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What happened in history on this day: August 8?
On August 8 in ...
- 1786 - The American Continental Congress defines a silver dollar containing 375.64 grains of silver as the nation's unit of account.
- 1796 - Boston African Society establishes with 44 members.
- 1814 - Peace negotiations between the US and Great Britain begin in Ghent, Belgium.
- 1876 - Thomas Edison patents mimeograph.
- 1918 - Six US soldiers are surrounded by Germans in France, Alvin York is given command and shoots 20 Germans and captures 132 more.
- 1929 - German airship Graf Zeppelin begins a round-the-world flight from Lakehurst, New Jersey, USA.
- 1932 - Congress creates Silver Star medal for gallantry.
- 1937 - Bonneville Dam on Columbia River (USA) begins producing power.
- 1942 - Six convicted German saboteurs who landed in US are executed in Washington DC.
- 1945 - US President Harry Truman signs United Nations Charter.
- 1953 - US and South Korea initial a mutual security pact.
- 1968 - Race riot in Miami, Florida.
- 1973 - US Vice President Spiro T Agnew brands as "damned lies" reports he took kickbacks from government contracts in Maryland. He vows not to resign.
- 1974 - President Richard M Nixon announces he will resign his office 12PM August 9.
- 1976 - John Roselli, hired by US Central Intelligence Agency to kill Cuban leader Fidel Castro, is found murdered.
- 1978 - Pioneer-Venus 2 with five atmospheric probes launched toward Venus.
- 1987 - Lynne Cox becomes first to swim from US to Russia across Bering Strait.
- 1988 - Renovated New York City Central Park Zoo reopens after four years.
- 1988 - US Secretary of State George Shultz narrowly escapes assassination attempt in Bolivia.
- 1989 - STS-28: Space Shuttle Columbia takes off on a secret five-day military mission.
- 2000 - Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley is raised to the surface after 136 years on the ocean floor.
- 2000 - An unknown ship dumps oil off the South Florida coast, creating an oil slick covering 24km of beaches.
- 2007 - The Space Shuttle Endeavour is successfully launched on mission STS-118.
- 2008 - US home mortgage funder Fannie Mae posts a second-quarter loss of US$2.3 billion, its fourth straight quarter loss, totaling US$9.44 billion over the past year.
- 2011 - The Dow Jones Industrial Average drops by 634 points during the day, following the Standard & Poors degrade of US government debt from AAA to AA+.
- 2014 - The United States military begins an air campaign in northern Iraq to stem the influx of ISIS militants.
- 2023 - A firestorm rages through the town of Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii, killing 100, burning 1000 structures.
Births on August 8
- 1857 - Birth of Henry Osborn in Connecticut, USA; paleontologist/author (52 Years of Research).
- 1896 - Birth of Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings in Washington DC, USA; writer (The Yearling).
- 1900 - Birth of Victor Young in Chicago, Illinois, USA; orchestra leader (Milton Berle Show, In Old California).
- 1901 - Birth of Dr Ernest O Lawrence in Canton, South Carolina, USA; inventor (Cyclotron - Nobel Prize 1939).
- 1907 - Birth of Benny Carter in Harlem, New York, USA; jazz musician: alto saxophonist, clarinetist, trumpeter, composer, arranger, bandleader from the 1930s to the 1990s ("Easy Money").
- 1908 - Birth of Arthur J Goldberg in Illinois, USA; United Nations ambassador, Supreme Court justice (1962-65).
- 1910 - Birth of Sylvia Sidney in the Bronx, New York, USA; actress (46 years of TV guest appearances, WKRP, Thirtysomething, Fantasy Island, Sabotage, Beetlejuice, Demon).
- 1913 - Birth of Axel Stordahl in Staten Island, New York, USA; orchestra leader (Frank Sinatra Show).
- 1918 - Birth of Rory Calhoun in Los Angeles, California, USA; actor (Capitol, Motel Hell, Bill - Texan).
- 1922 - Birth of Rory Calhoun AKA Francis McCown in Los Angeles, California, USA; actor (over 80 movies and 1,000 television episodes, The Texan, The Blue and the Grey mini-series, Capitol).
- 1923 - Birth of Jimmy Witherspoon in rural Arkansas, USA; blues singer ("Ain't Nobody's Business" (1949), "No Rollin' Blues", "Big Fine Girl").
- 1923 - Birth of Esther Williams in Inglewood, California, USA; actress/swimmer (Dangerous when Wet).
- 1926 - Birth of Richard Anderson in Long Beach, New Jersey, USA; actor (Oscar Goldman - The Six Million Dollar Man, The Bionic Woman).
- 1926 - Birth of Webb Pierce in West Monroe, Louisiana, USA; country singer (Ozark Jubilee).
- 1930 - Birth of Nita Talbot in New York City, New York, USA; actress (Supertrain, Here We Go Again).
- 1937 - Birth of Dustin Hoffman in Louisiana, USA; actor (The Graduate, Tootsie, Kramer versus Kramer).
- 1938 - Birth of Connie Stevens in Brooklyn, new York, USA; singer/actress (Hawaiian Eye, Back to Beach).
- 1939 - Birth of Phil Balsley in Virginia, USA; country singer (The Statler Brothers - "Flowers on the Wall").
- 1947 - Birth of Larry Wilcox in San Diego, California, USA; actor (Lassie, CHiPs).
- 1949 - Birth of Keith Carradine in San Mateo, California, USA; actor (Young Guns, Pretty Baby).
- 1953 - Birth of Donny Most in Brooklyn, New York, USA; actor (Ralph Malph - Happy Days).
- 1958 - Birth of Harry Crosby in Los Angeles, California, USA; actor (Friday the 13th), singer.
- 1962 - Birth of Suzee Pai in Toledo, Ohio, USA; actress (Big Trouble in Little China).
Deaths on August 8
- 1952 - Death of Adolph A. Weinmann, designer of US Walking Liberty half dollar and Winged Liberty Head dime.
- 1988 - Death of Alan Napier of a stroke at age 85; American actor (Alfred the butler on Batman), at age 85 (born 1903).
- 2022 - Death Lamont Dozier at age 81 at home near Scottsdale, Arizona, USA; songwriter ("Heatwave" song, "You Can't Hurry Love" song), producer.
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