page_title: July 1970
section_title: July 9, 1970 (Thursday)
hierarchical_section_title: July 1970 / July 9, 1970 (Thursday)
context_page_description: The following events occurred in July 1970:
context_section_description: U.S. President Richard Nixon proposed that Congress create the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).  In his message to Congress, Nixon said that the changes would fulfill federal government commitment to "the rescue of our natural environment, and the preservation of the earth as a place both habitable by and hospitable to man".  The NOAA would begin operations on October 3 as unit of the U.S. Department of Commerce, and the EPA would open as an independent agency on December 2.
  The Defense Distinguished Service Medal, the highest non-combat military award, was created to honor performance of duty in contributing to the defense of the United States or to national security.  U.S. Army General Earle Wheeler, the retiring Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, received the first medal that day.
  In Italy, a team of women soccer football players representing Denmark won the first Coppa del Mondo, the original women's intercontinental football tournament, defeating Italy, 2 to 0, in the final, held before 40,000 fans at the Stadio Communale in Torino .  The tournament had six European teams (Denmark, Italy, England, Austria, West Germany, Switzerland) and Mexico.
  In major league baseball's first identified "Grand Slam Single", Detroit Tigers batter Dalton Jones hit the ball past all of the Boston Red Sox outfielders with the bases loaded, but was only credited with three runs batted in and was called out when he reached second base.  Although the hit into right field stands would normally have been an automatic home run, Jones hurried past first base and ended up passing his teammate, Don Wert, who was jogging to second base.  Jones was then called out for passing a runner, and his three teammates scored.  Detroit won the game, 7 to 3.  The play is only known to have happened two more times, in 1976 and in 1999.
  Born: Trent Green, American NFL quarterback 1993 to 2008 and TV sports analyst; in Cedar Rapids, Iowa
  Died: Félix Gaillard, 50, Prime Minister of France from 1957 to 1958, was drowned in the English Channel after his yacht, the Marie Grillon, wrecked on the Minquiers reefs in the Channel Islands.  Gaillard and two passengers had been visiting a relative on the island of Jersey and were on their way back to the French mainland.
caption: EPA