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Today in History, July 24th

On July 24, 1911, Hiram Bingham reached the Inca ruins of Machu Picchu. Plus Brigham Young in the Salt Lake Valley and the Nixon-Khrushchev kitchen debate.

By Today in History Updated November 10, 2026 3 min read Sources checked

Published July 24, 2026 · Last updated November 10, 2026

July 24 is best known for 1911, when American explorer Hiram Bingham reached the Inca ruins of Machu Picchu in Peru. The date also saw Brigham Young lead Mormon pioneers into the Salt Lake Valley in 1847 and Richard Nixon and Nikita Khrushchev spar in the “kitchen debate” in 1959.

The big story: Hiram Bingham reaches Machu Picchu (1911)

Hiram Bingham went to Peru hunting for the fabled “lost” cities of the Incas, the civilization that Spanish invaders had largely wrecked in the 1500s. Working through the Urubamba Valley northwest of Cuzco, his team met a local farmer who mentioned ruins up on a nearby mountain he called Machu Picchu, Quechua for “Old Peak.” On July 24, 1911, a group of local residents, led by an 11-year-old boy, guided Bingham up the last stretch to a ridge covered in stone buildings. It was a thrill for Bingham, but hardly news to the people who lived nearby. Local Indigenous families had known about the site, and looked after it, for centuries. The complex was most likely a summer retreat for Inca rulers. Bingham’s best-selling book about the find turned Machu Picchu into a magnet for travelers, and it draws more than 300,000 visitors a year. “Discovered” is a generous word for it. “Introduced to the outside world” is closer.

More events on July 24

Year	What happened
1567	Mary, Queen of Scots, was forced to give up her throne in favor of her infant son, James.
1779	Massachusetts launched the Penobscot Expedition, which ended in a major naval defeat.
1847	Brigham Young led Mormon pioneers into the Salt Lake Valley.
1901	The writer O. Henry was released from prison after serving three years for embezzling from a bank.
1915	The excursion steamer Eastland rolled over in the Chicago River, killing more than 800 people.
1943	British bombers began Operation Gomorrah, a bombing campaign against Hamburg, Germany.
1945	President Harry Truman hinted to Joseph Stalin that the U.S. had a powerful new weapon.
1959	Richard Nixon and Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev faced off in their “kitchen debate” at an American exhibition in Moscow.
1969	The Apollo 11 astronauts splashed down safely in the Pacific after the first moon landing.
1982	“Eye of the Tiger,” the theme from Rocky III, hit No. 1 on the Billboard pop chart.
1998	Steven Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan opened in U.S. theaters.
2005	Lance Armstrong won his seventh straight Tour de France and retired; he was later stripped of all his titles over doping.

Born on July 24

1802: Alexandre Dumas, French author of The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo, born in Villers-Cotterêts.
1897: Amelia Earhart, American aviator and the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic, born in Atchison, Kansas.
1969: Jennifer Lopez, American actress, dancer and singer, born in the Bronx, New York.