a legal career in Cincinnati after graduating from Harvard Law School in 1913. Along with his brother, Charles Phelps Taft II, he co-founded the law partnership of Taft Stettinius And Hollister. Taft served in the Ohio House of Representatives from 1921 to 1931 and in the Ohio Senate from 1931 to 1933. Though he lost re-election in 1932, he remained a powerful force in state and local politics. Taft won election to the United States Senate in 1938, defeating incumbent Democrat Robert J. Bulkley. He became a leader of the conservative coalition of Republicans and conservative Democrats who successfully opposed expansion of the New Deal after 1938. He also emerged as a prominent non-interventionist and opposed U.S. involvement into World War II prior to the Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor. After the war, he opposed the creation of NATO and criticized President Harry Truman's handling of the Korean War. He also cosponsored the Labor Management Relations Act of 1947, which banned closed shops and other labor practices. After winning election to the Senate, Taft repeatedly sought the Republican presidential nomination, often battling for control of the party with the moderate faction of Republicans led by Thomas E. Dewey. Taft's non-interventionist stances damaged his 1940 candidacy, and the 1940 Republican National Convention nominated Wendell Willkie. Taft sought the presidency again in 1948, but he lost to Dewey at the 1948 Republican National Convention. Taft sought the presidential nomination a third time in 1952 and was widely viewed as the frontrunner. However, Dewey and other moderates convinced General Dwight D. Eisenhower to enter the race, and Eisenhower narrowly prevailed at the 1952 Republican National Convention and went on to win the 1952 presidential election. Taft was elected Senate Majority Leader in 1953 but died of pancreatic cancer later that year. A 1957 Senate committee named Taft as one of America's five greatest senators, along with Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, John C. Calhoun, and Robert M. La Follette, Sr. https://store.earthstation1.com/portraits-of-the-presidency-roosevelt-wilson-hoover-taft-willkie.html

Today's EarthStation1.com #OnThisDay Commemorative Memorial Title: The Battle Of Dien Bien Phu Documentaries DVD, MP4 Download, USB Drive
Today, July 31, 2026
July 31, 1997: #DOTD: Bao Dai (Vietnamese: "Keeper Of Greatness"), 13th and final Emperor of the Nguyen dynasty, the last ruling family of Vietnam (b. October 22, 1913) #dies at Val-de-Grace, a military hospital in Paris, France, aged 83. He was interred in Passy Cemetery in Paris. Bao Dai was born Nguyen Phuc Vinh Thuy in Doan-Trang-Vien Palace, Hue, French Indochina. From 1926 to 1945, he was Emperor of Annam, which was at that time a protectorate within French Indochina, covering the central two-thirds of the present-day Vietnam. Bao Dai ascended the throne in 1932. The Japanese ousted the Vichy-French administration in March 1945 and then ruled through Bao Dai. At this time, he renamed his country "Vietnam". He abdicated in August 1945 when Japan surrendered. From 1949 until 1955, Bao Dai was the chief of state of the State of Vietnam (South Vietnam). Bao Dai was criticized for being too closely associated with France and spending much of his time outside Vietnam. Prime Minister Ngo Dinh Diem eventually ousted him by calling for a referendum vote in 1955. The campaign leading up to the referendum was punctuated by personal attacks against the former emperor. His supporters had no way to refute them, as campaigning for Bao Dai was forbidden. The 23 October referendum was widely reckoned as fraudulent, showing an implausible 98% in favor of a republic. As it turned out, the official results showed that the total number of votes for a republic exceeded the total number of registered voters by some 380,000 - an obvious sign of fraud. According to Joseph Buttinger, who was based in Vietnam as the second in command at the International Rescue Committee, the methods Diem used to influence the poll were "outrageous". Buttinger said that while the monarchy was "another rotten relic of Vietnam's past" and Bao Dai "its last, unworthy representative", fraud and intimidation were unnecessary as Diem would have won easily in any event. https://store.earthstation1.com/the-battle-of-dien-bien-phu-documentaries-dvd-download-usb.html

Today's EarthStation1.com #OnThisDay Commemorative Memorial Title: A Rustling Of Leaves: Inside The Philippine Revolution DVD, MP4, USB
Today, July 31, 2026
July 31, 2022: #DOTD: #RIP: Fidel V. Ramos, popularly known as FVR and Eddie Ramos, Filipino general and politician who served as the 12th president of the Philippines from 1992 to 1998 (b. March 18, 1928) #dies at Makati Medical Center in Makati, Philippines from complications of COVID-19 at the age of 94. His family confirmed that he suffered from a heart condition. President Bongbong Marcos declared July 31 to August 9 as "national days of mourning", whereas all national flags are "flown at half-mast from sunrise to sunset" as a sign of mourning. As per prevailing policies about COVID-19-related deaths in the country, Ramos' remains were cremated, making him the second Philippine president to have been cremated before initial burial after former President Benigno Aquino III in June 2021. His wake was held on August 4-8 at The Chapels at Heritage Park in Taguig. On August 9, he was accorded a state funeral, which was the first for a former Philippine president since Diosdado Macapagal in 1997, and his remains were inurned at the Libingan ng mga Bayani near former presidents Macapagal, Carlos P. Garcia, Elpidio Quirino and Ferdinand Marcos Sr. Fidel Valdez Ramos CCLH GCS KGCR was born Fidel Valdez Ramos in Lingayen, Pangasinan, located in the Ilocos Region of the island of Luzon, Phillipines. Fidel V. Ramos was the only career military officer who reached the rank of five-star general/admiral de jure. Rising from second lieutenant to commander-in-chief of the armed forces, Ramos was widely credited and admired by many for revitalizing and renewing international confidence in the Philippine economy during his six years in office. Ramos rose through the ranks in the Philippine military early in his career and became Chief of the Philippine Constabulary and Vice Chief-of-Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines during the term of President Ferdinand Marcos. During the 1986 EDSA People Power Revolution, Ramos was hailed as a hero by many Filipinos for his decision to break away from the administration of Marcos, and pledge allegiance and loyalty to the newly established government of President Corazon Aquino. Prior to his election as president, Ramos served in the cabinet of President Corazon Aquino, first as chief-of-staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), and later as Secretary of National Defense from 1986 to 1991. He was credited with the creation of the Philippine Army's Special Forces and the Philippine National Police Special Action Force. After his retirement, he remained active in politics, serving as adviser to his successors. https://store.earthstation1.com/a-rustling-of-leaves-inside-the-philippine-revolution-dvd.html

Today's EarthStation1.com #OnThisDay Commemorative Memorial Title: Armada: Spanish Armada TV Series + Bonus MP4 Video Download DVD
Today, July 31, 2026
July 31, 1982: #DOTD: #RIP: Harry Marble, long-time radio and television reporter and announcer who became familiar to millions in World War II as the voice of CBS Radio's ''News Of The World" and for years as one of the announcers and reporters on the CBS radio program ''You Are There'' (b, June 11, 1905) #dies on a Sunday in Greenland Cove, Maine where he had lived for 27 years after a long illness, aged 77 years. He left behind his wife, Doris Havens Marble, and a sister, Mrs. Richard Ferris of Saugus, Massachusetts. His burial details are not known to be publicly disclosed. Harry Marble was born Harry W. Marble in Brownville, Maine. Harry Marble's first radio position was with station WORL in Boston. He joined CBS in New York in 1941. When CBS moved the "Your Are There" program to the West Coast, he joined it to do several shows on film. In 1955, he left CBS to work for WGAN radio and television in Portland, until he retired in the last 1970s. https://store.earthstation1.com/armada-dvd-spanish-armada-tv-series-all-3-episode3.html

Today's EarthStation1.com #OnThisDay Commemorative Memorial Title: The Red Menace (1949) Red Scare Propaganda DVD, Download, USB Drive
Today, July 31, 2026
July 31, 1921: #BOTD: #HBD! Barbra Fuller, American film, television, and radio actress (d. May 15, 2024) is #born Barbara Deane Fuller in Nahant, Massachusetts. Barbra Fuller had worked in radio shows since the 1930s. She signed a contract with Republic Pictures in 1949, and appeared frequently in B-movies and television series in the 1950s. She changed her hair color frequently for film roles. Its hue varied from platinum to brunette in her four movies released by Republic Pictures in 1950. She returned to blonde as Laurel Vernon in Lonely Heart Bandits (1950). Her first screen credit is for The Red Menace (1949). In The Red Menace she played "Mollie O'Flaherty", a character used by the Communist Party as bait. This was followed by roles in Flame of Youth (1949) and Crosswinds (1951). In City of Bad Men (1953), a Western adventure, she played a minor character. Afterward, she was mostly involved in television work. Her last parts as a movie actress came in How Sweet It Is! (1968) and The Roommates (1973). Fuller acted in a number of soap operas. She played Claudia in One Man's Family, winner of the prestigious Peabody Award and arguably the first soap opera having begun in 1932 and running three decades. She did her first radio work in Chicago between the ages of 9 and 11. By age 18 she had appeared in 25 radio serials. Fuller was heard in Whispering Streets, The Guiding Light, Ma Perkins, Today's Children,[6] Scattergood Baines, Madame Courageous, Road of Life, and Stepmother. Fuller's television performances are numerous, beginning with a 1953 episode of Adventures of Superman. Other series in which she participated include Four Star Playhouse (1955-1956), Ford Television Theater (1957), Trackdown (1958), State Trooper (1958), Colgate Theater (1958), My Three Sons (1960), Perry Mason (1960, 1964), and Daniel Boone (1970). Fuller married Western motion picture star Lash LaRue on February 23, 1951, in Yuma, Arizona. They had a godson, child actor J.P. Sloane. The couple divorced on June 2, 1952. Barbra Fuller died in the morning at the age of 102. Her remains were cremated, and the final disposition of her ashes is not publicly dislosed other than that they were given to family or friend(s). https://store.earthstation1.com/the-red-menace-1949-communist-red-scare-propaganda-film1949.html

Today's EarthStation1.com #OnThisDay Commemorative Memorial Title: The Secret War Historic WWII TV Series + Bonus Title DVD MP4 USB Drive
Today, July 31, 2026
July 31, 2000: #DOTD: #RIP: Constance Babington Smith MBE, known informally as "Babs", British milliner, soldier, MI4 photo interpreter, journalist, writer, beauty and Legion Of Merit Awardee, best known for her work in imagery intelligence during World War II and as the discoverer of the existence of the German V-1 Flying Bomb when she spotted one at Peenemunde, Germany's Peenemunde Army Research Center (b. October 15, 1912) #dies in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England of undisclosed causes, aged 87. She is buried at Cambridge City Cemetary, Cambridge, City of Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England. Constance Babington Smith was born in Puttenham, Surrey, Southern England, the seventh of nine children of the senior civil servant Sir Henry Babington Smith, a scion of the Babington family, an Anglo-Irish and English gentry family whose Anglo-Irish branch is still extant today. Babington Smith was the seventh of nine children of the senior civil servant Sir Henry Babington Smith, a scion of the Babington family, an Anglo-Irish and English gentry family whose Anglo-Irish branch is still extant today. Her mother, born Lady Elizabeth Bruce, was the daughter of the 9th Earl of Elgin, making Constance a granddaughter of a Viceroy of India and a great-great-granddaughter of the man who bought the Elgin Marbles, also known as the Parthenon Marbles, a collection of Classical Greek marble sculptures made under the supervision of the architect and sculptor Phidias and his assistants. Her father died in 1923, when she was ten. By then, her eldest brothers were already adults, whilst her youngest sister was just two years old. She was educated at home at the family home 'Chinthurst', in Wonersh in Surrey. She finished her education in France and moved to London in adult life. A trained milliner (hat-maker, or hatter), she worked before the war for Aage Thaarup, a Danish-born milliner who ran a celebrated hatmaking business in London between the 1930s and 1970s. She also worked for Vogue magazine in London, before venturing into journalism with The Aeroplane magazine. Frank Whittle, the inventor of the first British jet engine, met her once and became quite enamoured of 'Babs' and made enquiries about the scent she used. He described her as 'an attractive young lady who combined considerable personal charm with an intense interest in aircraft' (her perfume was Guerlain's 'L'Heure Bleue'; she later wrote she wore it to counteract the masculinity of her uniform). Her knowledge of aircraft took her into the Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) during the Second World War. She served with MI4, the Central Interpretation Unit (CIU) at RAF Medmenham, Buckinghamshire, reaching the rank of Flight Officer. Serving alongside was her brother, Bernard Babington Smith (1905-1993), who was also a photo interpreter (PI) at Medmenham. Another fellow PI present at Medmenham was Winston Churchill's daughter, Sarah Oliver. In 1942 she made an uncredited appearance in the Air Ministry feature film Target For Tonight, along with her fellow Medmenham colleague, Sqn Ldr Peter Riddell. In 1942, Babington Smith was Mentioned in Dispatches for her work and in 1945 she was awarded the Member Of The Most Excellent Order Of The British Empire (MBE), a British order of chivalry that rewards contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service.. Her brother, Bernard, was also honoured for his work at the CIU, receiving the OBE. She was portrayed in the 1965 film Operation Crossbow by Sylvia Syms. After VE-Day Constance was attached to USAAF Intelligence in Washington, D.C. to continue her work on photographic interpretation, this time for the Pacific theatre. In 1946, the United States awarded her the Legion of Merit. From 1946 to 1950 she was a researcher for Life Magazine. She later moved to Cambridge, Britain, where she converted to Greek Orthodoxy and become a writer and biographer. Her war memoir Evidence in Camera was in 1957 the first comprehensive narrative of British photographic reconnaissance in the Second World War. Because it was published before the revelation of the wartime code-breaking by the British of the German Enigma and Lorenz ciphers, this book may also have contained a measure of calculated disinformation. Her cousin was the writer Rose Macaulay, Babington Smith writing a biography of her published in 1972. She appeared in several episodes of the 1977 BBC TV series The Secret War, where she discussed her wartime work as a photo interpreter as it related to the subject of the episode. Babington Smith was a founder and director of the Mosquito Memorial Appeal Fund (now the de Havilland Museum Trust) in honor of the daring photo reconnaissance pilots that flew the de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito reconnaissance aircraft, who were primarily responsible for taking the photographs Babington-Smith analyzed during World War II. https://store.earthstation1.com/the-secret-war-wwii-weaponry-tv-series-all-7-episodes-2-dv72.html