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The History Channel
• On July 26, 1775, the U.S. postal system is established by the Second Continental Congress, with Benjamin Franklin as its first postmaster general. Franklin put in place the foundation for many aspects of today’s mail system, including standardized delivery costs based on distance and weight.
• On July 24, 1901, author William Sydney Porter, otherwise known as O. Henry, is released from prison after serving three years in jail for embezzlement from a bank. While in prison he began writing stories to support his young daughter.
• On July 22, 1923, John Dillinger joins the Navy in order to avoid charges of auto theft, but deserts within a few months. Dillinger’s reputation as America’s most notorious criminal was forged in a single 12-month period in the early 1930s, during which he robbed more banks than Jesse James did in 15 years.
• On July 21, 1955, President Dwight D. Eisenhower presents his “Open Skies” plan, which called for the United States and the Soviet Union to exchange maps indicating the exact location of every military installation in their respective nations. The Russians rejected the plan. Months later, the Eisenhower administration approved the use of high-altitude spy planes to conduct surveillance over the Soviet Union.
• On July 20, 1969, stepping off the lunar landing module Eagle, Neil Armstrong becomes the first human to walk on the moon. He told more than a billion people listening at home on Earth: “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”
• On July 25, 1978, Louise Joy Brown, the world’s first baby to be conceived via in-vitro fertilization, is born in Manchester, England. The healthy baby was delivered by Caesarean section and weighed in at 5 pounds, 12 ounces.