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.
0135 – Betar last outpost of Bar Kochba falls to Rome
0882 – France’s Louis III dies at St Denis August 5 at age 19, and his brother Carloman becomes sole king
0910 – The last major Viking army to raid England is defeated at the Battle of Tettenhall by the allied forces of Mercia and Wessex, led by King Edward and Earl Aethelred
1100 – Henry I crowned King of England in Westminster Abbey.
1264 – Anti-Jewish riots break out in Arnstadt Germany
1305 – William Wallace, who led Scottish resistance to England, is captured by the English near Glasgow and transported to London for trial and execution
1420 – Duke John VI of Bavaria visits Dutch mystic Lidwina (Christ’s bride)
1583 – Sir Humphrey Gilbert establishes first English colony in North America, at what is now St John’s, Newfoundland.
1689 – A band of 1,500 Iroquois surround the village of Lachine, Quebec during a violent thunderstorm and set fire to the houses; they then massacre 24 inhabitants and kidnap 90; 42 of the 90 are never seen again; they also kill about 200 more settlers and capture 100 in raids in the vicinity.
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 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 – Poland loses one-third of her territory and half her population as she is partitioned among Russia, Austria, and Prussia.
1812 – War of 1812: Tecumseh’s Indian force ambushes Thomas Van Horne’s 200 Americans at Brownstone Creek, causing them to flee and retreat.
1861 – US Army abolishes flogging
1861 – American Civil War: In order to help pay for the war effort, the United States government issues the first income tax as part of the Revenue Act of 1861 (3% of all incomes over US $800; rescinded in 1872)
1864 – During the U.S. Civil War, Union forces led by Adm. David G. Farragut were led into Mobile Bay, Alabama.
1884 – On Bedloe’s Island in New York Harbor, the cornerstone for the Statue of Liberty was laid.
1905 – First meeting of the Russian and Japanese peace commissioners takes place in US President Theodore Roosevelt’s home at Oyster Bay, New York
1914 – US, Nicaragua sign treaty granting canal rights to US
1914 – The first electric traffic signal lights were installed in Cleveland, Ohio.
1915 – The Latin-American Conference Convenes in Washington, with representatives from leading South American nations joining the US to discuss conditions in Mexico
1917 – The entire US National Guard is taken into national service, subject to presidential rather than state control
1921 – The first play-by-play broadcast of a baseball game was done by Harold Arlin. KDKA Radio in Pittsburgh, PA described the action between the Pirates and Philadelphia.
1924 – In the New York “Daily News” debuted the comic strip “Little Orphan Annie,” by Harold Gray.
1940 – Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic is established
1943 – World War II: During the Battle of Troina, at around 11 A.M, Mount Etna erupted sending much ash and lava miles into the sky
1944 – Polish insurgents liberated a German labor camp in Warsaw. 348 Jewish prisoners were freed.
1944 – World War II: Possibly the biggest prison breakout in history occurs as 545 Japanese POWs attempt to escape outside the town of Cowra, NSW, Australia
1953 – During the Korean conflict prisoners were exchanged at Panmunjom. The exchange was labeled Operation Big Switch.
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 – For the first time two major league baseball clubs traded managers. Detroit traded Jimmy Dykes for Cleveland’s Joe Gordon.
1962 – Nelson Mandela arrested for incitement and for illegally leaving South Africa
1963 – The Limited Test Ban Treaty was signed by the United States, Britain, and the Soviet Union. The treaty banned nuclear tests in space, underwater, and in the atmosphere.
1964 – U.S. aircraft bombed North Vietnam after North Vietnamese boats attacked U.S. destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin.
1966 – In New York, groundbreaking for the construction of the original World Trade Center began.
1969 – The Mariner 7, a U.S. space probe, passed by Mars. Photographs and scientific data were sent back to Earth.
1970 – US Black P. Panther leader Huey Newton freed from jail after two trials ended in hung juries and the district attorney decides against a 4th trial
1974 – Vietnam War: The U.S. Congress places a $1 billion dollar limit on military aid to South Vietnam.
1974 – U.S. President Nixon said that he expected to be impeached. Nixon had ordered the investigation into the Watergate break-in to halt.
1981 – Ronald Reagan fires 11,359 striking air-traffic controllers who ignored his order for them to return to work.
1988 – American politician Mario Biaggi (Rep-D-NY) convicted of racketeering resigns his seat
1989 – In Honduras, five Central American presidents began meeting to discuss the timetable for the dismantling of the Nicaraguan Contra bases.
1990 – U.S. President George H.W. Bush angrily denounced the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait.
1991 – An investigation was formally launched by Democratic congressional leaders to find out if the release of American hostages was delayed until after the Reagan-Bush presidential election.
1991 – Iraq admitted to misleading U.N. inspectors about secret biological weapons.
1992 – Federal civil rights charges were filed against four Los Angeles police officers. The officers had been acquitted on California State charges. Two of the officers were convicted and jailed on violation of civil rights charges.
1995 – The city of Knin, a significant Serb stronghold, is captured by Croatian forces during Operation Storm. The date is celebrated as the day of victory (Victory and Homeland Thanksgiving Day) in Croatia
1998 – Iraqi President Saddam Hussein began not cooperating with U.N. weapons inspectors.
2002 – The U.S. closed its consulate in Karachi, Pakistan. The consulate was closed after local authorities removed large concrete blocks and reopened the road in front of the building to normal traffic.
2003 – A car bomb explodes in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta outside the Marriott Hotel killing 12 and injuring 150
2009 – Belgian Justice Minister Stefaan De Clerck is under fire after three men with criminal records escape from a courthouse in Brussls. The escape follows the helicopter breakout of three inmates, including one of Belgium’s most dangerous criminals, and the ladder breakout of six more convicts all in the space of twelve days
2009 – A Chinese teenager sent to an internet addiction rehabilitation camp is allegedly beaten to death by its counsellors.
2011 – NASA announced that its Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter had captured photographic evidence of possible liquid water on Mars during warm seasons.
2011 – Juno was launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on a mission to Jupiter. It was the first solar-powered spacecraft to go to Jupiter.
2011 – Standard & Poor’s Financial Services lowered the United States’ AAA credit rating by one notch to AA-plus.
2012 – Gunman opens fire on Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin killing six people and committing suicide
2013 – The world’s first bovine stem cell lab-grown burger is eaten in London
2014 – Obama signs The Iron Dome Bill providing $225 million in additional funding for Israel’s Iron Dome defense
2017 – UN Security Council votes to impose sanctions on North Korea for its continued missile program
2019 – Brazilian drug dealer Clauvino da Silva tries and fails to escape Rio de Janeiro jail by dressing up as his teenage daughter in silicone mask and wig
2022 – Volkswagen launches a prototype of its first flying car, an automated, electric passenger vehicle nicknamed “Flying Tiger
REFERENCE: history.net, onthisday.com, thepeopleshistory.com, timeanddate.com, scopesys.com, on-this-day.com
