Today in History
Today is Tuesday, Aug. 1, the 213th day of 2023. There are 152 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On Aug. 1, 1936, the Olympics opened in Berlin with a ceremony presided over by Adolf Hitler.
On this date:
In 1876, Colorado was admitted as the 38th state.
In 1907, the U.S. Army Signal Corps established an aeronautical division, the forerunner of the U.S. Air Force.
In 1944, an uprising broke out in Warsaw, Poland, against Nazi occupation; the revolt lasted two months before collapsing.
In 1957, the United States and Canada announced they had agreed to create the North American Air Defense Command (NORAD).
In 1966, Charles Joseph Whitman, 25, went on an armed rampage at the University of Texas in Austin that killed 14 people, most of whom were shot by Whitman while he was perched in the clock tower of the main campus building.
In 1975, a 35-nation summit in Finland concluded with the signing of a declaration known as the Helsinki Accords dealing with European security, human rights and East-West contacts.
In 1994, Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley confirmed they’d been secretly married 11 weeks earlier.
In 2001, Pro Bowl tackle Korey Stringer, 27, died of heat stroke, a day after collapsing at the Minnesota Vikings’ training camp on the hottest day of the year.
In 2007, the eight-lane Interstate 35W bridge, a major Minneapolis artery, collapsed into the Mississippi River during evening rush hour, killing 13 people.
In 2011, the U.S. House of Representatives passed, 269-161, emergency legislation to avert the nation’s first-ever financial default; Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords returned to the House for the first time since being shot in Jan. 2011 to cast a “yes” vote.
In 2014, a medical examiner ruled that a New York City police officer’s chokehold caused the death of Eric Garner, whose videotaped arrest and final pleas of “I can’t breathe!” had sparked outrage.
Ten years ago: Defying the United States, Russia granted Edward Snowden temporary asylum, allowing the National Security Agency leaker to slip out of the Moscow airport where he had been holed up for weeks. President Barack Obama faced congressional critics of the National Security Agency’s collection of Americans’ telephone records as he and Vice President Joe Biden joined lawmakers on both sides of the issue for an Oval Office meeting.
Five years ago: The remains of dozens of presumed casualties of the Korean War were returned to U.S. soil; in an emotional ceremony in Hawaii, military members carried 55 boxes draped with American flags off two military transport planes. Ohio State University put football coach Urban Meyer on paid leave amid claims that his wife knew about allegations of domestic violence against an assistant coach years before the staff member was fired.
One year ago: President Joe Biden announced Monday that al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahri was killed in a U.S. drone strike in Kabul, an operation Biden said delivered justice and hopefully “one more measure of closure” to families of the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. The first ship carrying Ukrainian grain sets out from the port of Odesa under an internationally brokered deal to unblock the embattled country’s agricultural exports amid its war with Russia and ease the growing global food crisis.
Today’s Birthdays: Singer Ramblin’ Jack Elliott is 92. Former Sen. Alfonse D’Amato, R-N.Y., is 86. Actor Giancarlo Giannini is 81. Basketball Hall of Fame coach Roy Williams is 73. Blues singer-musician Robert Cray is 70. Singer Michael Penn is 65. Rock singer Joe Elliott (Def Leppard) is 64. Rock singer-musician Suzi Gardner (L7) is 63. Rapper Chuck D (Public Enemy) is 63. Actor Jesse Borrego is 61. Actor Demian Bichir is 60. Actor John Carroll Lynch is 60. Rock singer Adam Duritz (Counting Crows) is 59. Movie director Sam Mendes is 58. Country singer George Ducas is 57. Actor Jennifer Gareis is 53. Actor Charles Malik Whitfield is 51. Actor Tempestt Bledsoe is 50. Actor Jason Momoa is 44. Actor Honeysuckle Weeks is 44. Singer Ashley Parker Angel is 42. Actor Taylor Fry is 42. Actor Elijah Kelley is 37.
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