Friday, July 25th - On This Day 1

clipped from www.nytimes.com Friday, July 25th The 207th day of 2008. There are 159 days left in the year. Go to a previous date. On July 25, 1956, the Italian liner Andrea Doria collided with the Swedish ship Stockholm off the New England coast, claiming the lives of 51 people. (Go to article.) On July 25, 1848, Arthur James Balfour, the British statesman best remembered for issuing the British declaration of support for a Jewish homeland in Palestine, was born. Following his death on March 19, 1930, his obituary appeared in The Times. (Go to obit. | Other Birthdays) 1593 France's King Henry IV converted from Protestantism to Roman Catholicism. 1866 Ulysses S. Grant was named general of the Army, the first officer to hold the rank. 1868 Congress passed an act creating the Wyoming Territory. 1946 The United States detonated an atomic bomb at Bikini Atoll in the Pacific in the first underwater test of the device. 1952 Puerto Rico became a self-governing commonwealth of the United States.