CNN Interactive - Almanac

It now appears that Monica Lewinsky is prepared to tell at least a portion of the truth. I encourage her and all other witnesses not only to tell the truth but to tell the whole truth.

-- Linda Tripp

The Romance Writers of America are scheduled to begin their national convention in Los Angeles.

On Friday, July 31, U.S. President Bill Clinton is tentatively scheduled to travel to East Hampton, New York, for DNC fund-raising events.
On Saturday, August 1, a memorial service for Alan Shepard, the first American in space, is scheduled at the Johnson Space Center in Houston.
On Sunday, August 2, the 1998 National Urban League's annual conference is scheduled to begin in Philadelphia.
On Monday, August 3, a ceremony officially dedicating a postage stamp honoring film director Alfred Hitchcock is scheduled in Los Angeles.
On Tuesday, August 4, Christie's auction house begins displaying legendary baseball player "Shoeless" Joe Jackson's personal belongings in Chicago. The items will be auctioned off in New York in November.

NEWSLINK:		NOTABLE:
Twenty-five years ago, victims of the drug Thalidomide finally won compensation for the horrific birth defects it caused in thousands of children. Now, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is allowing Thalidomide to be used again in a limited capacity. To find out more about this drug, click here.		Today is Revolutionary Martyrs Day in Cuba. It's Independence Day in Vanuatu. Actor Dick Wilson ("Mr. Whipple") is 82. Blues musician Buddy Guy is 62. Movie director Peter Bogdanovich ("The Last Picture Show") is 59. Singer Paul Anka is 57. Jazz musician David Sanborn is 53. Actor Arnold Schwarzenegger ("The Terminator") is 51. Actor Frank Stallone ("Public Enemy #1") is 48. Actor Ken Olin ("thirtysomething") is 44. Actress Delta Burke ("Designing Women") is 42. Singer-songwriter Kate Bush is 40. Actor Laurence Fishburne ("Higher Learning") is 37. Country singer Neal McCoy is 37. Actress Lisa Kudrow ("Friends") is 35. Actress Vivica Fox ("Soul Food") is 34. Actress Christine Taylor ("The Wedding Singer") is 27. Actress Hilary Swank ("Beverly Hills 90210") is 24.

In 1178, Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor known as Barbarossa, was crowned King of Burgundy.
In 1419, anti-Catholic Hussites, followers of executed reformer Jan Hus, stormed the town hall in Prague and threw Catholic councilors out of the windows.
In 1619, the first legislative assembly in America, known as the House of Burgesses, was convened in Jamestown, Virginia.
In 1656, Charles X of Sweden defeated the Poles at the Battle of Warsaw, two days after invading the country.
In 1934, Kurt von Schuschnigg was named Austrian chancellor following the assassination of Engelbert Dollfuss.
In 1935, the first Penguin book was published, starting the paperback revolution. The idea came from Sir Allen Lane, who wanted to provide "a whole book for the price of 10 cigarettes." The first one to be issued was "Ariel" by Andre Maurois.
In 1945, the U.S. cruiser Indianapolis was sunk by a Japanese submarine killing over 800. It was returning to the U.S. after delivering nuclear material for the atomic bomb.
In 1948, the advance of Communist domination in Hungary forced the resignation of President Zoltan Tildy.
In 1949, British warship HMS Amethyst made its escape down the Yangtze River, having been refused a safe passage by Chinese Communists after a three-month standoff.
In 1963, Soviet newspaper Izvestia reported that Kim Philby, recently revealed as the "third man" in Britain's Burgess and Maclean spy affair, had been given asylum in Moscow.
In 1966, England beat Germany 4-2 at Wembley Stadium to win the World Cup.
In 1971, during the Apollo 15 mission, David Scott and James Irwin landed on the moon.
In 1971, a Japanese Boeing 727 collided with a jet fighter over Shizukuishi, killing 162 people.
In 1973, the 11-year battle for the victims of the drug Thalidomide ended with compensation payments of 20 million pounds sterling.
In 1974, joint declaration on Cyprus was signed in Geneva between Greece, Turkey and Britain.
In 1975, a summit conference on European security opened in Helsinki attended by leaders of 35 nations including U.S. President Gerald Ford and Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev.
In 1980, the Republic of Vanuatu (formerly the Franco-British condominium of New Hebrides) achieved its independence.
In 1989, Gen. Wojciech Jaruzelski stepped down after eight years as Polish Communist Party leader. He was succeeded by his friend and prot�g�, Mieczyslaw Rakowski.
In 1989, radical members of the Soviet parliament set up a group to press for faster reform. Boris Yeltsin and Andrei Sakharov were among those elected to run it.
In 1990, British Conservative member of parliament Ian Gow, close aide of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, was killed by a car bomb planted by Irish republicans.
In 1991, U.S. President George Bush and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev began a two-day summit meeting in Moscow, Bush's first summit on Soviet soil.
In 1993, in Geneva peace talks, Bosnia's Muslims, Serbs and Croats agreed to create a new "union" of three ethnic republics.
In 1994, Zaire declared its eastern region, swamped by 1.7 million Rwandan refugees, a disaster region.
In 1997, in Israel two Arab suicide bombers killed 18 people in a crowded Jerusalem market. At least 170 people were injured.
In 1997, the United States lifted a 12-year-old ban on U.S. citizens visiting Lebanon after receiving pledges from the government in Beirut to do more to fight terrorism.