The Geneva Convention of 1864 for the Amelioration of the
Condition of the Wounded and Sick of Armies in the Field
was adopted by 12 nations meeting in Geneva.

The agreement, advocated by Swiss humanitarian Jean-
Henri Dunant, called for nonpartisan care to the sick and
wounded in times of war and provided for the neutrality
of medical personnel. It also proposed the use of an
international emblem to mark medical personnel and
supplies.

In honor of Dunant’s nationality, a red cross on a white
background—the Swiss flag in reverse—was chosen. The
organization became known as the International Committee
of the Red Cross. In 1901, Dunant was awarded the first
Nobel Peace Prize.

The signing of the first Geneva Convention.

(8 May 1828 – 30 October 1910)

The U.S. Congress passed legislation establishing the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), a civilian
agency responsible for coordinating America’s activities in
space, on July 29, 1958.

NASA has since sponsored space expeditions, both human
and mechanical, that have yielded vital information about the
solar system and universe.        
         

It has also launched numerous earth-orbiting satellites that have
been instrumental in everything from weather forecasting to
navigation to global communications.

NASA was created in response to the Soviet Union’s October 4,
1957 launch of its first satellite, Sputnik I.

President Eisenhower with Hugh Dryden and T. Keith
Glennan, August 19, 1958. Eisenhower (center) swears
in Dr. T. Keith Glennan (right) as the first administrator
of NASA, and Dr. Hugh Dryden (left) as deputy
administrator.

In the East End of London on July 2, 1865, revivalist preacher
William Booth and his wife Catherine established the Christian
Mission, later known as the Salvation Army.

In Akron, Ohio, Bill Wilson and Dr. Robert Smith, two recovering alcoholics, founded Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.), a 12-step rehabilitation program that would eventually help countless
people cope with alcoholism.

Based on psychological techniques that have long been used
in suppressing certain personality traits, members of the strictly anonymous organization control their disease through guided
group discussion and confession.

Dr. Robert Smith (1879 – 1950) and Bill Wilson (1895 – 1971)

On May 28, 1937, the government of Germany—then under the
control of Adolf Hitler of the National Socialist (Nazi) Party—
formed new state-owned automobile company, then known
as Gesellschaft zur Vorbereitung des Deutschen Volkswagens
mbH. Later that year, it was renamed simply Volkswagenwerk,
or “The People’s Car Company.”

Originally operated by the German Labor Front, a Nazi
organization, Volkswagen was headquartered in Wolfsburg,
Germany. In addition to his ambitious campaign to build a
network of autobahns and limited access highways across
Germany, Hitler’s pet project was the development and mass
production of an affordable yet still speedy vehicle that could
sell for less than 1,000 Reich marks (about $140 at the time).         
        

VW logo during the 1930s, initials surrounded by a stylized cogwheel and a spinning propeller that looked like a
swastika.