July 24 Birthday
On July 24, 1911, Hiram Bingham, a Yale professor, was led to the ruins of Machu Picchu by a local farmer. The site had been known to local people for centuries, but Bingham was the first outsider to recognize its significance. He believed it was the lost city of Vilcabamba, the last Inca stronghold. It was not — it was a royal estate built by Pachacuti in the 15th century. Bingham took 40,000 artifacts from the site, which Yale kept for a century before returning them to Peru in 2012. Machu Picchu is now Peru's most visited tourist destination. On July 24, 1974, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously in United States v. Nixon that the president must surrender the White House tape recordings. Nixon had claimed executive privilege — that the president's conversations were confidential. The Court disagreed. The ruling destroyed Nixon's defense. The tapes revealed that Nixon had personally participated in the cover-up of the Watergate break-in. He resigned sixteen days later. People born on July 24 fall under the zodiac sign of Leo. The birthstone is Ruby and the birth flower is Larkspur. Historical events on July 24 include 1911: Hiram Bingham "discovers" Machu Picchu in Peru, 1969: Apollo 11 splashes down in the Pacific, returning from the Moon, 1974: Supreme Court orders Nixon to surrender White House tapes. Famous people born on July 24 include Amelia Earhart (1897), Alexander Calder (1898), Jennifer Lopez (1969).