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Dak Prescott. Scott Roth/Invision/AP

NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include “Emergency!” star Robert Fuller, who was born in 1933; former U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole, who was born in 1936; “Police Academy” star Leslie Easterbrook, who was born in 1949; documentary filmmaker Ken Burns, who was born in Brooklyn in 1953; Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Geddy Lee (Rush), who was born in 1953; Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Patti Scialfa (E Street Band), who was born in 1953; boxing trainer and commentator Teddy Atlas, who was born in 1956; “Baywatch” star Alexandra Paul, who was born in 1963; “Stand by Me” star Wil Wheaton, who was born in 1972; Wimbledon mixed-doubles champion Nicole Melichar, who was born in 1993; and Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott, who was born in 1993; 

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A VIEW FROM ABROAD: Alexis de Tocqueville was born on this day in 1805. The French politician and author’s 1831 trip the U.S. inspired “Democracy in America,” one of the most insightful books written about the U.S. “America is a land of wonders,” he wrote, “in which everything is in constant motion  and every change seems an improvement.” He died in 1859. 

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LOST AND FOUND: The USS Indianapolis was sunk on this day in 1945. After delivering the atomic bomb to Tinian Island, the American cruiser was headed for Okinawa to train for the invasion of Japan when it was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine. Of 1,196 crew members, more than 350 were immediately killed in the explosion or went down with the ship. The survivors endured the next 84 hours in ocean waters. By the time rescue arrived on Aug. 2, only 318 sailors were still alive, the rest having drowned or been eaten by sharks. In 2017, a search group financed by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen found the wreck of the Indianapolis in the Philippine sea at a depth of 18,000 feet. 

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Special thanks to “Chase’s Calendar of Events” and Brooklyn Public Library.

Quotable:

“History is a gallery of pictures in which there are few originals and many copies.”

— Alexis de Tocqueville, who was born on this day in 1805

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