Today in History now with Clickable Links: Want to know more about a particular event or person, just click on the red name or date and you will be taken to Wikipedia.org,   The Internet Encyclopedia.

August 10 is the 222^nd day of the year (223rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 143 days remaining until the end of the year.

• Today’s feature is on this date in 1846 – The Smithsonian Institution is chartered by the United States Congress after James Smithson donates $500,000.

The Smithsonian Headquarters on the mall in Washington, D.C.

The Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its retail operations, concessions, licensing activities, and magazines. The Smithsonian has requested $797.6 million from Congress in 2011 to fund its operations. While most of its 19 museums, its zoo, and its nine research centers facilities are located in Washington, D.C., sites are also located in New York City, Virginia, Panama, and elsewhere. The Smithsonian has over 136 million items in its collections, publishes two magazines named Smithsonian (monthly) and Air & Space (bimonthly), and employs the Smithsonian Police to protect visitors, staff, and the property of its museums. The Institution’s current logo is a stylized sun. The Smithsonian Institution is the largest museum complex in the world, and many of its buildings are historical and architectural landmarks. In addition, 168 other museums are Smithsonian affiliates.

Here are some other memorable events that happened on this date:

• 955 – Battle of Lechfeld: Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor defeats the Magyars, ending 50 years of Magyar invasion of the West.
• 991 – Battle of Maldon: the English, led by Byrhtnoth, Ealdorman of Essex, are defeated by a band of inland-raiding Vikings near Maldon in Essex.
• 1270 – Yekuno Amlak takes the imperial throne of Ethiopia, restoring the Solomonic dynasty to power after a 100-year Zagwe interregnum.
• 1316 – The Second Battle of Athenry takes place near Athenry during the Bruce campaign in Ireland.
• 1519 – Ferdinand Magellan‘s five ships set sail from Seville to circumnavigate the globe. The Basque second in command Sebastian Elcano will complete the expedition after Magellan’s death in the Philippines.
• 1557 – Battle of St. Quentin: Spanish victory over the French in the Habsburg-Valois Wars.
• 1628 – The Swedish warship Vasa sinks in the Stockholm harbour after only about 20 minutes of her maiden voyage.
• 1675 – The foundation stone of the Royal Greenwich Observatory in London is laid.
• 1680 – The Pueblo Revolt begins in New Mexico.
• 1776 – American Revolutionary War: word of the United States Declaration of Independence reaches London.
• 1792 – French Revolution: Storming of the Tuileries Palace – Louis XVI of France is arrested and taken into custody as his Swiss Guards are massacred by the Parisian mob.
• 1793 – The Musée du Louvre is officially opened in Paris, France.
• 1809 – Quito, now the capital of Ecuador, declares independence from Spain. This rebellion will be crushed on August 2, 1810.
• 1813 – Instituto Nacional, is founded by the Chilean patriot José Miguel Carrera. It is Chile‘s oldest and most prestigious school. Its motto is Labor Omnia Vincit, which means “Work conquers all things”.
• 1821 – Missouri is admitted as the 24th U.S. state.
• 1861 – American Civil War: Battle of Wilson’s Creek – the war enters Missouri when a band of raw Confederate troops defeat Union forces in the southwestern part of the state.
• 1901 – The U.S. Steel Recognition Strike by the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers begins.
• 1904 – Russo-Japanese War: the Battle of the Yellow Sea between the Russian and Japanese battleship fleets takes place.
• 1905 – Russo-Japanese War: peace negotiations begin in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
• 1913 – Second Balkan War: delegates from Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia, Montenegro, and Greece sign the Treaty of Bucharest, ending the war.
• 1920 – World War I: Ottoman sultan Mehmed VI‘s representatives sign the Treaty of Sèvres that divides up the Ottoman Empire between the Allies.
• 1932 – A 5.1 kilograms (11 lb) chondrite-type meteorite breaks into at least seven pieces and lands near the town of Archie in Cass County, Missouri.
• 1944 – World War II: American forces defeat the last Japanese troops on Guam.
• 1948 – Candid Camera makes its television debut after being on radio for a year as Candid Microphone.
• 1949 – U.S. President Harry S. Truman signs the National Security Act Amendment, streamlining the defense agencies of the United States government, and replacing the Department of War with the United States Department of Defense.
• 1954 – At Massena, New York, the groundbreaking ceremony for the Saint Lawrence Seaway is held.
• 1969 – A day after murdering Sharon Tate and four others, members of Charles Manson‘s cult kill Leno and Rosemary LaBianca.
• 1971 – The Society for American Baseball Research is founded in Cooperstown, New York.
• 1977 – In Yonkers, New York, 24-year-old postal employee David Berkowitz (“Son of Sam”) is arrested for a series of killings in the New York City area over the period of one year.
• 1978 – Three members of the Ulrich family are killed in an accident. This leads to the Ford Pinto litigation.
• 1981 – Murder of Adam Walsh: the head of John Walsh‘s son is found. This inspires the creation of the television series America’s Most Wanted.
• 1988 – Japanese American internment: U.S. President Ronald Reagan signs the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, providing $20,000 payments to Japanese Americans who were either interned in or relocated by the United States during World War II.
• 1990 – The Magellan space probe reaches Venus.
• 1990 – More than 127 Muslims are killed in North East Sri Lanka by paramilitary troops.
• 1993 – An earthquake measuring 7.0 on the Richter Scale hits the South Island of New Zealand.
• 1995 – Oklahoma City bombing: Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols are indicted for the bombing. Michael Fortier pleads guilty in a plea-bargain for his testimony.
• 1998 – HRH Prince Al-Muhtadee Billah is proclaimed the crown prince of Brunei with a Royal Proclamation.
• 2003 – The highest temperature ever recorded in the United Kingdom – 38.5 °C (101.3 °F) in Kent. It is the first time the United Kingdom has recorded a temperature over 100 °F (38 °C).
• 2003 – Yuri Malenchenko becomes the first person to marry in space.
• 2006 – Scotland Yard disrupts a major terrorist plot to destroy aircraft traveling from the United Kingdom to the United States.
• 2009 – Twenty people are killed in Handlová, Trenčín Region, in the deadliest mining disaster in Slovakia‘s history.

Births

• 1821 – Jay Cooke, American financier (d. 1905)
• 1872 – Bill Johnson, American double-bassist (d. 1972)
• 1874 – Herbert Hoover, 31st President of the United States (d. 1964)
• 1889 – Charles Darrow, American board game creator (Monopoly) (d. 1967)
• 1897 – John W. Galbreath, American businessman (d. 1988)
• 1898 – Jack Haley, American actor (d. 1979)
• 1903 – Ward Moore, American novelist (d. 1978)
• 1905 – Era Bell Thompson, American journalist (d. 1986)
• 1909 – Leo Fender, American luthier (d. 1991)
• 1913 – Noah Beery, Jr., American actor (d. 1994)
• 1914 – Jeff Corey, American actor (d. 2002)
• 1920 – Red Holzman, American basketball coach (d. 1998)
• 1923 – Rhonda Fleming, American actress
• 1924 – Martha Hyer, American actress
• 1927 – Vernon Washington, American actor (d. 1988)
• 1928 – Jimmy Dean, American singer and businessman (d. 2010)
• 1928 – Eddie Fisher, American singer (d. 2010)
• 1933 – Doyle Brunson, American poker player
• 1933 – Rocky Colavito, American baseball player
• 1940 – Bobby Hatfield, American singer (The Righteous Brothers) (d. 2003)
• 1942 – Betsey Johnson, American fashion designer
• 1943 – Ronnie Spector, American singer (The Ronettes)
• 1943 – Jimmy Griffin, American guitarist (Bread) (d. 2005)
• 1948 – Patti Austin, American singer
• 1952 – Daniel Hugh Kelly, American actor
• 1952 – Diane Venora, American actress
• 1956 – Fred Ottman, American wrestler
• 1956 – Charlie Peacock, American record producer, singer-songwriter
• 1956 – Peter Robbins, American actor
• 1959 – Rosanna Arquette, American actress
• 1960 – Antonio Banderas, Spanish actor
• 1960 – Kenny Perry, American golfer
• 1961 – Jon Farriss, Australian drummer (INXS)
• 1964 – Aaron Hall, American songwriter
• 1965 – Claudia Christian, American actress
• 1965 – Mike E. Smith, American jockey
• 1965 – John Starks, American basketball player
• 1967 – Riddick Bowe, American boxer
• 1968 – Michael Bivins, American singer (New Edition, Bell Biv DeVoe)
• 1968 – Pete Docter, American film director
• 1971 – Justin Theroux, American actor
• 1971 – Sal Fasano, American baseball player
• 1976 – Michael Depoli, American wrestler
• 1977 – Aaron Kamin, American guitarist and songwriter (The Calling)
• 1978 – Marcus Fizer, American basketball player
• 1979 – Joanna García, American actress
• 1979 – Ted Geoghegan, American filmmaker and author
• 1979 – Brandon Lyon, American baseball player
• 1982 – Josh Anderson, American baseball player
• 1982 – Devon Aoki, American model and actress
• 1986 – Ryan Torain, American football player

Deaths

• 1759 – King Ferdinand VI of Spain (b. 1713)
• 1928 – Rex Cherryman, American actor (b. 1897)
• 1932 – Rin Tin Tin, German shepherd dog, the first famous dog of that name (b. 1918)
• 1945 – Robert H. Goddard, American rocket scientist (b. 1882)
• 1958 – Frank Demaree, American baseball player (b. 1910)
• 1979 – Dick Foran, American actor (b. 1910)
• 1997 – Conlon Nancarrow, American composer (b. 1912)
• 2001 – Lou Boudreau, American baseball player and manager (b. 1917)
• 2002 – Michael Houser, American guitarist (Widespread Panic) (b. 1962)
• 2007 – Henry Cabot Lodge Bohler, American military pilot and civil rights activist (b. 1925)
• 2008 – Isaac Hayes, American singer-songwriter, keyboardist and actor (b. 1942)

Holidays and observances

• Christian Feast Day:
  • Bessus
  • Blane (Roman Catholic Church)
  • Geraint of Dumnonia
  • Lawrence of Rome
  • Our Lady of Good Success of Parañaque, Patroness of Parañaque, Philippines
  • August 10 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

Wikipedia.org. Re-printed under Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License 3.0 (Unported)

Today in History now with Clickable Links: Want to know more about a particular event or person, just click on the red name or date and you will be taken to Wikipedia.org,   The Internet Encyclopedia.

August 8 is the 220th day of the year (221st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 145 days remaining until the end of the year.

• Today’s feature is on this date in 1844 – The Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, headed by Brigham Young, is reaffirmed as the leading body of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church).

In the Latter Day Saint movement, the Quorum of the Twelve (also known as the Council of the Twelve, the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, Council of the Twelve Apostles, or the Twelve) was one of the governing bodies (quorums) of the church hierarchy organized by the movement’s founder Joseph Smith, Jr., and patterned after the twelve apostles of Christ (see Mark 3). Members are considered to be apostles, with a special calling to be evangelical ambassadors to the world.

The Twelve were designated to be a body of “traveling councillors” with jurisdiction outside areas where the church was formally organized (areas of the world outside of Zion or its outlying Stakes), equal in authority to the First Presidency as well as to the Seventy, the standing Presiding High Council and the High Councils of the various Stakes (Doctrine & Covenants 107:25-27, 36-37).

After the death of Joseph Smith, Jr. on June 27, 1844, permanent schisms formed in the movement, resulting in the formation of various churches, many of which retained some version of this high council of twelve apostles.

Here are some other memorable events that happened on this date:

• 1220 – Sweden is defeated by Estonian tribes in the Battle of Lihula.
• 1503 – King James IV of Scotland marries Margaret Tudor, daughter of King Henry VII of England at Holyrood Abbey, Edinburgh, Scotland.
• 1576 – The cornerstone for Tycho Brahe‘s Uraniborg observatory is laid on Hven.
• 1585 – John Davis enters Cumberland Sound in search of the Northwest Passage.
• 1588 – Anglo-Spanish War: Battle of Gravelines – The naval engagement ends, ending the Spanish Armada‘s attempt to invade England.
• 1605 – The city of Oulu, Finland, is founded by Charles IX of Sweden.
• 1647 – The Irish Confederate Wars and Wars of the Three Kingdoms: Battle of Dungans Hill – English Parliamentary forces defeat Irish forces.
• 1709 – Bartolomeu de Gusmão demonstrates the lifting power of hot air in an audience before the King of Portugal in Lisbon
• 1786 – Mont Blanc on the French – Italian border is climbed for the first time by Jacques Balmat and Dr Michel-Gabriel Paccard.
• 1793 – The insurrection of Lyon occurs during the French Revolution.
• 1794 – Joseph Whidbey leads an expedition to search for the Northwest Passage near Juneau, Alaska.
• 1863 – American Civil War: following his defeat in the Battle of Gettysburg, General Robert E. Lee sends a letter of resignation to Confederate President Jefferson Davis (which is refused upon receipt).
• 1870 – The Republic of Ploieşti, a failed Radical-Liberal rising against Domnitor Carol of Romania.
• 1876 – Thomas Edison receives a patent for his mimeograph.
• 1908 – Wilbur Wright makes his first flight at a racecourse at Le Mans, France. It is the Wright Brothers’ first public flight.
• 1918 – World War I: the Battle of Amiens begins a string of almost continuous victories with a push through the German front lines (Hundred Days Offensive).
• 1929 – The German airship Graf Zeppelin begins a round-the-world flight.
• 1940 – The “Aufbau Ost” directive is signed by Wilhelm Keitel.
• 1945 – World War II: The Soviet Union declares war on Japan and begins the Manchurian Strategic Offensive Operation.
• 1946 – First flight of the Convair B-36, the world’s first mass-produce nuclear weapon delivery vehicle.
• 1960 – South Kasai secedes from the Congo.
• 1963 – Great Train Robbery: in England, a gang of 15 train robbers steal 2.6 million pounds in bank notes.
• 1967 – The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is founded by Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.
• 1973 – Kim Dae-Jung, a South Korean politician and later president of South Korea, is kidnapped.
• 1974 – Watergate scandal: U.S. President Richard Nixon announces his resignation, effective the next day.
• 1980 – The Central Hotel Fire occurs in Bundoran, Ireland.
• 1988 – The “8888 Uprising” occurs in Burma.
• 1989 – Space Shuttle program: STS-28 Mission – Space Shuttle Columbia takes off on a secret five-day military mission.
• 1990 – Iraq occupies Kuwait and the state is annexed to Iraq. This would lead to the Gulf War shortly afterward.
• 1991 – The Warsaw radio mast, at one time the tallest construction ever built, collapses.
• 2000 – Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley is raised to the surface after 136 years on the ocean floor and 30 years after its discovery by undersea explorer E. Lee Spence and 5 years after being filmed by a dive team funded by novelist Clive Cussler.
• 2007 – An EF2 tornado touches down in Kings County and Richmond County, New York State, the most powerful tornado in New York to date and the first in Brooklyn since 1889.

Births

• 1839 – Nelson Miles, American general (d. 1925)
• 1879 – Bob Smith, American founder of Alcoholics Anonymous (d. 1950)
• 1884 – Sara Teasdale, American poet (d. 1933)
• 1896 – Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, American author (d. 1953)
• 1907 – Benny Carter, American musician (d. 2003)
• 1908 – Arthur Goldberg, U.S. Supreme Court justice (d. 1990)
• 1910 – Sylvia Sidney, American actress (d. 1999)
• 1911 – Rosetta LeNoire, American actress (d. 2002)
• 1921 – William Asher, American film producer
• 1921 – Webb Pierce, American singer (d. 1991)
• 1921 – Esther Williams, American actress and swimmer
• 1922 – Rory Calhoun, American actor (d. 1999)
• 1926 – Richard Anderson, American actor
• 1927 – Johnny Temple, American baseball player (d. 1994)
• 1932 – Mel Tillis, American singer
• 1933 – Joe Tex, American singer (d. 1982)
• 1936 – Frank Howard, American baseball player
• 1937 – Dustin Hoffman, American actor
• 1938 – Connie Stevens, American singer and actress
• 1939 – Phil Balsley, baritone singer with The Statler Brothers
• 1943 – Denis Payton, English saxophonist, member of The Dave Clark Five
• 1944 – Brooke Bundy, American actress
• 1944 – Michael Johnson (singer), American pop, country and folk singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1947 – Larry Wilcox, American actor
• 1949 – Keith Carradine, American actor
• 1950 – Ken Kutaragi, Founder of PlayStation
• 1951 – Randy Shilts, American journalist and author (d. 1994)
• 1952 – Robin Quivers, American radio personality
• 1953 – Don Most, American actor
• 1956 – Branscombe Richmond, American actor
• 1956 – Chris Foreman, English guitarist (Madness)
• 1957 – Dennis Drew, keyboardist for the band 10,000 Maniacs
• 1958 – Deborah Norville, American television host
• 1961 – The Edge, Irish guitarist (U2)
• 1961 – Daniel House, American musician and music executive
• 1961 – Bruce Matthews, American football player
• 1961 – Rikki Rockett, American drummer (Poison)
• 1963 – Jon Turteltaub, American director
• 1964 – Anastasia Ashman, American writer
• 1966 – John Hudek, American baseball player
• 1967 – Eric Angle, American wrestler
• 1968 – Huey Morgan, American singer / guitarist (Fun Lovin’ Criminals)
• 1970 – Trev Alberts, American football player
• 1973 – Senta Moses, American actress
• 1973 – Scott Stapp, American singer (Creed)
• 1976 – JC Chasez, American singer (*NSYNC)
• 1976 – Tawny Cypress, American actress
• 1976 – Drew Lachey, American singer
• 1976 – Jeff Simmons, American race car driver
• 1977 – Lindsay Sloane, American actress
• 1979 – Rashard Lewis, American basketball player
• 1980 – Craig Breslow, American baseball player
• 1980 – Mike Hindert, American musician
• 1980 – Pat Noonan, American soccer player
• 1980 – Michael Urie, American actor and director
• 1981 – Meagan Good, American actress
• 1984 – Martrez Milner, American football player
• 1984 – Devon McTavish, American soccer player
• 1985 – Brett Ratliff, American football player
• 1986 – Pierre Garçon, American football player
• 1986 – Peyton List, American actress
• 1986 – Chris Pressley, American football player

Deaths

• 1588 – Alonso Sánchez Coello, Spanish painter
• 1934 – Wilbert Robinson, American baseball player (b. 1863)
• 1940 – Johnny Dodds, American musician (b. 1892)
• 1965 – Shirley Jackson, American author (b. 1916)
• 1972 – Andrea Feldman, American actor (b. 1948)
• 1984 – Ellen Raskin, American author (b. 1928)
• 1985 – Louise Brooks, American actress (b. 1906)
• 1991 – Julissa Gomez, American gymnast (b. 1972)
• 1991 – James Irwin, astronaut (b. 1930)
• 1995 – John Adams, American football player (b. 1937)
• 2004 – Fay Wray, American actress (b. 1907)
• 2005 – Barbara Bel Geddes, American actress (b. 1922)
• 2005 – John H. Johnson, African-American publisher (b. 1918)
• 2005 – Gene Mauch, American baseball player (b. 1925)
• 2005 – Dean Rockwell, American wrestling and football coach (b. 1912)
• 2007 – Melville Shavelson, American film director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1917)
• 2008 – Orville Moody, American golfer (b. 1933)
• 2010 – Patricia Neal, American actress (b. 1926)

Holidays and observances

• Christian Feast Day:
  • Cyriacus
  • Dominic de Guzman, founder of the Dominican Order.
  • Hormisdas
  • Largus
  • Mary MacKillop
  • Smaragdus (and companions)
  • August 8 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

• Earliest day on which Melon Day can fall, while August 14 is the latest; celebrated on the second Sunday in August. (Turkmenistan)
• Farmer’s Day or Nane Nane, Swahili for “8-8″. (Tanzania)
• Father’s Day or Bā bā Day (爸爸節), Bā Bā is Mandarin for “father” and “8-8″, or August 8. (Taiwan)
• Flag Day, namesday of Queen Silvia. (Sweden)

&

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Today in History now with Clickable Links: Want to know more about a particular event or person, just click on the red name or date and you will be taken to Wikipedia.org,   The Internet Encyclopedia.

August 5 is the 217th day of the year (218th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 148 days remaining until the end of the year.

• Today’s feature is on this date in 1861 – American Civil War: in order to help pay for the war effort, the United States government levies the first income tax as part of the Revenue Act of 1861 (3% of all incomes over US $800; rescinded in 1872).

Diagram of the Federal Government in 1862

The Revenue Act of 1861, formally cited as Act of August 5, 1861, Chap. XLV, 12 Stat. 292, included the first U.S. Federal income tax statute (see Sec.49). The Act, motivated by the need to fund the Civil War [1], imposed an income tax to be “levied, collected, and paid, upon the annual income of every person residing in the United States, whether such income is derived from any kind of property, or from any profession, trade, employment, or vocation carried on in the United States or elsewhere, or from any other source whatever [ . . . .]”

Rates under the Act were 3% on income above $800 (adjusted for inflation: $18,875 in as of 2009 dollars) and 5% on income of individuals living outside the country.

The Revenue Act of 1861 was signed into law by Abraham Lincoln, the first Republican President. This Act introduced Federal income tax as a flat rate tax.

The income tax provision (Sections 49, 50 and 51) was repealed by the Revenue Act of 1862. (See Sec.89, which replaced the flat rate with a progressive scale of 3% on annual incomes beyond $600 ($12,742 in 2009 dollars) and 5% on incomes above $10,000 ($212,369 in 2009 dollars) or those living outside the U.S., and perhaps more significantly it was explicitly temporary, specifying termination of income tax in “the year eighteen hundred and sixty-six“).

Here are some other memorable events that happened on this date:

• 642 – Battle of Maserfield – Penda of Mercia defeats and kills Oswald of Northumbria.
• 910 – The last major Danish army to raid England is defeated at the Battle of Tettenhall by the allied forces of Mercia and Wessex, led by King Edward the Elder and Earl Aethelred of Mercia.
• 1071 – Byzantine–Norman wars: Italo-Normans begin a nearly-three-year siege of Bari.
• 1100 – Henry I is crowned King of England in Westminster Abbey.
• 1305 – William Wallace, who led the Scottish resistance against England, is captured by the English near Glasgow and transported to London where he is put on trial and executed.
• 1388 – The Battle of Otterburn, a border skirmish between the Scottish and the English in Northern England, is fought near Otterburn.
• 1583 – Sir Humphrey Gilbert establishes the first English colony in North America, at what is now St John’s, Newfoundland.
• 1600 – The Gowrie Conspiracy against King James VI of Scotland (later to become King James I of England) takes place.
• 1620 – The Mayflower departs from Southampton, England on its first attempt to reach North America.
• 1689 – 1,500 Iroquois attack the village of Lachine in New France.
• 1716 – The Battle of Petrovaradin takes place.
• 1735 – Freedom of the press: New York Weekly Journal writer John Peter Zenger is acquitted of seditious libel against the royal governor of New York, on the basis that what he had published was true.
• 1763 – Pontiac’s War: Battle of Bushy Run – British forces led by Henry Bouquet defeat Chief Pontiac‘s Indians at Bushy Run.
• 1772 – The First Partition of Poland begins.
• 1781 – The Battle of Dogger Bank takes place.
• 1824 – Greek War of Independence: Constantine Kanaris leads a Greek fleet to victory against Ottoman and Egyptian ships in the Battle of Samos.
• 1858 – Cyrus West Field and others complete the first transatlantic telegraph cable after several unsuccessful attempts. It will operate for less than a month.
• 1860 – Charles XV of Sweden of Sweden-Norway is crowned king of Norway in Trondheim.
• 1861 – The United States Army abolishes flogging.
• 1862 – American Civil War: Battle of Baton Rouge – along the Mississippi River near Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Confederate troops drive Union forces back into the city.
• 1864 – American Civil War: the Battle of Mobile Bay begins – at Mobile Bay near Mobile, Alabama, Admiral David Farragut leads a Union flotilla through Confederate defenses and seals one of the last major Southern ports.
• 1870 – Franco-Prussian War: the Battle of Spicheren is fought, resulting in a Prussian victory.
• 1874 – Japan launches its postal savings system, modeled after a similar system in the United Kingdom.
• 1882 – The Standard Oil of New Jersey is established.
• 1884 – The cornerstone for the Statue of Liberty is laid on Bedloe’s Island (now Liberty Island) in New York Harbor.
• 1888 – Bertha Benz drives from Mannheim to Pforzheim and back in the first long distance automobile trip, commemorated as the Bertha Benz Memorial Route since 2008.
• 1901 – Peter O’Connor sets the first IAAF recognised long jump world record of 24 ft 11.75 in (7.6137 m) The record will stand for 20 years.
• 1906 – Persian Constitutional Revolution: Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar, King of Iran, agrees to convert the government to a constitutional monarchy.
• 1914 – World War I: the German minelayer Königin Luise lays a minefield about 40 miles (64 km) of the Thames Estuary (Lowestoft). She is intercepted and sunk by the British light-cruiser HMS Amphion.
• 1914 – In Cleveland, Ohio, the first electric traffic light is installed.
• 1916 – World War I: Battle of Romani – Allied forces, under the command of Archibald Murray, defeat an attacking Ottoman army under the command of Friedrich Freiherr Kress von Kressenstein, securing the Suez Canal and beginning the Ottoman retreat from the Sinai Peninsula.
• 1925 – Plaid Cymru is formed with the aim of disseminating knowledge of the Welsh language that is at the time in danger of dying out.
• 1940 – World War II: the Soviet Union formally annexes Latvia.
• 1944 – World War II: possibly the biggest prison breakout in history occurs as 545 Japanese POWs attempt to escape outside the town of Cowra, New South Wales, Australia.
• 1944 – World War II: Polish insurgents liberate a German labor camp in Warsaw, freeing 348 Jewish prisoners.
• 1944 – World War II: The Nazis begin a three-day massacre of anywhere between 40,000 and 100,000 civilians and prisoners of war in Wola, Poland.
• 1949 – In Ecuador, an earthquake destroys 50 towns and kills more than 6,000.
• 1949 – The Mann Gulch fire kills 13 firefighters in Montana.
• 1957 – American Bandstand, a show dedicated to the teenage “baby-boomers” by playing the songs and showing popular dances of the time, debuts on the ABC television network.
• 1960 – Burkina Faso, then known as Upper Volta, becomes independent from France.
• 1962 – Nelson Mandela is jailed. He would not be released until 1990.
• 1963 – The United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union sign a nuclear test ban treaty.
• 1964 – Vietnam War: Operation Pierce Arrow – American aircraft from carriers USS Ticonderoga and USS Constellation bomb North Vietnam in retaliation for strikes against U.S. destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin.
• 1965 – The Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 begins as Pakistani soldiers cross the Line of Control dressed as locals.
• 1969 – Mariner program: Mariner 7 makes its closest fly-by of Mars (3,524 kilometers).
• 1971 – The first Pacific Islands Forum (then known as the “South Pacific Forum”) is held in Wellington, New Zealand, with the aim of enhancing cooperation between the independent countries of the Pacific Ocean.
• 1974 – Vietnam War: the U.S. Congress places a $1 billion dollar limit on military aid to South Vietnam.
• 1979 – In Afghanistan, Maoists undertake an attempted military uprising.
• 1981 – Ronald Reagan fires 11,359 striking air-traffic controllers who ignored his order for them to return to work.
• 1989 – General elections are held in Nicaragua with the Sandinista Front winning a majority.
• 1995 – The city of Knin, a significant Serb stronghold, is captured by Croatian forces during Operation Storm. The date is celebrated in Croatia as Victory Day.
• 2003 – A car bomb explodes in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta outside the Marriott Hotel killing 12 and injuring 150.
• 2010 – 2010 Copiapó mining accident occurs, trapping 33 Chilean miners approximately 2,300 ft (700 m) below the ground.

Births

• 1641 – John Hathorne, American magistrate (d. 1717)
• 1662 – James Anderson, Scottish historian (d. 1728)
• 1694 – Leonardo Leo, Italian composer (d. 1744)
• 1889 – Conrad Aiken, American writer (d. 1973)
• 1906 – John Huston, American director (d. 1987)
• 1911 – Robert Taylor, American actor (d. 1969)
• 1914 – David Brian, American actor (d. 1993)
• 1918 – Tom Drake, American actor (d. 1982)
• 1930 – Neil Armstrong, American astronaut
• 1934 – Wendell Berry, American poet, writer and farmer
• 1934 – Vern Gosdin, American country music singer (d. 2009)
• 1935 – John Saxon, American actor
• 1937 – Herb Brooks, American ice hockey coach (d. 2003)
• 1941 – Bob Clark, American film director (d. 2007)
• 1943 – Nelson Briles, American baseball player (d. 2005)
• 1943 – Sammi Smith, American country singer and songwriter (d. 2005)
• 1946 – Loni Anderson, American actress
• 1946 – Bruce Coslet, American football player and coach
• 1946 – Ron Silliman, American poet
• 1946 – Erika Slezak, American actress
• 1947 – Bernie Carbo, American baseball player
• 1947 – Rick Derringer, American guitarist and vocalist
• 1953 – Rick Mahler, American baseball player (d. 2005)
• 1955 – Eddie Ojeda, guitarist for Twisted Sister
• 1956 – Maureen McCormick, American actress
• 1957 – Faith Prince, American actress
• 1957 – Clayton Rohner, American actor
• 1959 – Pete Burns, English singer (Dead or Alive)
• 1959 – Pat Smear, American guitarist (Nirvana, Foo Fighters)
• 1960 – Seth Swirsky, American songwriter
• 1961 – Tawny Kitaen, American actress
• 1962 – Otis Thorpe, American basketball player
• 1964 – Adam Yauch, American rapper (Beastie Boys)
• 1965 – Jeff Coffin, American jazz and alternative rock musician
• 1965 – Scott William Winters, American actor
• 1966 – Jennifer Finch, American photographer and musician
• 1966 – Jonathan Silverman, American actor
• 1968 – Terri Clark, Canadian country singer
• 1968 – John Olerud, American baseball player
• 1970 – James Gunn, American filmmaker
• 1971 – “Evil” Jared Hasselhoff, American bassist (The Bloodhound Gang)
• 1972 – Christian Olde Wolbers, Belgian guitarist and bassist (Fear Factory)
• 1975 – Ami Foster, American actress
• 1977 – Eric Hinske, American baseball player
• 1977 – Mark Mulder, American baseball player
• 1981 – Carl Crawford, American baseball player
• 1981 – Rachel Scott, American murder victim (d. 1999)
• 1982 – Pete Sell, American mixed martial artist
• 1983 – Korey Hall, American football player
• 1985 – Megan Joy Corkrey, American singer
• 1986 – Paula Creamer, American golfer

Deaths

• 882 – King Louis III of France (b. 863)
• 1633 – George Abbot, Archbishop of Canterbury (b. 1562)
• 1911 – Bob Caruthers, American baseball player (b. 1864)
• 1925 – Jennie Lee, American actress (b. 1848)
• 1962 – Marilyn Monroe, American actress (b. 1926)
• 1968 – Luther Perkins American guitarist (b. 1928)
• 1978 – Jesse Haines, American baseball player (b. 1893)
• 1983 – Judy Canova, American actress (b. 1913)
• 1991 – Paul Brown, American football coach (b. 1908)
• 1992 – Jeff Porcaro, American drummer (Toto) (b. 1954)
• 2002 – Josh Ryan Evans, American actor (b. 1982)
• 2002 – Chick Hearn, American basketball announcer (b. 1916)
• 2002 – Matt Robinson, American actor (b. 1937)
• 2005 – Jim O’Hora, American football coach (b. 1915)
• 2006 – Susan Butcher, American sled dog champion (b. 1954)
• 2009 – Budd Schulberg, American screenwriter and novelist (b. 1914)

Holidays and observances

• Barsi Bhagat Puran Singh (Sikhism)
• Christian Feast Day:
  • Abel of Reims
  • Addai
  • Afra
  • Cassian of Autun
  • Dedication of Saint Mary Major (Roman Catholic Church)
  • Emygdius
  • Memnius
  • Oswald of Northumbria
  • August 5 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

• Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Burkina Faso from France in 1960.
• International Beer Day
• The beginning of Bogotá’s Carnival (Bogotá)
• Victory and Homeland Thanksgiving Day and the Day of Croatian defenders (Croatia)

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Today in History now with Clickable Links: Want to know more about a particular event or person, just click on the red name or date and you will be taken to Wikipedia.org,   The Internet Encyclopedia.

August 3 is the 215th day of the year (216th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 150 days remaining until the end of the year.

• Today’s feature is on this date in 1678 – Robert LaSalle builds the Le Griffon, the first known ship built on the Great Lakes.

Le Griffon (‘The Griffin’) was a 17th century sailing ship built by René Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle in his quest to find the Northwest Passage to China and Japan.

Woodcut of La Salle's griffon - lost on the great lakes.

Le Griffon was constructed and launched at or near Cayuga Creek on the Niagara River as a seven-cannon, 45-ton barque. La Salle and Father Louis Hennepin set out on the Le Griffon’s maiden voyage on August 7, 1679 with a crew of 32, sailing across Lake Erie, Lake Huron and Lake Michigan through uncharted waters that only canoes had previously explored. La Salle disembarked and on September 18 sent the ship back toward Niagara. On its return trip from Green Bay, Wisconsin, it vanished with all six crew members and a load of furs.

Le Griffon may have been found recently by the Great Lakes Exploration Group but the potential remains are the subject of lawsuits involving the discoverers, the state of Michigan, the U.S. federal government and the government of France.

Here are some other memorable events that happened on this date:

• 8 – Roman Empire general Tiberius defeats Dalmatians on the river Bathinus.
• 435 – Deposed Patriarch of Constantinople Nestorius, considered the originator of Nestorianism, is exiled by Roman Emperor Theodosius II to a monastery in Egypt.
• 881 – Battle of Saucourt-en-Vimeu: Louis III of France defeats the Vikings, an event celebrated in the poem Ludwigslied.
• 1031 – Olaf II of Norway is canonised as Saint Olaf by Grimketel, the English Bishop of Selsey.
• 1492 – Christopher Columbus sets sail from Palos de la Frontera, Spain.
• 1527 – The first known letter from North America is sent by John Rut while at St. John’s, Newfoundland.
• 1601 – Long War: Austria captures Transylvania in the Battle of Guruslău.
• 1645 – Thirty Years’ War: the Second Battle of Nördlingen sees French forces defeating those of the Holy Roman Empire.
• 1783 – Mount Asama erupts in Japan, killing 35,000 people.
• 1811 – First ascent of Jungfrau, third highest summit in the Bernese Alps by brothers Johann Rudolf and Hieronymus Meyer.
• 1852 – First Boat Race between Yale and Harvard, the first American intercollegiate athletic event. Harvard won.
• 1860 – The Second Maori War begins in New Zealand.
• 1900 – The Firestone Tire & Rubber Company is founded.
• 1903 – Macedonian rebels in Kruševo proclaim the Kruševo Republic, which exists only for 10 days before Ottoman Turks lay waste to the town.
• 1907 – Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis fines Standard Oil of Indiana a record $29.4 million for illegal rebating to freight carriers; the conviction and fine are later reversed on appeal.
• 1913 – A major labour dispute, known as the Wheatland Hop Riot, starts in Wheatland, California.
• 1914 – World War I: Germany declares war against France.
• 1921 – Major League Baseball Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis confirms the ban of the eight Chicago Black Sox, the day after they were acquitted by a Chicago court.
• 1929 – Jiddu Krishnamurti, tapped to be the messianic “World Teacher“, shocks the Theosophy movement by dissolving the Order of the Star, the organisation built to support him.
• 1934 – Adolf Hitler becomes the supreme leader of Germany by joining the offices of President and Chancellor into Führer.
• 1936 – Jesse Owens wins the 100 meter dash, defeating Ralph Metcalfe, at the Berlin Olympics.
• 1936 – A fire wipes out Kursha-2 in the Meshchera Lowlands, Ryazan Oblast, Russia, killing 1,200 and leaving only 20 survivors.
• 1940 – World War II: Italian forces begin the invasion of British Somaliland.
• 1946 – Santa Claus Land, the world’s first themed amusement park, opened in Santa Claus, Indiana, US.
• 1948 – Whittaker Chambers accuses Alger Hiss of being a communist and a spy for the Soviet Union.
• 1949 – The National Basketball Association is founded in the United States.
• 1958 – The nuclear submarine USS Nautilus travels beneath the Arctic ice cap.
• 1959 – Portugal’s state police force PIDE fires upon striking workers in Bissau, Portuguese Guinea, killing over 50 people.
• 1960 – Niger gains independence from France.
• 1972 – The United States Senate ratifies the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.
• 1975 – A privately chartered Boeing 707 crashes into the mountainside near Agadir, Morocco, killing 188.
• 1977 – The United States Senate begins its hearing about Project MKULTRA.
• 1981 – Senegalese opposition parties, under the leadership of Mamadou Dia, launch the Antiimperialist Action Front-Suxxali Reew Mi.
• 1997 – Oued El-Had and Mezouara massacre in Algeria; a total of 116 villagers killed, 40 in Oued El-Had and 76 in Mezouara.
• 2001 – The Real IRA detonates a car bomb in Ealing, London, UK injuring seven people.
• 2004 – The pedestal of the Statue of Liberty reopens after being closed since the September 11 attacks.
• 2005 – President Maaouya Ould Sid’Ahmed Taya of Mauritania is overthrown in a military coup while attending the funeral of King Fahd in Saudi Arabia.
• 2005 – Mahmoud Ahmadinejad becomes President of Iran.
• 2007 – Former Deputy Director of the Chilean secret police Raúl Iturriaga is captured after having been on the run following a conviction for kidnapping.
• 2010 – Widespread rioting erupts in Karachi, Pakistan, after the assassination of a local politician, leaving at least 85 dead and at least 17 billion Pakistani rupees (US$200 million) in damage.

Births

• 1808 – Hamilton Fish, American politician (d. 1893)
• 1811 – Elisha Otis, American inventor (d. 1861)
• 1894 – Harry Heilmann, American baseball player (d. 1951)
• 1895 – Marguerite Nichols, American actress (d. 1941)
• 1900 – Ernie Pyle, American war correspondent (d. 1945)
• 1900 – John T. Scopes, American teacher and evolutionist (d. 1970)
• 1901 – John C Stennis, American politician (d. 1995)
• 1904 – Clifford D. Simak, American writer (d. 1988)
• 1915 – Pete Newell, American basketball coach (d. 2008)
• 1917 – Les Elgart, American jazz trumpeter and bandleader (d. 1995)
• 1918 – Larry Haines, American actor (d. 2008)
• 1921 – Marilyn Maxwell, American actress (d. 1972)
• 1923 – Jean Hagen, American film and TV actress (d. 1977)
• 1924 – Leon Uris, American novelist (d. 2003)
• 1925 – Marv Levy, American football coach
• 1926 – Tony Bennett, American singer
• 1927 – Gordon Scott, American actor (d. 2007)
• 1940 – Lance Alworth, American football player
• 1940 – Martin Sheen, American actor
• 1941 – Beverly Lee, American singer (Shirelles)
• 1941 – Martha Stewart, American media personality
• 1946 – John York, American bass player
• 1949 – B. B. Dickerson, American bass player & song writer
• 1950 – John Landis, American film director
• 1950 – Jo Marie Payton, American actress
• 1951 – Jay North, American actor
• 1955 – Corey Burton, American voice actor
• 1958 – Cindy Nixon, member of country music group Girls Next Door
• 1959 – John C. McGinley, American actor
• 1959 – Martin Atkins, English drummer (Public Image Ltd., Ministry, Killing Joke)
• 1959 – Mike Gminski, American basketball player
• 1961 – Lee Rocker, American musician (Stray Cats)
• 1961 – Molly Hagan, American actress
• 1963 – James Hetfield, American vocalist and guitarist (Metallica)
• 1963 – Ed Roland, American vocalist (Collective Soul)
• 1963 – Isaiah Washington, American actor
• 1963 – Lisa Ann Walter, American actress
• 1964 – Nate McMillan, American basketball player and coach
• 1966 – Eric Esch, American boxer
• 1968 – Rod Beck, American baseball player (d. 2007)
• 1969 – Doug Overton, American basketball player
• 1973 – Michael Ealy, American actor
• 1976 – Troy Glaus, American baseball player
• 1977 – Tom Brady, American football player
• 1980 – Tony Pashos, American football player
• 1983 – Mamie Gummer, American actress
• 1983 – Mark Reynolds, American baseball player
• 1984 – Jon Foster, American actor
• 1984 – Ryan Lochte, American swimmer
• 1984 – Chris Maurer, American musician
• 1985 – Holly Blake-Arnstein, American singer and dancer
• 1988 – Leigh Tiffin, American football player

Deaths

• 1460 – King James II of Scotland (b. 1430)
• 1929 – Emile Berliner, German-born American telephone and recording pioneer (b. 1851)
• 1964 – Flannery O’Connor, American writer (b. 1925)
• 1966 – Lenny Bruce, American comedian (b. 1925)
• 1973 – Richard Marshall, U.S. Army general (b. 1895)
• 1977 – Alfred Lunt, American actor (b. 1892)
• 1983 – Carolyn Jones, American actress (b. 1930)
• 1995 – Edward Whittemore, American writer (b. 1933)
• 1999 – Byron Farwell, American military historian (b. 1921)
• 2003 – Roger Voudouris, American singer and songwriter (b. 1954)
• 2008 – Skip Caray, American TV and radio broadcaster (b. 1939)
• 2008 – Erik Darling, American folk singer-songwriter (b. 1933)

Holidays and observances

• Christian Feast Day:
  • Lydia of Thyatira
  • Nicodemus
  • Saint Olaf of Norway (Translation of the relic)
  • Stephen (Invention of the relic)
  • Waltheof of Melrose
  • August 3 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

• Flag Day since 2006. (Venezuela)
• Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Niger from France in 1960.

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Today in History now with Clickable Links: Want to know more about a particular event or person, just click on the red name or date and you will be taken to Wikipedia.org,   The Internet Encyclopedia.

August 1 is the 213th day of the year (214th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 152 days remaining until the end of the year.

• Today’s feature is on this date in 1981 – MTV begins broadcasting in the United States and airs its first video, “Video Killed the Radio Star” by the Buggles.

MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs.

At one time, MTV had a profound impact on the music industry and popular culture. Slogans such as “I want my MTV” and “MTV is here” became embedded in public thought, the concept of the VJ was popularized, the idea of a dedicated video-based outlet for music was introduced, and both artists and fans found a central location for concert music events, news, and promotion. MTV has also been referenced countless times in popular culture by musicians, other TV channels and television program, films, and books.

MTV has spawned numerous sister channels in the U.S. and affiliated channels internationally, some of which, like the former MTV Tempo now known as TEMPO Networks, have gone independent. MTV’s moral influence on young people, including issues related to censorship and social activism, has been a subject of debate for years. MTV’s choice to focus on non-music programming has also been contested relentlessly since the 1990s, demonstrating the channel’s previous impact on popular culture.

Here are some other memorable events that happened on this date:

• 30 BC – Octavian (later known as Augustus) enters Alexandria, Egypt, bringing it under the control of the Roman Republic.
• 69 – Batavian rebellion: The Batavians in Germania Inferior (Netherlands) revolt under the leadership of Gaius Julius Civilis.
• 527 – Justinian I becomes the sole ruler of the Byzantine Empire.
• 607 – Ono no Imoko is dispatched as envoy to the Sui court in China (Traditional Japanese date: July 3, 607).
• 902 – Taormina, the last Byzantine stronghold in Sicily, is captured by the Aghlabid army.
• 1203 – Isaac II Angelus, restored Eastern Roman Emperor, declares his son Alexius IV Angelus co-emperor after pressure from the forces of the Fourth Crusade.
• 1291 – The Old Swiss Confederacy is formed with the signature of the Federal Charter.
• 1492 – Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile drive the Jews out of Spain.
• 1498 – Christopher Columbus becomes the first European to visit what is now Venezuela.
• 1664 – The Ottoman Empire is defeated in the Battle of Saint Gotthard by an Austrian army led by Raimondo Montecuccoli, resulting in the Peace of Vasvár.
• 1759 – Seven Years’ War: The Battle of Minden, an allied Anglo-German army victory over the French. In Britain this was one of a number of events that constituted the Annus Mirabilis of 1759 and is celebrated as Minden Day by certain British Army regiments.
• 1798 – French Revolutionary Wars: Battle of the Nile (Battle of Aboukir Bay) – Battle begins when a British fleet engages the French Revolutionary Navy fleet in an unusual night action.
• 1800 – The Act of Union 1800 is passed in which merges the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland into the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
• 1801 – First Barbary War: The American schooner USS Enterprise captures the Tripolitan polacca Tripoli in a single-ship action off the coast of modern-day Libya.
• 1831 – A new London Bridge opens.
• 1834 – Slavery is abolished in the British Empire as the Slavery Abolition Act 1833 comes into force.
• 1838 – Non-labourer slaves in most of the British Empire are emancipated.
• 1840 – Labourer slaves in most of the British Empire are emancipated.
• 1842 – Lombard Street Riot erupts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US.
• 1855 – First ascent of Monte Rosa, the second highest summit in the Alps.
• 1876 – Colorado is admitted as the 38th U.S. state.
• 1894 – The First Sino-Japanese War erupts between Japan and China over Korea.
• 1907 – Start of first Scout camp on Brownsea Island, the origin of the worldwide Scouting movement.
• 1914 – Germany declares war on Russia at the opening of World War I. The Swiss Army mobilises because of World War I.
• 1927 – The Nanchang Uprising marks the first significant battle in the Chinese Civil War between the Kuomintang and Communist Party of China. This day is commemorated as the anniversary of the founding of the People’s Liberation Army.
• 1937 – Josip Broz Tito reads the resolution “Manifesto of constitutional congress of KPH” to the constitutive congress of KPH (Croatian Communist Party) in woods near Samobor.
• 1944 – Warsaw Uprising against the Nazi occupation breaks out in Warsaw, Poland.
• 1957 – The United States and Canada form the North American Air Defense Command (NORAD).
• 1960 – Dahomey (later renamed Benin) declares independence from France.
• 1960 – Islamabad declared as the federal capital of the Government of Pakistan.
• 1964 – The Belgian Congo is renamed the Republic of the Congo.
• 1966 – Charles Whitman kills 16 people at The University of Texas at Austin before being killed by the police.
• 1966 – Purges of intellectuals and imperialists becomes official People’s Republic of China policy at the beginning of the Cultural Revolution.
• 1968 – The coronation is held of Hassanal Bolkiah, the 29th Sultan of Brunei.
• 1975 – CSCE Final Act creates the Conference for Security and Co-operation in Europe.
• 1980 – Buttevant Rail Disaster kills 18 and injures dozens of train passengers in Ireland.
• 1980 – Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, elected President of Iceland, becomes the first democratically elected female head of state
• 1984 – Commercial peat-cutters discovers a the preserved bog body of a man, called Lindow Man, at Lindow Moss, Cheshire, North West England.
• 1993 – The Great Flood of 1993 comes to a peak.
• 2001 – Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore has a Ten Commandments monument installed in the judiciary building, leading to a lawsuit to have it removed and his own removal from office.
• 2004 – A supermarket fire kills 396 people and injures 500 in Asunción, Paraguay.
• 2007 – The I-35W Mississippi River Bridge spanning the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, Minnesota, collapses during the evening rush hour.

Births

• 10 BC – Claudius, Roman Emperor (d. 54)
• 126 – Pertinax, Roman Emperor (d. 193)
• 1770 – William Clark, American explorer (d. 1838)
• 1779 – Francis Scott Key, American lawyer and lyricist (d. 1843)
• 1815 – Richard Henry Dana, Jr., American lawyer, politician, and author (d. 1882)
• 1818 – Maria Mitchell, American astronomer (d. 1889)
• 1819 – Herman Melville, American writer (d. 1891)
• 1837 – Mary Harris “Mother” Jones, American labor organizer (d. 1930)
• 1843 – Robert Todd Lincoln, son of Abraham Lincoln; 35th United States Secretary of War (d. 1926)
• 1910 – Walter Scharf, American composer (d. 2003)
• 1911 – Jackie Ormes, American cartoonist (d. 1985)
• 1912 – Henry Jones, American actor (d. 1999)
• 1923 – Val Bettin, American voice actor
• 1924 – Marcia Mae Jones, American actress (d. 2007)
• 1930 – Julie Bovasso, American actor and writer (d. 1991)
• 1931 – Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, American folk musician
• 1933 – Dom DeLuise, American actor and comedian (d. 2009)
• 1942 – Jerry Garcia, American musician (The Grateful Dead) (d. 1995)
• 1945 – Sandi Griffiths, American singer, The Lawrence Welk Show
• 1946 – Rick Coonce, rock drummer for The Grass Roots
• 1946 – Boz Burrell, British musician (King Crimson, Bad Company) (d. 2006)
• 1949 – Ray Nettles, professional football player (d. 2009)
• 1950 – Jim Carroll, American poet and actor (d. 2009)
• 1951 – Tommy Bolin, American musician (Deep Purple) (d. 1976)
• 1951 – Pete Mackanin, American baseball player
• 1953 – Robert Cray, American singer
• 1953 – Howard Kurtz, American journalist
• 1956 – Tom Leykis, American radio personality
• 1958 – Rob Buck, American musician (10,000 Maniacs) (d. 2000)
• 1958 – Michael Penn, American singer and songwriter
• 1958 – Kiki Vandeweghe, American basketball player
• 1959 – Joe Elliott, English musician (Def Leppard)
• 1960 – Chuck D, American activist and rapper (Public Enemy)
• 1960 – Suzi Gardner, guitarist and songwriter (L7)
• 1962 – Jesse Borrego, American actor
• 1963 – John Carroll Lynch, American actor
• 1964 – Adam Duritz, American musician (Counting Crows)
• 1966 – James St. James, American author and nightlife personality
• 1967 – Gregg Jefferies, American baseball player
• 1968 – Dan Donegan, American musician (Disturbed)
• 1968 – Stacey Augmon, American basketball player
• 1969 – Kevin Jarvis, American baseball player
• 1969 – David Wain, American actor
• 1972 – Devon Hughes, American professional wrestler
• 1973 – Gregg Berhalter, American footballer
• 1973 – Tempestt Bledsoe, American actress
• 1978 – Edgerrin James, American football player
• 1979 – Jason Momoa, American actor
• 1981 – Ashley Parker Angel, American singer and actor
• 1985 – Adam Jones (baseball), American baseball player
• 1985 – Stuart Holden, American footballer
• 1989 – Madison Bumgarner, American baseball player
• 1993 – Leon Thomas III, American actor
• 1999 – Khamani Griffin, American actor

Deaths

• 30 BC – Mark Antony, Roman politician and general (b. 83 BC)
• 1714 – Queen Anne of Great Britain (b. 1665)
• 1866 – John Ross (aka. Kooweskoowe), Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation (b. 1790)
• 1903 – Calamity Jane, American frontierswoman (b. 1853)
• 1911 – Samuel Arza Davenport, American politician (b. 1843)
• 1911 – Edwin Austin Abbey, American painter (b. 1852)
• 1917 – Frank Little, American labor organizer (lynched) (b. 1879)
• 1918 – John Riley Banister, American cowboy and Texas Ranger (b. 1854)
• 1938 – John Aasen, American actor (b. 1890)
• 1970 – Frances Farmer, American actress (b. 1913)
• 1977 – Gary Powers, American spy plane pilot (b. 1929)
• 1980 – Strother Martin, American actor (b. 1919)
• 1981 – Paddy Chayefsky, American writer (b. 1923)
• 2001 – Korey Stringer, American football player (b. 1974)
• 2005 – Al Aronowitz, American music journalist (b. 1928)
• 2006 – Jason Rhoades, American installation artist (b. 1965)
• 2006 – Bob Thaves, American cartoonist (b. 1924)
• 2006 – Iris Marion Young, American feminist and political scientist (b. 1949)

Holidays and observances

• Armed Forces Day (Lebanon)
• Armed Forces Day or Anniversary of the Founding of the People’s Liberation Army (People’s Republic of China)
• Christian Feast Day:
  • Abgar V of Edessa (Syrian Church)
  • Alphonso Maria de’ Liguori
  • Æthelwold of Winchester
  • Eusebius of Vercelli
  • Exuperius of Bayeux
  • Felix of Girona
  • Peter Apostle in Chains
  • August 1 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

• Celebration of the Slavery Abolition Act 1833 which ended the slavery in the British Empire, generally celebrated as a part of Carnival, as the Caribbean Carnival takes place at this time (British West Indies):
  • Earliest day on which Caribana celebration can fall, celebrated on the first Weekend of August. (Toronto)
  • Earliest day on which Emancipation Day can fall, celebrated on the first Monday of August. (Anguilla, the Bahamas, British Virgin Islands)
  • Emancipation Day (Barbados, Bermuda, Guyana, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago)

• Earliest day on which Civic Holiday can fall; celebrated on the first Monday of August. (Canada)
• Earliest day on which Commerce Day, or Frídagur verslunarmanna, can fall; celebrated on the first Monday of August. (Iceland)
• Earliest day on which International Friendship Day can fall, celebrated on the first Sunday of August.
• Feast of Kamál (Perfection); First day of the eighth month of the Bahá’í calendar. (Bahá’í Faith)
• Liberation of Haile Selassie from slavery. (Rastafari movement)
• National Day, celebrates the independence of Benin from France in 1960.
• National Day, commemorates Switzerland becoming a single unit in 1291.
• Procession of the Cross and the beginning of Dormition Fast (Eastern Orthodoxy)
• Statehood Day (Colorado)
• The beginning of Autumn observances:
  • Lughnasadh, traditionally begins on the eve of August 1. (Gaels, Ireland, Scotland, Neopagans)
  • Lammas (England, Scotland, Neopagans)
• The first day of Carnaval del Pueblo (Burgess Park, London)
• Yorkshire Day (Yorkshire, England)
• World Scout Day, anniversary of the first day of the Brownsea Island Camp in 1907, where Robert Baden-Powell began scouting.

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Today in History now with Clickable Links: Want to know more about a particular event or person, just click on the red name or date and you will be taken to Wikipedia.org,   The Internet Encyclopedia.

July 30 is the 211th day of the year (212th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 154 days remaining until the end of the year.

• Today’s feature is on this date in 1956 – A joint resolution of the U.S. Congress is signed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, authorizing In God We Trust as the U.S. national motto.

“In God We Trust” was adopted as the official motto of the United States in 1956. It is also the motto of the U.S. state of Florida. The phrase has appeared on U.S. coins since 1864 and on paper currency since 1957. Its Spanish equivalent, En Dios Confiamos, is the motto of the Central American nation of Nicaragua.

The origin of the phrase is derived from the Bible; several psalms contain phrase or derivations of it (Psalms 20, Psalms 56, & Psalms 62, etc.) The phrase has been incorporated in many hymns and patriotic songs. The final stanza of The Star-Spangled Banner, written in 1814 by Francis Scott Key (and later adopted as the U.S. national anthem), contains an early reference to a variation of the phrase: “…And this be our motto: ‘In God is our trust’.”

It was first used as a motto on coinage on the 1864 two-cent coin, followed in 1866 by the 5 cent nickel (1866–1883), quarter dollar, half dollar, silver dollar and gold dollars.^[1][4] An 1865 law allowed the motto to be used on coins. The use of the motto was permitted, but not required, by an 1873 law. While several laws come into play, the act of May 18, 1908, is most often cited as requiring the motto (even though the cent and nickel were excluded from that law, and the nickel did not have the motto added until 1938). Since 1938, all coins have borne the motto.

On July 11, 1954, just one month after the phrase “under God” was incorporated into the Pledge of Allegiance, the U.S. Congress enacted Public Law 84-140, which required the motto on all coins and currency. The law was approved by President Eisenhower on July 30, 1956, and the motto was progressively added to paper money over a period from 1957 to 1966.

In 1956 the phrase was legally adopted as the United States’ national motto by a law passed by the 84th United States Congress.(Public Law 84-851)”,^[8] and the United States Code at 36 U.S.C. § 302, now states: “‘In God we trust’ is the national motto.”

Here are some other memorable events that happened on this date:

• 762 – Baghdad is founded by caliph Al-Mansur.
• 1419 – First Defenestration of Prague: a crowd of radical Hussites kill seven members of the Prague city council.
• 1502 – Christopher Columbus lands at Guanaja in the Bay Islands off the coast of Honduras during his fourth voyage.
• 1608 – At Ticonderoga (now Crown Point, New York), Samuel de Champlain shoots and kills two Iroquois chiefs. This was to set the tone for French-Iroquois relations for the next one hundred years.
• 1619 – In Jamestown, Virginia, the first representative assembly in the Americas, the House of Burgesses, convenes for the first time.
• 1629 – An earthquake in Naples, Italy, kills about 10,000 people.
• 1656 – Swedish forces under the command of King Charles X Gustav defeat the forces of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth at the Battle of Warsaw.
• 1729 – Foundation of Baltimore, Maryland.
• 1733 – The first Masonic Grand Lodge in the future United States is constituted in Massachusetts.
• 1756 – In Saint Petersburg, Bartolomeo Rastrelli presents the newly-built Catherine Palace to Empress Elizabeth and her courtiers.
• 1811 – Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, leader of the Mexican insurgency, is executed by the Spanish in Chihuahua, Mexico.
• 1825 – Malden Island is discovered by captain George Anson Byron.
• 1859 – First ascent of Grand Combin, one of the highest summits in the Alps.
• 1863 – Indian Wars: Chief Pocatello of the Shoshone tribe signs the Treaty of Box Elder, agreeing to stop the harassment of emigrant trails in southern Idaho and northern Utah.
• 1864 – American Civil War: Battle of the Crater – Union forces attempt to break Confederate lines at Petersburg, Virginia by exploding a large bomb under their trenches.
• 1865 – The steamboat Brother Jonathan sinks off the coast of Crescent City, California, killing 225 passengers, the deadliest shipwreck on the Pacific Coast of the U.S. at the time.
• 1866 – New Orleans‘s Democratic government orders police to raid an integrated Republican Party meeting, killing 40 people and injuring 150.
• 1871 – The Staten Island Ferry Westfield’s boiler explodes, killing over 85 people.
• 1916 – Black Tom Island explosion in Jersey City, New Jersey.
• 1930 – In Montevideo, Uruguay wins the first Football World Cup.
• 1932 – Premiere of Walt Disney‘s Flowers and Trees, the first cartoon short to use Technicolor and the first Academy Award winning cartoon short.
• 1945 – World War II: Japanese submarine I-58 sinks the USS Indianapolis, killing 883 seamen.
• 1962 – The Trans-Canada Highway, the largest national highway in the world, is officially opened.
• 1965 – U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Social Security Act of 1965 into law, establishing Medicare and Medicaid.
• 1969 – Vietnam War: US President Richard M. Nixon makes an unscheduled visit to South Vietnam and meets with President Nguyễn Văn Thiệu and U.S. military commanders.
• 1971 – Apollo program: Apollo 15 Mission – David Scott and James Irwin on the Apollo Lunar Module module Falcon land on the Moon with the first Lunar Rover.
• 1971 – An All Nippon Airways Boeing 727 and a Japanese Air Force F-86 collide over Morioka, Japan killing 162.
• 1974 – Watergate Scandal: U.S. President Richard M. Nixon releases subpoenaed White House recordings after being ordered to do so by the United States Supreme Court.
• 1974 – Six Royal Canadian Army Cadets are killed and fifty-four are injured in an accidental grenade blast at CFB Valcartier Cadet Camp.
• 1975 – Jimmy Hoffa disappears from the parking lot of the Machus Red Fox restaurant in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit, at about 2:30 p.m. He is never seen or heard from again, and will be declared legally dead on this date in 1982.
• 1975 – The Troubles: three members of a popular cabaret band and two gunmen are killed during a botched paramilitary attack in Northern Ireland (see Miami Showband killings).
• 1978 – The 730 (transport), Okinawa changes its traffic on the right-hand side of the road to the left-hand side.
• 1980 – Vanuatu gains independence.
• 1980 – Israel’s Knesset passes the Jerusalem Law
• 1990 – George Steinbrenner is forced by Commissioner Fay Vincent to resign as principal partner of New York Yankees for hiring Howie Spira to “get dirt” on Dave Winfield.
• 2003 – In Mexico, the last ‘old style’ Volkswagen Beetle rolls off the assembly line.
• 2006 – The world’s longest running music show Top of the Pops is broadcast for the last time on BBC Two. The show had aired for 42 years.
• 2006 – Lebanon War: At least 28 civilians, including 16 children are killed by the Israeli Air Force in what Lebanese call the Second Qana massacre and what Israel considers to be an attempt to stop rockets’ being fired, from Lebanon, at Israeli civilian targets.

Births

• 1857 – Thorstein Veblen, American economist (d. 1929)
• 1863 – Henry Ford, American industrialist (d. 1947)
• 1890 – Casey Stengel, American baseball manager (d. 1975)
• 1895 – Wanda Hawley, American actress (d. 1963)
• 1910 – Edgar de Evia, American photographer (d. 2003)
• 1916 – Dick Wilson, American actor (d. 2007)
• 1919 – Berniece Baker Miracle, half-sister of Marilyn Monroe
• 1921 – Grant Johannesen, American pianist (d. 2005)
• 1922 – Henry W. Bloch, American co-founder of H&R Block
• 1926 – Christine McGuire, American singer (The McGuire Sisters)
• 1927 – Victor Wong, American actor (d. 2001)
• 1933 – Edd Byrnes, American actor
• 1934 – Bud Selig, American Commissioner of Baseball
• 1936 – Buddy Guy, American blues guitarist and singer
• 1936 – Ralph Taeger, American actor
• 1939 – Peter Bogdanovich, American film director
• 1939 – Eleanor Smeal, American feminist
• 1940 – Pat Schroeder, American politician
• 1945 – David Sanborn, American saxophonist
• 1946 – Neil Bonnett, American race car driver (d. 1994)
• 1947 – William Atherton, American actor
• 1947 – Arnold Schwarzenegger, Austrian-born American actor, bodybuilder and politician, 38th Governor of California
• 1948 – Otis Taylor, American musician
• 1948 – Julia Tsenova, Bulgarian composer and pianist (d. 2010)
• 1949 – Duck Baker, American guitarist
• 1950 – Frank Stallone, American singer and actor
• 1954 – Ken Olin, American actor
• 1956 – Delta Burke, American actress
• 1956 – Anita Hill, American academic, witness at the sexual harassment trial against Clarence Thomas
• 1957 – Clint Hurdle, American baseball player and manager
• 1957 – Bill Cartwright, American basketball player
• 1960 – Richard Linklater, American filmmaker
• 1961 – Laurence Fishburne, American actor
• 1962 – Alton Brown, American television host and chef
• 1963 – Lisa Kudrow, American actress
• 1963 – Chris Mullin, American basketball player
• 1964 – Vivica A. Fox, American actress
• 1968 – Terry Crews, American football player and actor
• 1970 – Dean Edwards, American comedian
• 1971 – Christine Taylor, American actress
• 1974 – Hilary Swank, American actress
• 1975 – Cherie Priest, American writer
• 1977 – Jaime Pressly, American actress
• 1980 – Justin Rose, British golfer
• 1981 – Nicky Hayden, American motorcycle racer
• 1984 – Gabrielle Christian, American actress
• 1984 – Kevin Pittsnogle, American basketball player
• 1999 – Joey King, American actress

Deaths

• 579 – Pope Benedict I (birth date unknown)
• 1875 – George Pickett, American Confederate general (b. 1825)
• 1918 – Joyce Kilmer, American poet (b. 1886)
• 1982 – Roberta Pedon, American glamour model (b. 1954)
• 1983 – Howard Dietz, American lyricist (b. 1896)
• 1989 – Lane Frost, American bull rider (b. 1963)
• 1992 – Brenda Marshall, American actress (b. 1915)
• 1996 – Claudette Colbert, American actress (b. 1903)
• 1998 – Buffalo Bob Smith, American television host (Howdy Doody) (b. 1917)
• 2003 – Sam Phillips, American record producer (b. 1923)
• 2005 – Ray Cunningham, American baseball player (b. 1905)
• 2006 – Al Balding, Canadian golfer (b. 1924)
• 2006 – Murray Bookchin, American libertarian socialist (b. 1921)
• 2007 – Bill Walsh, American football coach (b. 1931)

Holidays and observances

• Christian Feast Day:
  • Abdon and Sennen
  • Peter Chrysologus
  • Ursus of Auxerre
  • July 30 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
• Feast of the Throne (Morocco)
• Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Vanuatu from the United Kingdom and France in 1980.

Wikipedia.org. Re-printed under Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License 3.0 (Unported)

Today in History now with Clickable Links: Want to know more about a particular event or person, just click on the red name or date and you will be taken to Wikipedia.org,   The Internet Encyclopedia.

July 27 is the 208th day of the year (209th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 157 days remaining until the end of the year.

• Today’s feature is on this date in 1945 – A U.S. Army B-25 bomber crashes into the 79th floor of the Empire State Building killing 14 and injuring 26.

The B-25 Empire State Building crash was a 1945 aircraft accident in which a B-25 Mitchell piloted in thick fog crashed into the Empire State Building. While the structural integrity of the building was not compromised, fourteen people died (three crewmen and eleven in the building) and one million dollars of damage was done.

On Saturday, July 28, 1945, Lieutenant Colonel William Franklin Smith, Jr. was piloting a B-25 Mitchell bomber on a routine personnel transport mission from Boston to LaGuardia Airport. Smith asked for clearance to land, but was advised of zero visibility. Proceeding anyway, he was disoriented by the fog, and started turning right instead of left after passing the Chrysler Building. At 9:40 a.m., the plane crashed into the north side of the Empire State Building, between the 78th and 80th floors, carving an 18 ft (5.5 m) x 20 ft (6.1 m) hole in the building where the offices of the National Catholic Welfare Council were located.

One engine shot through the side opposite the impact and flew as far as the next block where it landed on the roof of a nearby building, starting a fire that destroyed a penthouse. The other engine and part of the landing gear plummeted down an elevator shaft. The resulting fire was extinguished in 40 minutes. It is still the only fire at such a height that was ever successfully controlled. Fourteen people were killed in the incident,  and elevator operator Betty Lou Oliver was injured. After rescuers decided to transport her on an elevator which they did not know had weakened cables, it plunged 75 stories. She survived the plunge, which still stands as the Guinness World Record for the longest survived elevator fall recorded.

Despite the damage and loss of life, the building was open for business on many floors on the following Monday. The crash helped spur the passage of the long-pending Federal Tort Claims Act of 1946, as well as the insertion of retroactive provisions into the law, allowing people to sue the government for the accident.

Here are some other memorable events that happened on this date:

• 1364 – Troops of the Republic of Pisa and of the Republic of Florence clash in the Battle of Cascina.
• 1540 – Thomas Cromwell is executed at the order of Henry VIII of England on charges of treason. Henry marries his fifth wife, Catherine Howard, on the same day.
• 1609 – Bermuda is first settled by survivors of the English ship Sea Venture en route to Virginia.
• 1794 – Maximilien Robespierre is executed by guillotine in Paris during the French Revolution.
• 1809 – Peninsular War: Battle of Talavera – Sir Arthur Wellesley‘s British, Portuguese and Spanish army defeats a French force led by Joseph Bonaparte.
• 1821 – José de San Martín declares the independence of Peru from Spain.
• 1864 – American Civil War: Battle of Ezra Church – Confederate troops make a third unsuccessful attempt to drive Union forces from Atlanta, Georgia.
• 1865 – Welsh settlers arrive at Chubut in Argentina.
• 1868 – The 14th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States is certified, establishing African-American citizenship and guaranteeing due process of law.
• 1896 – The city of Miami, Florida is incorporated.
• 1914 – World War I: Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia after Serbia rejects the conditions of an ultimatum sent by Austria on July 23 following the assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand.
• 1932 – U.S. President Herbert Hoover orders the United States Army to forcibly evict the “Bonus Army” of World War I veterans gathered in Washington, D.C.
• 1933 – Diplomatic relations between the Soviet Union and Spain are established.
• 1935 – First flight of the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress.
• 1942 – World War II: Soviet leader Joseph Stalin issues Order No. 227 in response to alarming German advances into the Soviet Union. Under the order all those who retreat or otherwise leave their positions without orders to do so are to be immediately executed.
• 1943 – World War II: Operation Gomorrah – The British bomb Hamburg causing a firestorm that kills 42,000 German civilians.
• 1948 – The Metropolitan Police Flying Squad foils a bullion robbery in the “Battle of London Airport”.
• 1955 – The Union Mundial pro Interlingua is founded at the first Interlingua congress in Tours, France.
• 1957 – Heavy rain and a mudslide in Isahaya, western Kyūshū, Japan, kill 992.
• 1965 – Vietnam War: U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson announces his order to increase the number of United States troops in South Vietnam from 75,000 to 125,000.
• 1973 – Summer Jam at Watkins Glen: 600,000 people attend a rock festival at the Watkins Glen International Raceway.
• 1976 – The Tangshan earthquake measuring between 7.8 and 8.2 moment magnitude flattens Tangshan in the People’s Republic of China, killing 242,769 and injuring 164,851.
• 1991 – Pitcher Dennis Martinez of the Montreal Expos throws the 15th perfect game in Major League Baseball history, a 2-0 win against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.
• 1993 – Andorra joins the United Nations.
• 1996 – The remains of a prehistoric man are discovered near Kennewick, Washington. Such remains will be known as the Kennewick Man.
• 2001 – Australian Ian Thorpe becomes the first swimmer to win six gold medals at a single World Championships.
• 2002 – Nine coal miners trapped in the flooded Quecreek Mine in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, are rescued after 77 hours underground.
• 2005 – The Provisional Irish Republican Army calls an end to its thirty year long armed campaign in Northern Ireland.
• 2005 – Tornadoes touch down in a residential areas in south Birmingham and Coventry England, causing £4,000,000 worth of damages and injuring 39 people.
• 2008 – The historic Grand Pier in Weston-super-Mare burns down for the second time in 80 years.

Births

• 1746 – Thomas Heyward, Jr., American signer of the Declaration of Independence (d. 1809)
• 1896 – Barbara La Marr, American actress (d. 1926)
• 1898 – Lawrence Gray, American actor (d. 1970)
• 1900 – Catherine Dale Owen, American actress (d. 1965)
• 1901 – Rudy Vallee, American entertainer (d. 1986)
• 1901 – Freddie Fitzsimmons, American baseball player (d. 1979)
• 1907 – Earl Tupper, American inventor of Tupperware (d. 1983)
• 1916 – David Brown, American film producer (d. 2010)
• 1923 – Ray Ellis, American record producer and arranger (d. 2008)
• 1929 – Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, First Lady of the United States (d. 1994)
• 1932 – Natalie Babbitt, American author and illustrator of children’s books
• 1940 – Philip Proctor, American comedian
• 1942 – Marty Brennaman, American sportscaster
• 1943 – Mike Bloomfield, American guitarist (d. 1981)
• 1943 – Bill Bradley, American basketball player and politician
• 1943 – Richard Wright, English keyboardist (Pink Floyd) (d. 2008)
• 1945 – Jim Davis, American cartoonist (Garfield)
• 1946 – Jonathan Edwards, American singer and songwriter
• 1946 – Linda Kelsey, American actress
• 1948 – Gerald Casale, American vocalist, bassist (Devo) and director
• 1948 – Georgia Engel, American actress
• 1948 – Sally Struthers, American actress
• 1949 – Vida Blue, American baseball player
• 1949 – Randall Wallace, American screenwriter and film producer
• 1951 – Doug Collins, American basketball player and coach
• 1954 – Bruce Abbott, American actor
• 1954 – Steve Morse, American guitarist (Dixie Dregs, Deep Purple)