This Day in History: 07/07/1930 - Building of Hoover Dam - HISTORY

In a This Day in History video, learn that on July 7, 1930, construction began on the Hoover Dam. Twenty-thousand unemployed laborers happily took on the job, but it was a grueling and dangerous task between the scorching desert heat and constant dynamite blasts. When finished, Hoover was the largest dam in the world, standing 726 feet high.

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Did you know that the Hoover Dam supplies electricity to more than 20 million people? Get all the facts on this marvel of engineering.

In This Day In History video clip - May 1, 1931: Empire State Building dedicated - At the White House in Washington, D.C., President Herbert Hoover pushes a button that turns on the lights of New York City's Empire State Building, officially opening the tallest building erected to that date. Standing 102 stories, or 1,454 feet from the top of its lightning rod to its base at 34th Street and Fifth Avenue below, the skyscraper became a world-famous symbol of American ambition and still dominates the Manhattan skyline.

In a This Day in History video, learn that on July 11, 1804, Aaron Burr fatally wounded Alexander Hamilton in a duel. Burr was Thomas Jefferson's Vice President and Hamilton was a force behind the Constitution. The shooting was the climax of a twenty year grudge; Hamilton, a Federalist, loathed Burr, a Republican. After Hamilton publically insulted Burr and his character, Burr proposed a duel. Hamilton's shot went high, perhaps intentionally, while Burr's bullet hit Hamilton in the stomach. The next day, Hamilton died along with Burr's career in politics.

In a This Day in History video, learn that on July 16, 1945, the United States conducted the first atomic bomb test in the New Mexican desert. The test was the culmination of three years of secret planning under the codename, The Manhattan Project. Scientists, soldiers, and officers assembled the observation huts, some as far as 10 miles away from ground zero. There was an intense flash of light, and then the a-bomb produced a fireball that expanded nearly 2,000 feet in two seconds; it boiled up into a mushroom cloud nearly six miles high.

In a This Day in History video, learn that on July 10, 1925, the Scopes Monkey trial began in Dayton, Tennessee. High school teacher John Thomas Scopes was charged with violating Tennessee's law against teaching evolution instead of the divine creation of man. The trial was the first to be broadcasted on live radio. Scopes was defended by Clarence Darrow, and across the aisle was William Jennings Bryan. In the end, the jury convicted Scopes but encouraged other states to not pass anti-evolution laws.

In This Day in History video clip: At 10:56 p.m. EDT, American astronaut Neil Armstrong, 240,000 miles from Earth, speaks these words to more than a billion people listening at home: "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." This video clip is courtesy of The History Channel.

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