1873 The first cable car trip is made in San Francisco, California
1956 The Salk Polio vaccine becomes available to the public
1981 MTV - Music Television begins broadcasting at 12:01 am with the music video "Video Killed the Radio Star" by the Buggles. MTV would become a driving force in mass media and pop culture.@
August 2
1776 The parchment copy of the Declaration of Independence is signed in Philadelphia by most of the 55 members of the Continental Congress
1876 Wild Bill Hickok is killed while playing poker in Deadwood, South Dakota
1964 An American destroyer is attacked off the coast of North Vietnam in the Gulf of Tonkin, and U.S. aircraft attack North Vietnamese bases@
August 3
1795 The U.S government signs treaties with the Native American tribes, giving the U.S. the Ohio Territory
1923 Calvin Coolidge is sworn in as 30th U.S. President
1987 Three days of talks between the U.S. and Vietnam end with no progress on recovering soldiers missing in action@
August 4
1790 The U.S. Revenue Cutter Service is formed and is later known as the U.S. Coast Guard
1790 The first bonds of the U.S. government are authorized
1977 The Department of Energy is created@
August 5
1844 The cornerstone is laid for the Statue of Liberty on Bedloe's Island, New York
1914 The first traffic signal lights are used in Cleveland, Ohio
1963 A nuclear test ban treaty is signed by Great Britain, the U.S. and the U.S.S.R.@
August 6
1774 The founder of the Shaker Movement in the American colonies, Mother Ann Lee, arrives in New York
1890 The first death sentence electrocution is performed in the U.S. on William Kemmeler for murder
1945 The U.S. drops an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan@
August 7
1782 The Military Order of the Purple Heart is founded
1959 "Explorer 6" takes the first photos via television of the Earth from space
1990 U.S. troops leave for Saudi Arabia to enact Operation Desert Shield which intends to protect the Saudi oil fields from attacks by Saddam Hussein's Iraqi forces@
August 8
1786 The silver dollar and the decimal system of money are adopted by the U.S. Congress
1889 Clams containing pearls are found in the Sugar River in Wisconsin
1900 The first Davis Cup Tennis Tournament is held in Massachusetts@
August 9
1862 At the Battle of Cedar Mt., Virginia, Confederate General Stonewall Jackson defeats the Union army
1945 U.S. bombers drop an atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan
1974 President Richard M. Nixon resigns from office to avoid impeachment@
August 10
1790 The first American voyage circumnavigating the globe concludes in Boston Harbor with the return of the ship "Columbia"
1889 The skeleton of a thirty-six foot long and fifteen-foot high mammoth is found in St. James, Nebraska
1988 President Reagan signs legislation giving apologies and reparations to Japanese-Americans interred at camps in the U.S. during World War II@
August 11
1860 The first successful silver mill in the U.S. begins operation in Virginia City, Nevada
1941 Churchill and Roosevelt sign the Atlantic Charter which sets forth eight goals for the world and later will be the document establishing the United Nations
1994 Major League Baseball players walked out causing a stoppage of play for the first time since an owners lock out in 1985.@
August 12
1658 The first police force in the U.S. is established in New York City
1880 A great storm almost entirely destroys Brownsville, Texas and also does severe damage to the surrounding country
1970 The U.S. Post Office becomes an independent government corporation@
August 13
1608 John Smith's account of the early days of the Jamestown Colony is submitted for publication in London
1846 The first American flag is raised in Los Angeles, California
1994 Woodstock '94 took place in Saugerties, New York@
August 14
1919 A U.S. aeromarine flying boat carries the first air mail delivery at sea
1935 The Social Security Act is signed by President Roosevelt
1987 Mass deaths of bottle nose dolphins between New Jersey and Virginia puzzle scientists@
August 15
1790 Father John Carroll becomes the first U.S. Bishop of the Roman Catholic Church
1945 World War II in the Pacific ends (V-J Day)
1970 Patricia Palinkas, playing for the Orlando Panthers, is the first female professional football player@
August 16
1894 The chiefs of the Sioux and Onondaga tribes in America hold a meeting to urge their people to cast aside Christianity and return to the faith of their fathers
1965 Five days of civil rights rioting ends in Los Angeles, California
1987 A Northwest Airlines jet crashes near Detroit, killing 140 people@
August 17
1835 The wrench is patented by Solymon Merrick of Springfield, Massachusetts
1945 Korea is divided at the 38th parallel, and the U.S. occupies the southern portion
1959 Yellowstone National Park is rocked by an earthquake@
August 18
1587 The first English child is born in America
1969 Woodstock Music and Arts Festival, a three-day concert featuring a line-up of such bands as The Who, Crosby, Stills and Nash, Sly and The Family Stone, Canned Heat, and Jimi Hendrix, is held on Max Yasgur's Dairy Farm in Bethel, New York. The event is attended by 500,000 people and becomes the symbol of the counter-culture movement
1969 Senator Edward Kennedy is involved in an automobile accident that kills Mary Jo Kopechne@
August 19
1812 The American ship "Constitution" wins a naval battle against the British ship "Guerriere"
1942 The first American pilot to shoot down a German fighter plane is S. F. Junkin
1991 A hurricane cuts off electrical power to millions of homes from North Carolina to Maine. Two people are killed.@
August 20
1910 The first U.S. pilot to fire a gun from an airplane is J. E. Fickel of Sheepshead Bay, New York
1948 The first uniform birth registration system for numbering U.S. birth certificates goes into effect
1968 The last imperial pheasant in a U.S. zoo dies at the Bronx Zoo, New York@
August 21
1841 The venetian blind is patented by John Hampton of New Orleans, Louisiana
1912 The first boy scout to become an eagle scout is A. R. Eldred in Oceanside, New York
1959 Hawaii is admitted to the Union as the 50th state@
August 22
1886 William J. Kendall swims through the Niagara Rapids wearing a cork vest
1902 The first U.S. President to ride in an automobile is Theodore Roosevelt
1934 Public Enemy No. 1, John Dillinger, is shot by the FBI@
August 23
1775 King George III issues a proclamation declaring the American colonies to be in a state of open rebellion
1902 Fannie Farmer opened her famous cooking school in Boston, Massachusetts
1956 The first transcontinental helicopter flight begins@
August 24
1624 Sir Francis Wyatt is officially appointed governor of the royal Virginia Colony
1869 Cornelius Swartwout is granted a patent for the waffle-iron
1992 Hurricane Andrew strikes south Florida and Louisiana, causing major devastation@
August 25
1540 Hernando de Alarcon travels from Acapulco to the Gulf of California and journeys up the Colorado River
1814 The British destroy the U.S. Library of Congress and approximately 3,000 books
1940 The first parachute wedding takes place between Arno Rudolphi and Ann Hayward at the World's Fair amusement area in New York City@
August 26
1791 John Fitch and Nathan Read are issued a patent for the steamboat
1842 The July 1st fiscal year is mandated by Congress
1920 Under the 19th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, women receive the right to vote@
August 27
1859 Edwin L. Drake builds the first oil well in the country in Titusville, Pennsylvania
1950 All U.S. railroads are seized by the Army to prevent a strike
1962 NASA launches "Mariner 2" spacecraft to explore Venus@
August 28
1830 "Tom Thumb", the first locomotive built in America, runs from Baltimore to Ellicotts Mill
1904 The first jail sentence in the U.S. for auto speeding is handed down in Newport, Rhode Island
1963 Martin Luther King, Jr. gives his "I have a dream" speech at the March on Washington in Washington, D.C.@
August 29
1758 The New Jersey Legislature establishes the first Indian reservation on a tract of 1,600 acres
1909 The world's first air race, the Gordon Bennett Cup, is held in Rheims, France and is won by American Glenn Curtiss
1958 The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is created by President Eisenhower@
August 30
1862 In the second Battle of Bull Run, the Union is defeated
1932 The tenth Olympic Games open in Los Angeles, California
1983 The first African American astronaut to enter space is Lt. Colonel Guion Bluford, who traveled on the space shuttle "Challenger"@
August 31
1742 Swarms of grasshoppers destroy pastures and crops in Pennsylvania
1895 The first professional football game is played
1975 James Hoffa, former president of the Teamsters Union, is reported missing in Detroit@