Monday, August 8

This Day In History

• 1815   Napoleon Bonaparte set sail for St. Helena, in the South Atlantic, to spend the remainder of his days in exile.
  
• 1588   The Spanish Armada, a fleet of 130 huge ships, met defeat at the hands of English sailors and their smaller, more maneuverable vessels. Then a series of wicked Atlantic storms off the coast of Southern England took their toll. Only half of the 130 Spanish ships managed to limp ... at best ... home. The 60 or so English ships had saved England from the Spanish invaders.
  
• 1844   Brigham Young was chosen to lead the Mormons following the killing of Joseph Smith.
  
• 1876   Thomas A. Edison received a patent for his mimeograph.
  
• 1911   Membership in the U.S. House of Representatives was established at 435. Every 211,877 residents of the U.S. were represented by one member of Congress.
  
• 1923   Benny Goodman was 14 years old as he began his professional career as a clarinet player. He took a job in a band on a Chicago-based excursion boat on Lake Michigan.
  
• 1942   Six convicted Nazi saboteurs who had landed in the United States were executed in Washington, D.C.
  
• 1945   President Harry S. Truman signed the United Nations Charter.
  
• 1945   The Soviet Union declared war against Japan during World War II.
  
• 1953   The United States and South Korea initialed a mutual security pact.
  
• 1963   Britain's ''Great Train Robbery'' took place as thieves made off with 2.6 million pounds in banknotes.
  
• 1968   Richard Nixon was nominated for president at the Republican National Convention in Miami Beach and chose Maryland Gov. Spiro T. Agnew to be his running mate.
  
• 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.
  
• 1978   The United States launched Pioneer Venus II, which carried scientific probes to study the atmosphere of Venus.
  
• 1988   U.N. Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar announced a cease-fire between Iran and Iraq.
  
• 1990   This was a watershed day in the Middle East. Iraq announced that it had annexed the kingdom of Kuwait -- moving over 200,000 troops into the tiny, oil-rich country. As Iraq declared Kuwait to be its 19th Providence, U.S. President George Bush (I) warned Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, “A line has been drawn in the sand,” and American forces began moving into Saudi Arabia.
  
• 2001   Former President Ronald Reagan's daughter Maureen died at age 60.
  

Happy Birthday To

• 1866   Matthew Henson (explorer: North Pole expedition [1908-09 w/Robert Peary]; died Mar 9, 1955)
  
• 1919   Dino De Laurentiis (producer: The Bible, Barbarella, Jaws IV)
  
• 1922   Esther Williams (swimmer, actress: Take Me Out to the Ball Game, Dangerous When Wet, Neptune’s Daughter, Million Dollar Mermaid)
  
• 1932   Mel Tillis (singer, songwriter)
  
• 1937   Dustin Hoffman (Academy Award-winning actor)
  
• 1938   Connie Stevens (Concetta Ingolia) (singer)
  
• 1949   Keith Carradine (actor: Kung Fu)
  
• 1953   Don Most (actor: Happy Days, Stewardess School, Dead Man’s Island)
  
• 1958   Deborah Norville (TV host: Today, Inside Edition)