Today In History

[minidog]

1715 - The first lighthouse in America was authorized for construction at Little Brewster Island, Massachusetts.

1827 - The first swimming school in the U.S. opened in Boston, MA.

1829 - William Burt patented the typographer, which was the first typewriter.

1877 - The first municipal railroad passenger service began in Cincinnati, Ohio.

1886 - Steve Brodie, a New York saloonkeeper, claimed to have made a daredevil plunge from the Brooklyn Bridge into the East River.

1904 - The ice cream cone was invented by Charles E. Menches during the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis, MO.

1914 - Austria-Hungary issued an ultimatum to Serbia following the ******* of Archduke Francis Ferdinand by a Serb assassin. The dispute led to World War I.

1938 - The first federal game preserve was approved by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The area was 2,000 acres in Utah.

1945 - The first passenger train observation car was placed in service by the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad.

1952 - Egyptian military officers led by Gamal Abdel Nasser overthrew King Farouk I.

1954 - A law is ****** that states that "The Secretary of the Navy is authorized to repair, equip, and restore the United States Ship Constitution, as far as may be practicable, to her original appearance, but not for active service, and thereafter to maintain the United States Ship Constitution at Boston, Massachusetts."

1958 - The submarine Nautilus departed from Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, under orders to conduct "Operation Sunshine." The mission was to be the first vessel to cross the north pole by ship. The Nautils achieved the goal on August 3, 1958.

1962 - The "Telstar" communications satellite sent the first live TV broadcast to Europe.

1967 - In Detroit, MI, rioting that claimed some 43 lives.

1972 - Eddie Merckx of Belgium won his fourth consecutive Tour de France bicycling competition.

1972 - The U.S. launched Landsat 1 (ERTS-1). It was the first Earth-resources satellite.

1977 - A jury in Washington, DC, convicted 12 Hanafi Muslims of charges stemming from the hostage siege at three buildings the previous March.

1984 - Miss America, Vanessa Williams, turned in her crown after it had been discovered that nude photos of her had appeared in "Penthouse" magazine. She was the first to resign the title.

1986 - Britain's Prince Andrew married Sarah Ferguson at Westminster Abbey in London. They divorced in 1996.

1997 - Police in Miami Beach, FL, found the body of Andrew Cunanan. He was the suspected killer of Gianni Versace.

1998 - U.S. scientists at the University of Hawaii turned out more than 50 "carbon-copy" mice, with a cloning technique.

2000 - Lance Armstrong won his second Tour de France.

Births:
1888 - Raymond Chandler American crime novelist (creator of the fictional detective 'Philip Marlowe)
1942 - Myra Hindley, English ******** (Moors ********)
1947 - David Essex, English singer
1961 - Woody Harrelson, American actor
1965 - Slash, English guitarist (Guns N' Roses)
1970 - Charisma Carpenter, American actress
1989 - Daniel Radcliffe, English actor

Deaths:
1875 - Isaac Singer, American inventor and entrepreneur (developed the first practical sewing machine and founder of the Singer Sewing Machine Company)
1966 - Montgomery Clift, American actor

 

[BlueBalls]

No offence MiniD but your happenings are very American oriented surly more stuff happened in the world. You must be getting you onfo from an American website.



Good thread, keep up the good work, I just thought i'd put in my :2 cents:

 

[gunslingingbird]

No offence MiniD but your happenings are very American oriented surly more stuff happened in the world. You must be getting you onfo from an American website.



Good thread, keep up the good work, I just thought i'd put in my :2 cents:

I see your point, but remember that history is written by the winners of wars. You're generally not gonna read about WWII from the Japanese point of view because they lost the war. I know that MiniD doesn't just post only about what happened in wars, but, from my understanding of the matter, America is quite involved everywhere, and has a great influence everywhere. I'm not saying that she shouldn't post about happenings in places other than the US, but I'm just giving a possible reason for history being so American-oriented.

 

[Friday on my mind]

I see your point, but remember that history is written by the winners of wars. You're generally not gonna read about WWII from the Japanese point of view because they lost the war. I know that MiniD doesn't just post only about what happened in wars, but, from my understanding of the matter, America is quite involved everywhere, and has a great influence everywhere. I'm not saying that she shouldn't post about happenings in places other than the US, but I'm just giving a possible reason for history being so American-oriented.

The site she is using(I posted for her while she was on vacation) is based out of Texas so the american slant is understandable.

 

[BlueBalls]

I see your point, but remember that history is written by the winners of wars. You're generally not gonna read about WWII from the Japanese point of view because they lost the war. I know that MiniD doesn't just post only about what happened in wars, but, from my understanding of the matter, America is quite involved everywhere, and has a great influence everywhere. I'm not saying that she shouldn't post about happenings in places other than the US, but I'm just giving a possible reason for history being so American-oriented.

Yeah I see your point but when was the first American won war 1776 or somthing (forgive my lack of knowledge on American history) there is plenty of historic events that happened before that. I think the website being used probably has alot of American events because it is American Im not saying change it, im just pointing out something Ive noticed.


And as FOMM just pointed out, the website is American so theres an obvious leaning towards American issues.

 

[marquis2]

Yeah I see your point but when was the first American won war 1776 or somthing (forgive my lack of knowledge on American history) there is plenty of historic events that happened before that. I think the website being used probably has alot of American events because it is American Im not saying change it, im just pointing out something Ive noticed.


And as FOMM just pointed out, the website is American so theres an obvious leaning towards American issues.

One thing is when there is a statement like "the first something or other happened" relates to the US giving the impression it was a world first rather than an American one.

 

[minidog]

1498 - Christopher Columbus, on his third voyage to the Western Hemisphere, arrived at the island of Trinidad.

1790 - The first U.S. patent was issued to Samuel Hopkins for his process for making potash and pearl ashes. The substance was used in fertilizer.

1792 - The cornerstone of the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia, PA, was laid. It was the first building to be used only as a U.S. government building.

1919 - Germany's Weimar Constitution was adopted.

1928 - MGM’s Leo the lion roared for the first time. He introduced MGM’s first talking picture, "White Shadows on the South Seas."

1932 - Enzo Ferrari retired from racing. In 1950 he launched a series of cars under his name.

1945 - Pierre Laval of France surrendered to Americans in Austria.

1948 - U.S. President Truman helped dedicate New York International Airport (later John F. Kennedy International Airport) at Idlewild Field.

1955 - Marilyn Bell of Toronto, Canada, at age 17, became the youngest person to swim the English Channel.

1961 - The first tie in All-Star Game major league baseball history was recorded when it was stopped in the 9th inning due to rain at Boston's Fenway Park.

1964 - The American space probe Ranger 7 transmitted pictures of the moon's surface.

1971 - Men rode in a vehicle on the moon for the first time in a lunar rover vehicle (LRV).

1981 - The seven-week baseball players’ strike came to an end when the players and owners agreed on the issue of free agent compensation.

1989 - A pro-Iranian group in Lebanon released a videotape reportedly showing the hanged body of American hostage William R. Higgins.

1991 - U.S. President Bush and Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev signed the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty.

1995 - The Walt Disney Company agreed to acquire Capital Cities/ABC in a $19 billion deal.

1997 - In New York City, NY, police seized five bombs believed to be bound for terrorist attacks on city subways.

1998 - More than 50 people died in Kashmir due to crossfire between India and Pakistan.

1998 - Nicolas Cage received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

1999 - The spacecraft Lunar Prospect crashed into the moon. It was a mission to detect frozen water on the moon's surface. The craft had been launched on January 6, 1998.


Births:
1883 - Fred Quimby, American film producer (Tom and Jerry cartoons)
1955 - American athlete Ed Moses
1956 - Michael Biehn, American actor
1962 - Wesley Snipes, American actor

Deaths:
1886 - Franz Liszt, Hungarian composer
1964 - Jim Reeves, American singer

 

[minidog]

1498 - Christopher Columbus landed on "Isla Santa" (Venezuela).

1619 - The first black Americans (20) land at Jamestown, VA.

1774 - Oxygen was isolated from air successfully by chemist Carl Wilhelm and scientist Joseph Priestly.

1779 - Francis Scott Key was born. He was an American composer, attorney, poet, and social worker. He was the composer of the poem "Defence of Fort McHenry" which later became known as the "Star-Spangled Banner."

1790 - The first U.S. census was completed. The population of the 17 states was 3,929,214.

1818 - Maria Mitchell was born. She was the first female professional astronomer and the first women to be elected into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

1819 - Herman Melville was born, the author of "Moby Dick."

1834 - Slavery was outlawed in the British empire with an emancipation bill.

1873 - Andrew S. Hallidie successfully tested a cable car. The design was done for San Francisco, CA.

1876 - Colorado became the 38th state to join the United States.

1893 - Shredded wheat was patented by Henry Perky and William Ford.

1894 - The first Sino-Japanese War erupted. The dispute was over control of Korea.

1907 - The U.S. Army established an aeronautical division that later became the U.S. Air *****.

1914 - Germany declared war on Russia at the beginning of World War I.

1936 - Adolf Hitler presided over the Olympic games as they opened in Berlin.

1943 - Several deaths occurred in a race-related riot in Harlem, New York City.

1944 - In Warsaw, Poland, an uprising against **** occupation began. The revolt only lasted two months.

1946 - In the U.S., the Atomic Energy Commission was established.

1953 - The first aluminum-faced building was completed. It was the first of this type in America.

1956 - The Social Security Act was amended to provide benefits to disabled workers aged 50-64 and disabled adult ********.

1957 - The North American Air Defense Command (NORAD) was created by the United States and Canada.

1966 - Fifteen people were shot and ****** and 31 others were injured by Charles Joseph Whitman from a tower at the University of Texas at Austin. Whitman was ****** in the tower.

1973 - The movie "American Graffiti" opened.

1975 - The Helsinki accords pledged the signatory nations to respect human rights.

1976 - The Seattle Seahawks played their first (preseason) game. The Seahawks lost 27-20 to San Francisco.

1978 - Pete Rose of the Cincinnati Reds ended his streak of hitting in 44 consecutive games.

1986 - John McEnroe and Tatum O'Neal were married.

1986 - Bert Blyleven became only the 10th pitcher to strike out 3,000 batters in his career.

1988 - Martin Scorsese's "The Last Temptation of Christ" opened.

1991 - Actress Hedy Lamar, 77, was arrested for shoplifting in Florida.

1993 - Reggie Jackson was admitted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY.

1995 - Westinghouse Electric Corporation announced a deal to buy CBS for $5.4 billion.

1998 - The U.S. books and music chain Borders opens its first European outlet with a 40,000-square-foot store on London's Oxford Street.

2006 - Cuban leader Fidel Castro turned over absolute power when he gave his ******* Raul authority while he underwent an intestinal surgery.




Births:
10BC - Roman Emperor Claudius. Proclaimed Emperor in AD41 following the ****** of Caligula.
1933 - Dom DeLuise, American actor and comedian
1936 - Yves Saint Laurent, French fashion designer
1965 - Sam Mendes, British stage and film director

Deaths:
1903 - Calamity Jane, American frontierswoman

 

[gunslingingbird]

1774 - Oxygen was isolated from air successfully by chemist Carl Wilhelm and scientist Joseph Priestly.

Ah! That's true, however, Priestly didn't isolate oxygen, he isolated "phlogiston".

 

[minidog]

1776 - Members of the Continental Congress began adding their signatures to the Declaration of Independence.

1782 - George Washington invented the Honorary Badge of Distinction.

1791 - Samuel Briggs and his *** Samuel Briggs, Jr. received a joint patent for their nail-making machine. They were the first ******-*** pair to receive a patent.

1824 - In New York City, Fifth Avenue was opened.

1858 - In Boston and New York City the first mailboxes were installed along streets.

1861 - The United States Congress ****** the first income tax. The revenues were intended for the war effort against the South. The tax was never enacted.

1876 - "Wild Bill" Hickok was ****** (shot from behind) while playing poker in Deadwood, SD. Jack McCall was later hanged for the shooting.

1887 - Rowell Hodge patented barbed wire.

1892 - Charles A. Wheeler patented the first escalator.

1921 - Eight White Sox players were acquitted of throwing the 1919 World Series.

1922 - Alexander Graham Bell died.

1926 - John Barrymore and Mary Astor starred in the first showing of the Vitaphone System. The system was the combining of picture and sound for movies.

1934 - German President Paul von Hindenburg died. His successor was Adolf Hitler.

1938 - Bright yellow baseballs were used in a major league baseball game between the Dodgers and the Cardinals. It was hoped that the balls would be easier to see.

1939 - Albert Einstein signed a letter to President Roosevelt urging the U.S. to have an atomic weapons research program.

1939 - U.S. President Roosevelt signed the Hatch Act. The act prohibited civil service employees from taking an active part in political campaigns.

1943 - The U.S. Navy patrol torpedo boat, PT-109, sank after being attacked by a Japanese destroyer. The boat was under the command of Lt. John F. Kennedy.

1945 - The Allied conference at Potsdam was concluded.

1964 - The Pentagon reported the first of two North Vietnamese attacks on U.S. destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin.

1974 - John Dean was sentenced to 1-4 years in prison for his involvement in the Watergate cover-up.

1980 - A bomb exploded in a train station in Bologna, Italy. 85 people were ******.

1983 - U.S. House of Representatives approved a law that designated the third Monday of January would be a federal holiday in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The law was signed by President Reagon on November 2.

1985 - 137 people were ****** when a jumbo jet crashed at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. The Delta jet was attempting to land at the time of the crash.

1987 - "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" was re-released. The film was 50 years old at the time of its re-release.

1988 - U.S. military investigators concluded that "crew errors" were the cause of the shooting down of an Iranian passenger jet on July 3, 1988.

1990 - Iraq invaded the oil-rich country of Kuwait. Iraq claimed that Kuwait had driven down oil prices by exceeding production quotas set by OPEC.

1995 - China ordered the expulsion of two U.S. Air ***** officers. The two were said to have been caught spying on military sights.

1999 - In eastern India, at least 278 people were ****** when two trains collided at a station.

Births:
1834 - Frédéric Bartholdi, French sculptor (designed Statue of Liberty)
1892 - Jack Warner, Canadian film producer (head of Warner Brothers)
1925 - Alan Whicker, British journalist and broadcaster
1932 - Peter O'Toole, Irish-born actor
1939 - Wes Craven, American film director

Deaths:
1788 - Thomas Gainsborough, English artist
1921 - Enrico Caruso, Italian tenor
1922 - Alexander Graham Bell, Scottish-born inventor
1936 - Louis Blériot, French aviation pioneer

 

[Fresno]

Great job miniD, keep it up! Thank You

 

[minidog]

1492 - Christopher Columbus left Palos, Spain with three ships. The voyage would lead him to what is now known as the Americas. He reached the Bahamas on October 12.

1750 - Christopher Dock completed the first book of teaching methods. It was titled "A Simple and Thoroughly Prepared School Management."

1880 - The American Canoe Association was formed at Lake George, NY.

1900 - Firestone Tire & Rubber Co. was founded.

1914 - Germany declared war on France. The next day World War I began when Britain declared war on Germany.

1922 - WGY radio in Schenectady, NY, presented the first full-length melodrama on radio. The work was "The Wolf", written by Eugene Walter.

1923 - Calvin Coolidge was sworn in as the 30th president of the U.S. after the sudden death of President Harding.

1933 - The Mickey Mouse Watch was introduced for the price of $2.75.

1936 - The U.S. State Department advised Americans to leave Spain due to the Spanish Civil War.

1936 - Jesse Owens won the first of his four Olympic gold medals.

1943 - Gen. George S. Patton verbally ****** and slapped a private. Later, Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower ordered him to apologize for the incident.

1949 - The National Basketball Association (NBA) was formed. The league was formed by the merger between the Basketball Association of America and the National Basketball League.

1956 - Bedloe's Island had its name changed to Liberty Island.

1958 - The Nautilus became the first vessel to cross the North Pole underwater. The mission was known as "Operation Sunshine."

1979 - "More American Graffiti" was released.

1979 - Johnny Carson, the "Tonight Show" host, was on the cover of the Burbank, CA, telephone directory.

1981 - U.S. traffic controllers with PATCO, the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization, went on strike. They were fired just as U.S. President Reagan had warned.

1984 - Mary Lou Retton won a gold medal at the Los Angeles Summer Olympics.

1985 - Mail service returned to a nudist colony in Paradise Lake, FL. Residents promised that they’d wear clothes or stay out of sight when the mailperson came to deliver.

1988 - The Iran-Contra hearings ended. No ties were made between U.S. President Reagan and the Nicaraguan Rebels.

1988 - The Soviet Union released Mathias Rust. He had been taken into custody on May 28, 1987 for landing a plane in Moscow's Red Square.

1989 - Shiite Muslim kidnappers suspended their threat to execute another hostage. It had been reported that the terrorist in Lebanon had hung Lt. Col. William R. Higgins three days before.

1989 - Hashemi Rafsanjani was sworn in as the president of Iran.

1990 - Thousands of Iraqi troops pushed within a few miles of the border of Saudi Arabia. This heightened world concerns that the invasion of Kuwait could spread.

1992 - The U.S. Senate voted to restrict and eventually end the testing of nuclear weapons.

1992 - Russia and Ukraine agreed to put the Black Sea Fleet under joint command. The agreement was to last for three years.

1994 - Arkansas executed three prisoners. It was the first time in 32 years.

1995 - Eyad Ismoil was flown from Jordan to the U.S. to face charges that he had driven the van that blew up in New York's World Trade Center.

2001 - A grand jury indicted Robert Iler on charges that he and two teen-agers robbed two other teen-age boys for $40.

2004 - In New York, the Statue of Liberty re-opened to the public. The site had been closed since the terrorist attacks on the U.S. on September 11, 2001.

2004 - NASA launched the spacecraft Messenger. The 6 1/2 year journey was planned to arrive at the planet Mercury in March 2011.

Births:
1920 - P. D. James, English novelist
1938 - Terry Wogan, Irish television presenter
1940 - Martin Sheen, American actor
1950 - John Landis, American film director
1979 - Evangeline Lilly, Canadian model/actress

Deaths:
1881 - American entrepreneur William George Fargo (established Wells, Fargo & Company)

 

[minidog]

1735 - Freedom of the press was established with an acquittal of John Peter Zenger. The writer of the New York Weekly Journal had been charged with seditious libel by the royal governor of New York. The jury said that "the truth is not libelous."

1753 - George Washington became a Master Mason.

1790 - The Revenue Cutter Service was formed. This U.S. naval task ***** was the beginning of the U.S. Coast Guard.

1821 - "The Saturday Evening Post" was published for the first time as a weekly.

1892 - Andrew and Abby Borden were axed to death in their home in Fall River, MA. Lizzie, Andrew's ********, was accused of the killings but was later acquitted.

1914 - Britain declared war on Germany in World War I. The U.S. proclaimed its neutrality.

1921 - The first radio broadcast of a tennis match occurred. It was in Pittsburgh, PA.

1922 - The death of Alexander Graham Bell, two days earlier, was recognized by AT&T and the Bell Systems by shutting down all of its switchboards and switching stations. The shutdown affected 13 million phones.

1934 - Mel Ott became the first major league baseball player to score six runs in a single game.

1944 - **** police raided a house in Amsterdam and arrested eight people. Anne Frank, a teenager at the time, was one of the people arrested. Her diary would be published after her death.

1949 - An earthquake in Ecuador destroyed 50 towns and ****** more than 6000 people.

1954 - The uranium rush began in Saskatchewan, Canada.

1956 - William Herz became the first person to race a motorcycle over 200 miles per hour. He was clocked at 210 mph.

1957 - Florence Chadwick set a world record by swimming the English Channel in 6 hours and 7 minutes.

1957 - Juan Fangio won his final auto race and captured the world auto driving championship. It was his the fifth consecutive year to win.

1958 - The first potato flake plant was completed in Grand Forks, ND.

1958 - Billboard Magazine introduced its "Hot 100" chart, which was part popularity and a barometer of the movement of potential hits. The first number one song was Ricky Nelson's "Poor Little Fool."

1964 - The bodies of Michael H. Schwerner, James E. Chaney, and Andrew Goodman were found in an earthen dam in Mississippi. The three were civil rights workers. They had disappeared on June 21, 1964.

1972 - Arthur Bremer was found guilty of shooting George Wallace, the governor of Alabama. Bremer was sentenced to 63 years in prison.

1977 - U.S. President Carter signed the measure that established the Department of Energy.

1983 - New York Yankee outfielder Dave Winfield threw a baseball during warm-ups and accidentally ****** a seagull. After the game, Toronto police arrested him for "causing unnecessary suffering to an ******."

1984 - Carl Lewis won a gold medal in the Los Angeles Olympics.

1984 - Upper Volta, and African republic, changed its name to Burkina Faso.

1985 - Tom Seaver of the Chicago White Sox achieved his 300th victory.

1985 - Rod Carew of the California angels got his 3,000th major league hit.

1986 - The United States Football League called off its 1986 season. This was after winning only token damges in its antitrust lawsuit against the National Football League.

1987 - The Fairness Doctrine was rescinded by the Federal Communications Commission. The doctrine had required that radio and TV stations present controversial issues in a balanced fashion.

1987 - A new 22-cent U.S. stamp honoring noted author William Faulkner, went on sale in Oxford, MS. Faulkner had been fired as postmaster of that same post office in 1924.

1988 - U.S. Rep. Mario Biaggi of New York was sentenced to prison. The conviction included charges of extortion, tax evasion, and acceptance of bribes in relation to the Wedtech scandal. Biaggi was paroled in 1990.

1989 - Iranian President Hashemi Rafsanjani offered to assist end the hostage crisis in Lebanon.

1990 - The European Community imposed an embargo on oil from Iraq and Kuwait. This was done to protest the Iraqi invasion of the oil-rich Kuwait.

1991 - The Oceanos, a Greek luxury liner, sank off of South Africa's southeast coast. All of the 402 passengers and 179 crewmembers survived.

1992 - Wang Hongwen died of a liver ailment. Hongwen was a member of the radical "Gang of Four". The gang had terrorized China during the Cultural Revolution.

1993 - Stacey Koon and Laurence Powell, Los Angeles police officers were sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison for ********* Rodney King's civil rights.

1994 - Yugoslavia withdrew its support for Bosnian Serbs. The border between Yugoslavia and Serb-held Bosnia was sealed.

1996 - Josia Thugwane won a gold medal after finishing first in the marathon. He became the first black South African to win a gold medal.

1997 - Teamsters began a 15-day strike against UPS (United Parcel Service). The strikers eventually won an increase in full-time positions and defeated a proposed reorganization of the companies pension plan.

Births:
1792 - Percy Bysshe Shelley, English poet
1901 - Louis Armstrong, American musician
1923 - Reg Grundy, Australian media and television mogul
1968 - Daniel Dae Kim, American actor
1971 - Jeff Gordon, American race car driver

Deaths:
1875 - Hans Christian Andersen, Danish writer

 

[minidog]

Births:
1862 - Joseph Merrick, The Elephant Man
1930 - Neil Armstrong, American astronaut
1952 - Bob Geldof, Irish singer and creator of Band Aid and Live Aid
1961 - Tawny Kitaen, American actress

Deaths:
1955 - Carmen Miranda, Portuguese actress and singer
1962 - Marilyn Monroe, American actress
1984 - Richard Burton, British actor
2000 - Sir Alec Guinness, British actor
1861 The federal government levied an income tax for the first time.


1864 Union Adm. David G. Farragut is said to have given his famous order "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!" as he led his fleet against Mobile Bay, Ala., during the Civil War.


1884 The cornerstone for the Statue of Liberty was laid on Bedloe's Island in New York Harbor.


1924 The comic strip "Little Orphan Annie" by Harold Gray made its debut.


1957 "American Bandstand," hosted by Dick Clark, made its network TV debut on ABC.


1962 Actress Marilyn Monroe was found dead in her Los Angeles home at age 36. Her death was ruled a probable suicide from an overdose of ******** pills..


1966 The album "********" by the Beatles was released.


1969 The U.S. space probe Mariner 7 flew by Mars, sending back photographs and scientific data.


1981 The federal government began firing air traffic controllers who had gone on strike.


1992 Federal civil rights charges were filed against four Los Angeles police officers acquitted of state charges in the videotaped beating of Rodney King; two were later convicted.


2001 Afghanistan's ruling Taliban jailed eight foreign aid workers, including two Americans, for allegedly preaching Christianity.


2002 The coral-encrusted *** turret of the Civil War ironclad USS Monitor was raised from the floor of the Atlantic.

 

[minidog]

Births:
1809 - Alfred Lord Tennyson, English poet
1881 - Alexander Fleming, Scottish scientist (discovered penicillin)
1911 - Lucille Ball, American actress
1917 - Robert Mitchum, American actor
1926 - Frank Finlay, British actor
1928 - Andy Warhol, American artist
1937 - Barbara Windsor, English actress
1972 - Geri Halliwell, British singer (Spice Girls)
1976 - Melissa George, Australian actress

Deaths:
1623 - Anne Hathaway (Shakespeare's wife)
1987 - Quinn Martin, American television producer


1787 - The Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia began. The articles of the U.S. Constitution draft were to be debated.

1806 - The Holy Roman Empire went out of existence as Emperor Francis II abdicated.

1825 - Bolivia declared independence from Peru.

1879 - The first Australian rules football game to be played at night took place at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. The game was to promote the introduction of electricity to the city of Melbourne.

1890 - The electric chair was used for the first time when Auburn State Prison in New York executed convicted ******** William Kemmler.

1890 - Cy Young achieved his first major league victory. He would accumulate 511 in his career.

1914 - Austria-Hungary declared war against Russia. Serbia declared war against Germany.

1926 - Gertrude Ederle became the first American woman to swim the English Channel. She was 19 years old at the time. The swim took her 14 1/2 hours.

1926 - Warner Brothers premiered its Vitaphone system in New York. The movie was "Don Juan," starring John Barrymore.

1930 - Joseph ***** Crater, a New York Supreme Court Justice, mysteriously disappeared. He was declared legally dead in 1939.

1939 - Dinah Shore started her own show on the NBC Blue radio network.

1945 - The American B-29 bomber, known as the Enola Gay, dropped the first atomic bomb on an inhabited area. The bomb named "Little Boy" was dropped over the center of Hiroshima, Japan. An estimated 140,000 people were ******.

1949 - Chicago White Sox player Luke Appling played in the 2,154th game of his 19-year, major league career.

1952 - Satchel Paige, at age 46, became the oldest pitcher to complete a major league baseball game.

1960 - Nationalization of U.S. and foreign-owned property in Cuba began.

1962 - Jamaica became an independent dominion within the British Commonwealth.

1965 - The Voting Rights Act was signed by U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson.

1969 - The first fair ball to be hit completely out of Dodger Stadium occurred. Willie "Pops" Stargell, of the Pittsburgh Pirates, hit the ball 506 feet from home plate.

1981 - Fire fighters in Indianapolis, IN, answered a false alarm. When they returned to their station it was ablaze due to a grease fire.

1981 - Lee Trevino was disqualified from the PGA Championship in Duluth, GA when he had his scorecard signed by Tom Weiskopf instead of himself.

1985 - The 40th anniversary of the Hiroshima atomic bombing brought tens of thousands of Japanese and foreigners to Hiroshima.

1986 - William J. Schroeder died. He lived 620 days with the Jarvik-7 manmade heart. He was the world's longest surviving recipient of a permanent artificial heart.

1986 - Timothy Dalton became the fourth actor to be named "James Bond."

1989 - Jaime Paz Zamora was inaugurated as the president of Bolivia.

1990 - The U.N. Security Council ordered a worldwide trade embargo with Iraq. The embargo was to punish Iraq for invading Kuwait.

1991 - Harry Reasoner died at the age of 68. He was a newsman for CBS-TV.

1993 - The U.S. Senate confirmed Louis Freeh to be the director of the FBI.

1993 - Morihiro Hosokawa was elected prime minister of Japan.

1994 - Randolph County High School, in Wedowee, AL, was destroyed by fire. The principle's stand against interracial dating had caused much tension in the school.

1995 - Thousands of glowing lanterns were set afloat in rivers in Hiroshima, Japan, on the 50th anniversary of the first atomic bombing.

1996 - NASA announced the discovery of evidence of primitive life on Mars. The evidence came in the form of a meteorite that was found in Antarctica. The meteorite was believed to have come from Mars and contained a fossil.

1997 - Apple Computer and Microsoft agreed to share technology in a deal giving Microsoft a stake in Apple's survival.

1998 - Former White House intern Monica Lewinsky spent 8 1/2 hours testifying before a grand jury about her relationship with U.S. President Clinton.

1998 - The last new episode of Magic Johnson's talk show, "The Magic Hour," aired.

1999 - Mark McGwire (St. Louis Cardinals) got the 500th homerun of his major league career. He also set a record for the fewest at-bats to hit the 500 homerun mark.

 

[minidog]

1782 George Washington created the Order of the Purple Heart, a decoration to recognize merit in enlisted men and noncommissioned officers.


1789 The War Department was established by Congress.


1912 The Progressive Party nominated Theodore Roosevelt for president.


1934 The U.S. Court of Appeals ruled against the government's attempt to ban the James Joyce novel "Ulysses."


1942 U.S. ****** landed at Guadalcanal, marking the start of the first major allied offensive in the Pacific during World War II.


1947 The balsa wood raft Kon-Tiki, which had carried a six-man crew 4,300 miles across the Pacific Ocean, crashed into a reef in a Polynesian archipelago.


1957 Oliver Hardy of the comedy team Laurel and Hardy died at age 65.


1959 The United States launched Explorer 6, which sent back a picture of the Earth.


1964 Congress ****** the Gulf of Tonkin resolution, giving President Lyndon B. Johnson broad powers to deal with reported North Vietnamese attacks on U.S. ******.


1971 Apollo 15 returned to Earth after a manned mission to the moon.


1974 French stuntman Philippe Petit walked a tightrope strung between the twin towers of New York's World Trade Center.


1990 President George H.W. Bush ordered U.S. troops and warplanes to Saudi Arabia to guard the oil-rich desert kingdom against a possible invasion by Iraq.


1998 Al Qaida set off bombs at the U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, ******* 224 people - including 12 Americans - and injuring more than 5,500.


2000 Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore selected Connecticut Sen. Joseph Lieberman to be the first Jewish vice-presidential candidate on a major party ticket.


2004 Greg Maddux became the 22nd pitcher in major league history to reach 300 victories as he led the Chicago Cubs to an 8-4 victory over San Francisco.


2005 ABC anchorman Peter Jennings died at age 67.


2005 Seven people in a Russian mini-submarine trapped for nearly three days under the Pacific Ocean were rescued after a British remote-controlled vehicle cut away undersea cables that snarled their vessel.


2007 Barry Bonds became baseball's career home run leader when he hit No. 756 during a home game in San Francisco, passing Hank Aaron's mark


Births:
1958 - Bruce Dickinson, English singer (Iron Maiden)
1960 - David Duchovny, American actor
1975 - Charlize Theron, South African actress
1983 - Tina O'Brien, British actress

Deaths:
1957 - Oliver Hardy, American comedian and actor
__________________

 

[minidog]

1588 - The Spanish Armada was defeated by the English fleet ending an invasion attempt.

1815 - Napoleon Bonaparte set sail for St. Helena, in the South Atlantic. The remainder of his life was spent there in exile.

1844 - After the ******* of Joseph Smith, Bringham Young was chosen to lead the Mormons.

1866 - African-American explorer Matthew A. Henson was born. Henson, along with Robert Peary and their Eskimo guide, were the first people to reach the North Pole.

1876 - Thomas Edison received a patent for the mimeograph. The mimeograph was a "method of preparing autographic stencils for printing."

1899 - The refrigerator was patented by A.T. Marshall.

1900 - In Boston, the first Davis Cup series began. The U.S. team defeated Great Britain three matches to zero.

1911 - The number of representatives in the U.S. House of Representatives was established at 435. There was one member of Congress for every 211,877 residents.

1940 - The German Luftwaffe began a series of daylight air raids on Great Britain.

1942 - Six **** saboteurs were executed in Washington after conviction. Two others were cooperative and received life in prison.

1945 - The United Nations Charter was signed by U.S. President Truman.

1945 - During World War II, the Soviet Union declared war on Japan.

1953 - The U.S. and South Korea initiated a mutual security pact.

1956 - Japan launched an oil tanker that was 780 feet long and weighed 84,730 tons. It was the largest oil tanker in the world.

1963 - The "Great Train Robbery" took place in Britain. A gang of 15 thieves stole 2.6 million pounds in bank notes.

1966 - Michael DeBakey became the first surgeon to install an artificial heart pump in a patient.

1974 - U.S. President Nixon announced that he would resign the following day.

1978 - The U.S. launched Pioneer Venus II, which carried scientific probes to study the atmosphere of Venus.

1985 - Near Frankfurt, outside the Rhein-Mein U.S. air base, a bomb exploded ******* two Americans. The bomb was blamed on the Red Army Faction.

1986 - A car bomb exploded in Beirut, the third in 12 days, ******* 17 people.

1988 - It was announced that a cease-fire between Iraq and Iran had begun.

1989 - The space shuttle Columbia took off from Cape Canaveral, FL. The trip was said to be a secret five-day military mission.

1990 - American ****** began positioning in Saudia Arabia.

1991 - John McCarthy, a British TV producer was released by his Lebanese kidnappers. He had been held captive for more than five years. A rival group ******** Jerome Leyraud in retaliation and threatened to **** him if any more hostages were released.

1991 - The slain bodies of former Iranian Prime Minister Shahpour Bakhriar and his chief of staff were found.

1991 - The U.N. Security Council approved North and South Korea for membership.

1992 - The "***** Team" clinched the gold medal at the Barcelona Summer Olympics. The U.S. basketball team beat Croatia 117-85.

1993 - Four U.S. soldiers were ****** in Somalia when a land mine detonated underneath their vehicle.

1994 - The first road link between Israel and Jordan opened.

1994 - Representatives from China and Taiwan signed a cooperation agreement.

1995 - Saddam Hussein's two eldest *********, their husbands, and several senior army officers defected.

1999 - Wade Boggs got his 3,000th hit of his major league baseball career.

2000 - The submarine H.L. Hunley was raised from ocean bottom after 136 years. The sub had been lost during an ****** on the U.S.S. Housatonic in 1864. The Hunley was the first submarine in history to sink a warship.

 

[minidog]

1854 Henry David Thoreau published "Walden," which described his experiences living near Walden Pond in Massachusetts.


1902 Edward VII was crowned king of England following the death of his ******, Queen Victoria.


1936 Jesse Owens won his fourth gold medal at the Berlin Olympics as the United States took first place in the 400-meter relay.


1969 Actress Sharon Tate and four other people were found ******** in Los Angeles; cult leader Charles Manson and a group of his followers were later convicted of the crime.


1974 Gerald R. Ford was sworn in as the 38th president of the United States following the resignation of Richard M. Nixon.


1985 A federal judge in Norfolk, Va., found retired Navy officer Arthur J. Walker guilty of seven counts of spying for the Soviet Union.


1988 President Ronald Reagan nominated Lauro Cavazos to be secretary of education and the first Hispanic to serve in the Cabinet.


1995 Rock musician Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead died at age 53.


2000 Bridgestone/Firestone Inc. announced it was recalling 6.5 million tires that had been implicated in hundreds of accidents and at least 46 deaths.


2001 President George W. Bush approved federal funding for existing lines of embryonic stem cells.


2002 Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants hit his 600th homer, becoming the fourth major leaguer to reach the mark.


Current Birthdays


Gillian Anderson turns 40 years old today.
89 Ralph Houk
Baseball manager


80 Bob Cousy
Basketball Hall of Famer


70 Rod Laver
Tennis Hall of Famer


66 Jack DeJohnette
Jazz drummer


66 David Steinberg
Comedian


65 Ken Norton
Boxing Hall of Famer


64 Sam Elliott
Actor


61 Barbara Mason
R&B singer


51 Melanie Griffith
Actress


50 Amanda Bearse
Actress ("Married...With ********")


49 Kurtis Blow
Rapper


45 Whitney Houston
Singer, actress


44 Brett Hull
Hockey player


44 Hoda Kotb
TV host ("Today")


42 Pat Petersen
Actor


39 Troy Percival
Baseball player


44 Chris Cuomo
TV host ("Good Morning America")


41 Deion Sanders
Athlete, sportscaster


40 Eric Bana
Actor


38 Arion Salazar
Rock musician (Third Eye Blind)


37 Mack 10
Rapper


36 Juanes
Rock singer


36 Liz Vassey
Actress ("CSI")


34 Matt Morris
Baseball player


33 Rhona Mitra
Actress


32 Jessica Capshaw
Actress


31 Chamique Holdsclaw
Basketball player

Historic Birthdays


Jean Piaget
8/9/1896 - 9/17/1980
Swiss psychologist whose work with ******** contributed immensely to the growth of developmental psychology
(Go to obit.)



90 Izaak Walton
8/9/1593 - 12/15/1683
English biographer and author of "The Compleat Angler"


68 John Dryden
8/9/1631 (O.S.) - 5/1/1700 (O.S.)
English poet, dramatist, and literary critic


48 William Morton
8/9/1819 - 7/15/1868
American dental surgeon who first demonstrated anesthesia


63 Gaston Paris
8/9/1839 - 3/6/1903
French philologist, educator, and writer


83 Janie Porter Barrett
8/9/1865 - 8/27/1948
American welfare worker and educator


82 Leonide Massine
8/9/1896 - 3/15/1979
Russian dancer and choreographer of over 50 ballets


96 P. L. Travers
8/9/1899 - 4/23/1996
Australian-born English writer of the "Mary Poppins" books


83 William Fowler
8/9/1911 - 3/14/1995
American Nobel Prize-winning physicist (1983)


65 Robert Aldrich
8/9/1918 - 12/5/1983
American motion-picture director


51 Robert Shaw
8/9/1927 - 8/28/1978
English actor, novelist, and playwright

 

[minidog]

1821 Missouri became the 24th state.


1846 Congress chartered the Smithsonian Institution, named after English scientist James Smithson, whose bequest of $500,000 made it possible.


1874 Herbert Clark Hoover, the 31st president of the United States, was born in West Branch, Iowa.


1885 America's first commercially operated electric streetcar began operation in Baltimore.


1921 Franklin D. Roosevelt was stricken with polio at his summer home on the Canadian island of Campobello.


1944 American ****** overcame Japanese resistance on Guam during World War II.


1949 The National Military Establishment was renamed the Department of Defense.


1969 Leno and Rosemary LaBianca were ******** in their Los Angeles home by members of Charles Manson's cult, one day after actress Sharon Tate and four other people were slain.


1988 President Ronald Reagan signed a measure providing $20,000 payments to Japanese-Americans interred by the U.S. government during World War II.


1993 Ruth Bader Ginsburg was sworn in as the second female Supreme Court justice.


1994 President Bill Clinton claimed presidential immunity in asking a federal judge to dismiss, at least for the time being, a sexual harassment lawsuit filed by Paula Jones, a former Arkansas state employee.


1995 Norma McCorvey, "Jane Roe" in the 1973 Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion, announced she had joined the anti-abortion group Operation Rescue.


2003 Atlanta Braves shortstop Rafael Furcal turned the 12th unassisted triple play in major league history against the St. Louis Cardinals.


2006 British authorities announced they had thwarted a terrorist plot to simultaneously blow up 10 aircraft heading to the United States.

Current Birthdays


Antonio Banderas turns 48 years old today.
86 Al Alberts
Singer (Four Aces)


85 Rhonda Fleming
Actress


80 Jimmy Dean
Country singer


80 Eddie Fisher
Singer


69 Kate O'Mara
Actress


65 Ronnie Spector
Singer (The Ronettes)


62 James Reynolds
Actor ("Days of Our Lives")


61 Ian Anderson
Rock singer, musician (Jethro Tull)


60 Patti Austin
R&B singer


59 Gene Johnson
Country musician (Diamond Rio)


56 Daniel Hugh Kelly
Actor


49 Rosanna Arquette
Actress


47 Jon Farriss
Rock musician (INXS)


46 Julia Fordham
Rock singer


44 Neneh Cherry
R&B singer


44 Aaron Hall
R&B singer


41 Lorraine Pearson
R&B singer (Five Star)


40 Michael Bivins
Singer, producer


37 Justin Theroux
Actor


36 Angie Harmon
Actress


35 Jennifer Hanson
Country singer


29 JoAnna Garcia
Actress


28 Nikki Bratcher
R&B singer (Divine)


24 Ryan Eggold
Actor ("Dirt")

Historic Birthdays


Herbert Hoover
8/10/1874 - 10/20/1964
31st president of the United States
89 Eugenius Bulgaris
8/10/1716 - 6/10/1806
Greek Orthodox theologian and scholar


83 Jay Cooke
8/10/1821 - 2/18/1905
American financier


67 Charles Keene
8/10/1823 - 1/4/1891
English artist and illustrator for Punch magazine


83 Joseph McKenna
8/10/1843 - 11/21/1926
American Supreme Court justice (1898-1925)


70 Aleksandr Glazunov
8/10/1865 - 3/21/1936
Russian symphonic composer


75 Douglas Stuart Moore
8//1893 - 7/25/1969
American composer of folk operas


52 Dorothy Jacobs Bellanca
8/10/1894 - 8/16/1946
Latvian-born American labor leader


55 Eugene Dennis
8/10/1905 - 1/31/1961
American Communist Party leader and labor organizer


81 Leo Fender
8/10/1909 - 3/21/1991
American inventor and manufacturer of musical instruments

 

[minidog]

1848 The Oregon Territory was established.


1900 International ******, including U.S. Marines, entered Beijing to put down the Boxer Rebellion, which was aimed at purging China of foreigners.


1917 China declared war on Germany and Austria during World War I.


1935 President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act into law, creating unemployment insurance and pension plans for the elderly.


1941 President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill issued the Atlantic Charter, a statement of principles that renounced aggression.


1947 Pakistan became independent of British rule.


1951 Newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst died at age 88.


1956 German dramatist Bertolt Brecht died at age 58.


1969 British troops arrived in Northern Ireland to intervene in sectarian ******** between Protestants and Roman Catholics.


1973 U.S. bombing of Cambodia came to a halt.


1980 Workers went on strike at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdansk, Poland - a job action that resulted in the creation of the Solidarity labor movement.


1980 President Jimmy Carter and Vice President Walter Mondale were nominated for a second term at the Democratic National Convention in New York.


1996 The Republican National Convention in San Diego nominated Bob Dole for president and Jack Kemp for vice president.


1997 An unrepentant Timothy McVeigh was sentenced to death for the Oklahoma City bombing.


2003 A ******** hit the northeastern United States and part of Canada; 50 million people lost power.


2006 Israel halted its offensive against Hezbollah guerrillas as a U.N.-imposed cease-fire went into effect after a month of warfare that ****** more than 900 people.


2007 The Mattel toy company recalled 18.6 million lead-tainted, Chinese-made toys worldwide.


Current Birthdays


Halle Berry turns 42 years old today.
83 Russell Baker
Newspaper columnist


82 Buddy Greco
Singer


78 Earl Weaver
Baseball Hall of Famer


70 Dash Crofts
Singer (Seals and Crofts)


67 David Crosby
Singer-musician (Crosby, Stills and Nash)


67 Connie Smith
Country singer


63 Steve Martin
Actor, comedian


62 Antonio Fargas
Actor


62 Larry Graham
Rock singer, musician (Sly and the ****** Stone)


62 Susan Saint James
Actress ("Kate and Allie," "McMillan and Wife")


61 Danielle Steel
Author


58 Terry Adams
Rock singer, musician (NRBQ)


58 Gary Larson
Cartoonist ("Far Side")


57 Carl Lumbly
Actor


55 James Horner
Film composer


52 Jackee Harry
Actress


49 Magic Johnson
Basketball Hall of Famer


49 Marcia Gay Harden
Actress


48 Sarah Brightman
Singer


47 Susan Olsen
Actress ("The Brady Bunch")


43 Emmanuelle Beart
Actress


40 Catherine Bell
Actress ("Army Wives," "JAG")


40 Cody McCarver
Country musician (Confederate Railroad)


38 Kevin Cadogan
Rock musician


37 Scott Michael Campbell
Actor


36 Lalanya Masters
Actress


34 Christopher Gorham
Actor ("Ugly Betty")


33 Mike Vrabel
Football player


25 Mila Kunis
Actress ("That 70's Show")


Historic Birthdays


Arthur J. Dempster
American physicist, inventor of the first mass spectrometer
70 Paolo Sarpi
8/14/1552 - 1/14/1623
Venetian patriot and scholar


81 Cosimo III
8/14/1642 - 10/31/1723
Italian - 6th duke of Tuscany


36 Letitia Landon
8/14/1802 - 10/15/1838
English poet and novelist


86 Ernest Thompson Seton
8/14/1860 - 10/23/1946
British/Canadian naturalist and writer; helped found the Boy Scouts of America


77 Ernest Thayer
8/14/1863 - 8/21/1940
American writer; wrote "Casey at the Bat"


65 John Galsworthy
8/14/1867 - 1/31/1933
English Nobel Prize-winning novelist and playwright (1932)


86 Daniel Jackling
8/14/1869 - 3/13/1956
American mining engineer and metallurgist


79 Eduardo Mallea
8/14/1903 - 11/12/1982
Argentine novelist, essayist and short-story writer


85 Pierre Schaeffer
8/14/1910 - 8/19/1995
French composer, acoustician and electronics engineer


77 Max Klein
8/14/1915 - 5/20/1993
American painter; invented "paint by numbers