1998 – Monica Lewinsky scandal: US President Bill Clinton admits in taped testimony that he had an “”improper physical relationship”” with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. On the same day he admits before the nation that he “”misled people”” about his relationship
1180 – Yoritomo Minamoto leads uprising against Kiyomori Taira who installed his grandson, Emperor Antoku, to the throne
1227 – Death of the Mongol conqueror Genghis Khan.
1544 – French city of Saint-Dizier seized by Imperial army of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V during Italian War (1842-46)
1563 – King Charles IX of France declared an adult at 13
1590 – Governor of Roanoke Island colony, John White, returns from England to find no trace of the colonists he had left there 3 years earlier [or Aug 18, 1591]
1661 – French Superintendent of Finances Nicolas Fouquet throws one of the grandest and opulent parties ever seen in France, appalling King Louis XIV and leading to Fouquet’s arrest for embezzlement weeks later
1743 – Treaty of Åbo signed in Turku by Sweden and Russian Empire, ending the Russo-Swedish War (1741-1743)
1787 – Jews are granted permission in Budapest Hungary to pray in groups
1790 – The capital city of the U.S. moved to Philadelphia from New York City.
1807 – Robert Fulton’s “North River Steam Boat” (known as the “Clermont”) began heading up New York’s Hudson River on its successful round-trip to Albany.
1815 – Napoleon began serving his exile when he arrived at the island of St. Helena.
1859 – A hot air balloon was used to carry mail for the first time. John Wise left Lafayette, IN, for New York City with 100 letters. He had to land after only 27 miles.
1862 – Indian Wars: The Lakota (Sioux) Dakota War of 1862 begins in Minnesota as vicious Lakota attack white settlements along the Minnesota River.
1863 – Federal batteries and ships bombarded Fort Sumter in Charleston, SC, harbor during the Civil War.
1870 – Mrs Esther Morris becomes 1st woman magistrate (South Pass, Wyoming)
1903 – Joseph Pulitzer donated a million dollars to Columbia University. This started the Pulitzer Prizes in his name.
1907 – Pike Place Market, the longest continuously running public farmers market in the US, opened in Seattle
1915 – Mob lynches Jewish businessman Leo Frank in Cobb County, Ga after death sentence for murder of 13-year-old girl commuted to life
1918 – Bolshevik revolutionary leader Moisei Uritsky is assassinated.
1936 – An unemployed worker, Neils B. Ruud, in Madison, Wisconsin, receives the first unemployment benefit check paid under a State law, for $15
1942 – Submarines USS Nautilus and USS Argonaut land 222 Marines on Makin Island, first amphibious attack made from submarines
1943 – The Allied conquest of Sicily was completed as U.S. and British forces entered Messina.
1945 – The nationalists of Indonesia declared their independence from the Netherlands.
1945 – Animal Farm by George Orwell is first published by Fredric Warburg
1947 – The Radcliffe Line, the border between Union of India and Dominion of Pakistan is revealed
1960 – Francis Gary Powers U-2 spy trial opens in Moscow
1961 – The Communist East German government completed the construction of the Berlin Wall.
1962 – East German border guards kill 18-year-old Peter Fechter as he attempts to cross the Berlin Wall into West Berlin becoming the first victim of the wall.
1970 – Venera Program: Venera 7 launched. It will later become the first spacecraft to successfully transmit data from the surface of another planet (Venus).
1976 – An earthquake & tsunami in the Philippines kills up to 8,000
1977 – Florists Transworld Delivery (FTD) reported that in one day the number of orders for flowers to be delivered to Graceland had surpassed the number for any other event in the company’s history.
1980 – Azaria Chamberlain disappears, likely taken by a dingo, leading to what was then the most publicised trial in Australian history
1982 – The first Compact Discs (CD’s) were released to the public in Germany.
1982 – The U.S. Senate approved an immigration bill that granted permanent resident status to illegal aliens who had arrived in the United States before 1977.
1985 – A year-long strike began when 1,400 Geo. A. Hormel and Co. meat packers walked off the job.
1988 – NYC 1st case of Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever (9 year old Bronx boy)
1988 – Pakistani President Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq and U.S. Ambassador Arnold Raphel are killed in a plane crash
1991 – Wade Frankum runs amok with automatic rifle and knife at Strathfield in Sydney, killing seven people and himself.
1992 – Woody Allen admitted to being romantically involved with Soon-Yi Previn. The girl was the adopted daughter of Mia Farrow, Allen’s longtime companion.
1996 – A military cargo plane crashed in Wyoming killing eight crewmembers and a Secret Service employee. The plane was carrying gear for U.S. President Clinton.
1996 – Ross Perot was announced to be the Reform Party’s presidential candidate. It was the party’s first-ever candidate.
1998 – Monica Lewinsky scandal: US President Bill Clinton admits in taped testimony that he had an “”improper physical relationship”” with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. On the same day he admits before the nation that he “”misled people”” about his relationship
1998 – NationsBank and BankAmerica merge to create the largest U.S. bank.
1998 – Russia devalued the ruble.
2005 – The first forced evacuation of settlers, as part of the Israel unilateral disengagement plan, start
2012 – Gay pride events are banned for a century in Moscow
2012 – Three members of Russian punk band Pussy Riot are jailed for two years
2013 – 18 people are killed in conflict between Boko Harem and Nigerian military
2015 – Bomb blast in Bangkok at Erawan Shrine kills at least 19, injures over 100
2017 – The first observation of a collision of two neutron stars took place
2017 – Terror attack on Las Ramblas in Barcelona, Spain as van rams into crowds killing 16, injuring 120
2017 – Three Hong Kong activists, Jason Wong, Nathan Law and Alex Chow jailed for unlawful assembly
2019 – Suicide bombing at a wedding in Kabul, Afghanistan, kills 63, with over 200 injured. The Islamic State claims responsibility
2021 – One in five US hospital ICUs at or over 95% capacity due to Delta surge of COVID-19, with 1,800 children hospitalized
2022 – Possible second smaller impact crater that wiped out the dinosaurs the ‘Nadir Crater’ 8.5km across, identified off the coast of Guinea, west Africa
2022 – Suicide explosion in Afghan mosque in Kabul kills 21 worshippers and injures 33
REFERENCE: history.net, onthisday.com, thepeopleshistory.com, timeanddate.com, scopesys.com, on-this-day.com
