1503 – King James IV of Scotland marries Margaret Tudor, daughter of King Henry VII of England at Holyrood Abbey in Edinburgh, Scotland.
1588 – Anglo-Spanish War: Battle of Gravelines – The naval engagement ends, ending the Spanish Armada’s attempt to invade England.
1609 – Venetian senate examines Galileo Galilei’s telescope
1844 – Brigham Young chosen Mormon Church head following Joseph Smith death
1854 – Smith & Wesson patents metal bullet cartridges
1863 – American Civil War: following his defeat in the Battle of Gettysburg, General Robert E. Lee sends a letter of resignation to Confederate President Jefferson Davis (which is refused upon receipt).
1864 – Red Cross forms in Geneva
1876 – Thomas Edison receives a patent for his mimeograph.
1879 – Bob Smith, American physician and surgeon, co-founded Alcoholics Anonymous (d. 1950) was born.
1879 – Emiliano Zapata, Mexican revolutionary, peasant leader – Born
1885 – More than 1.5 million people attend the funeral of Ulysses S. Grant in New York City.
1902 – Paul Dirac, Bristol, physicist (quantum mechanics, Nobel 1933), (d. 1984) Born
1908 – Wilbur Wright makes his first flight at a racecourse at Le Mans, France. It is the Wright Brothers’ first public flight.
1911 – The millionth patent is filed in the United States Patent Office by Francis Holton for a tubeless vehicle tire.
1919 – Dino De Laurentiis, Torre Annunziata Italy, producer (King Kong)Born
1929 – The German airship Graf Zeppelin begins a round-the-world flight.
1932 – Mel Tillis, Pahokee Fl, country singer (Who’s Julie, M-M-Mel) Born
1937 – Bonneville Dam on Columbia River begins producing power
1937 – Dustin Hoffman, LA, actor (Graduate, Tootsie, Kramer vs Kramer) Born
1938 – Connie Stevens, Bkln, singer/actress (Hawaiian Eye, Back to Beach) Born
1942 – Jay David, rocker (Dr Hook & Medicine Show) Born
1942 – 6 convicted Nazi saboteurs who landed in US executed in Washington, DC
1942 – Quit India Movement is launched in India against the British rule in response to Mohandas Gandhi’s call for swaraj or complete independence.
1945 – President Harry Truman signs the UN Charter (The U.N. in a New World Order – Written by the CFR
1945 – US, USSR, Britain & France sign Treaty of London, set down procedures for Nuremberg trials
1945 – USSR declares war against Japan in WW II
1945 – USSR establishes a communist government in North Korea
1951 – Mohamed Morsi, Egyptian politician, 5th President of Egypt was born.
1952 – Robin Quivers, radio/TV personality (Howard Stern’s sidekick) born
1953 – Russia’s Georgi Malenkov reports possession of hydrogen bomb
1953 – US & South Korea initial a mutual security pact
1955 – Fidel Castro forms “July 26th Movement”
1955 – Geneva conference held to discuss peaceful uses of atomic energy
1961 – The Edge, [Dave Evans], London, rock guitarist (U2-I Will Follow)Born
1961 – Daniel House, American music executive (C/Z Records of Seattle! Happy Birthday Daniel!
1961 – Rikki Rockett, American drummer (Poison) was birthed.
1962 – A polio scare brought a decree from the Taylor-Jones County health authorities to do a mass immunization of all residents and encourage surrounding counties to do likewise. According to a spokesperson from the Medical Society, “The Sabin vaccine gives immunity to polio, whereas the Salk vaccine prevents paralytic polio.” They decided that the Sabin vaccine was the best, since it is given orally, not like the Salk vaccine which has to be injected.
1963 – Great Train Robbery: in England, a gang of 15 train robbers steal £2.6 million in bank notes.
1968 – Patricia Arquette, NYC actress (True Romance!,Ed Wood,) Born
1969 – At a zebra crossing in London, photographer Iain Macmillan takes the photo that becomes the cover of the Beatles album Abbey Road.
1973 – US vice-president Spiro T Agnew says reports he took kickbacks are “damned lies” from government contracts in Maryland. He vowed not to resign (Right!)
1974 – US President Richard Nixon announces he’ll resign his office 12PM Aug 9
1975 – Hank Williams Jr. falls off the side of Ajax Peak in Montana
1976 – Johnny Roselli, hired by CIA to kill Castro (and JFK!), found murdered
1981 – Roger Federer, Basel Switzerland, tennis player (17 grand slams) Born
1983 – Military coup in Guatemala, Pres Rios Montt flees
1985 – Japan launches Planet A, a probe to Halley’s comet
1988 – US Secretary of State (Kingmaker, BECHTEL CORP) George Shultz narrowly escapes assassin attempt in Bolivia
1988 – Cease fire between Iran & Iraq takes effect after 8 years of war
1990 – Iraq annexes Kuwait as its 19th province
September 11, 1990 speech by George H. W. Bush
1991 – The Warsaw radio mast, at one time the tallest construction ever built, collapses.
1991 – Billy Preston charged with exhibiting pornography to a minor
1991 – Carlos Santana pleads no contest to marijuana possession charge
1991 – Gary Oldman, actor (State of Grace), arrested for drunk driving
1997 – Mariners Randy Johnson strikes out 19 Chicago White Sox
2000 – Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley is raised to the surface after 136 years on the ocean floor and 30 years after its discovery by undersea explorer E. Lee Spence.
2004 – Fay Wray, American actress (King Kong) (b. 1907) Dies
2007 – An EF2 tornado touches down in Kings County and Richmond County, New York State, the most powerful tornado in New York to date and the first in Brooklyn since 1889.
2008 – Georgian invasion into South Ossetia. Begin of five-day war between Georgia and Russia.
2010 – Patricia Neal, American actress, dies at 84
2013 – Karen Black, American actress, dies from ampullary cancer at 74
2013 – 4 people are killed and 4 are wounded in a shooting spree in Dallas, Texas