Today in History
Today is Monday, Aug. 8, the 220th day of 2022. There are 145 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On Aug. 8, 1974, President Richard Nixon, facing damaging new revelations in the Watergate scandal, announced he would resign the following day.
On this date:
In 1814, during the War of 1812, peace talks between the United States and Britain began in Ghent, Belgium.
In 1815, Napoleon Bonaparte set sail for St. Helena to spend the remainder of his days in exile.
In 1861, biologist William Bateson, founder of the science of genetics, was born in Whitby, Yorkshire, England.
In 1911, President William Howard Taft signed a measure raising the number of U.S. representatives from 391 to 433, effective with the next Congress, with a proviso to add two more when New Mexico and Arizona became states.
In 1942, during World War II, six Nazi saboteurs who were captured after landing in the U.S. were executed in Washington, D.C.; two others who cooperated with authorities were spared.
In 1945, President Harry S. Truman signed the U.S. instrument of ratification for the United Nations Charter. The Soviet Union declared war against Japan during World War II.
In 1953, the United States and South Korea initialed a mutual security pact.
In 1963, Britain’s “Great Train Robbery” took place as thieves made off with 2.6 million pounds in banknotes.
In 1973, Vice President Spiro T. Agnew branded as “damned lies” reports he had taken kickbacks from government contracts in Maryland, and vowed not to resign — which he ended up doing.
In 1994, Israel and Jordan opened the first road link between the two once-warring countries.
In 2000, the wreckage of the Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley, which sank in 1864 after attacking the Union ship Housatonic, was recovered off the South Carolina coast and returned to port.
In 2009, Sonia Sotomayor was sworn in as the U.S. Supreme Court’s first Hispanic and third female justice.
Ten years ago: Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi fired his intelligence chief for failing to act on an Israeli warning of an imminent attack days before militants stormed a border post in the Sinai Peninsula and killed 16 soldiers. Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh Jennings of the United States became the first three-time gold medalists in Olympic beach volleyball history, beating Jennifer Kessy and April Ross in the all-American final.
Five years ago: President Donald Trump said continued North Korean threats aimed at the United States would cause the U.S. to respond with “fire and fury like the world has never seen.” Venezuela’s new constitutional assembly, created by embattled President Nicolas Maduro, took over the halls of the opposition-controlled congress and decreed itself to be superior to all other branches of government. Singer Glen Campbell died in Nashville, Tennessee, at the age of 81; he had announced in 2011 that he’d been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.
One year ago: Taliban fighters seized most of Kunduz city, the capital of a key northern Afghan province, the latest in a series of blows to government forces. The pandemic-delayed Tokyo Olympics officially came to an end; the closing ceremony was held in an empty stadium, though athletes were still able to gather on the field. Hall of Fame football coach Bobby Bowden, who built one of the most prolific college football programs in history at Florida State, died at his home in Tallahassee, Florida, at 91.
Today’s Birthdays: Actor Nita Talbot is 92. Actor Dustin Hoffman is 85. Actor Connie Stevens is 84. Country singer Phil Balsley (The Statler Brothers) is 83. Actor Larry Wilcox is 75. Actor Keith Carradine is 73. Movie director Martin Brest is 71. Radio-TV personality Robin Quivers is 70. U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is 69. Percussionist Anton Fig is 69. Actor Donny Most is 69. Rock musician Dennis Drew (10,000 Maniacs) is 65. TV personality Deborah Norville is 64. Rock musician The Edge (U2) is 61. Rock musician Rikki Rockett (Poison) is 61. Rapper Kool Moe Dee is 60. Middle distance runner Suzy Favor Hamilton is 54. Rock singer Scott Stapp is 49. Country singer Mark Wills is 49. Actor Kohl Sudduth is 48. Rock musician Tom Linton (Jimmy Eat World) is 47. Singer JC Chasez (‘N Sync) is 46. Actor Tawny Cypress is 46. R&B singer Drew Lachey (lah-SHAY’) (98 Degrees) is 46. R&B singer Marsha Ambrosius is 45. Actor Lindsay Sloane is 45. Actor Countess Vaughn is 44. Actor Michael Urie is 42. Tennis player Roger Federer is 41. Actor Meagan Good is 41. Rock musician Eric Howk (Portugal. The Man) is 41. Actor Jackie Cruz (TV: “Orange is the New Black”) is 38. Britain’s Princess Beatrice of York is 34. Actor Ken Baumann is 33. New York Yankees first baseman Anthony Rizzo is 33. Pop singer Shawn Mendes is 24. Actor Bebe Wood (TV: “The Real O’Neals”) is 21.
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