E08011291 the Everlasting League forms, forming the basis of the Swiss Confederation.
E08011774 Joseph Priestly succeeds in isolating oxygen from air.
E08011790 the first US Census is held. (4 million).
E08011794 the Whisky Rebellion.
E08011834 slavery is outlawed throughout the British empire.
E08011876 Colorado becomes the 38th state.
E08011896 George Harpo and Frank Samuelson reach the Isles of Sicily, taking 55 days to become the first to row across the Atlantic.
E08011946 President Truman establishes the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC).
E08011958 First Class postage goes from 3 to 4 cents.
E08011981 at 12:01am, ET, Music Television (MTV), goes on the air.
E08021776 members of the Continental Congress begin signing the Declaration of Independence.
E08021802 Napoleon is named "Consul for Life" by the French Senate.
E08021873 the first trial run of a San Francisco cable car, on Clay St. between Kearny & Jones (downhill all the way), at 4am.
E08021921 a Chicago jury acquitts several members of the White Sox of conspiracy to defraud the public in the "Black Sox" scandal.
E08021943 Navy LT. John Kennedy becomes a war hero by rescuing other crew members of PT-109 after it was hit by a Japanese destroyer.
E08021947 Thor Heyerdahl's Kon-Tiki lands in the Tuamotu Archipelago.
E08021983 the US House of Representatives votes to make the third Monday of January a federal holiday in honor of Martin Luther King.
E08021990 Iraq invades Kuwait; UN forces (mostly American and more than at the height of the Vietnam War), go to defend and eventually attack on 1/16/91.
E08031492 Christopher Columbus sets sail on the Nina, Pinta and the Santa Maria for 'the Indies'.
E08031914 Germany declares war on France in WWI.
E08031921 baseball commissioner Mountain Landis refuses to reinstate the White Sox players acquitted in the "Black Sox" scandal.
E08031949 the National Basketball Association (NBA) is formed.
E08041693 champagne is invented by Dom Perignon.
E08041735 a jury acquitts John Peter Zenger of seditious libel in a suit brought by the governor of New York.
E08041790 the United States Coast Guard is founded.
E08041830 plans for the city of Chicago are laid out.
E08041892 Lizzie Borden is arrested for the murder of her parents. She is later acquitted.
E08041943 General George Patton slaps a GI at an army hospital in Sicily, accusing him of cowardice.
E08041956 the nuclear submarine Nautilus crosses the North Pole under water.
E08051861 the US levies it's first Income Tax (3% of incomes over $800).
E08051864 the spectrum of a comet is observed for the first time by Giovanni Donati.
E08051864 Union Admiral David Farragut says, "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!" as he assaults Mobile Bay, AL.
E08051884 the cornerstone for the Statue of Liberty is laid.
E08051957 "American Bandstand" premieres on ABC-TV.
E08051962 Marilyn Monroe, actress, is found dead at age 36.
E08051963 the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty is signed.
E08051966 John Lennon declares the Beatles to be "more popular than Jesus".
E08051991 Sergei Bubka becomes the first to pole vault over 20 feet outdoors (20' 1/2").
E08051991 Soichiro Honda, automobile maker, dies at age 84.
E08061497 John Cabot returns to England after discovering Labrador.
E08061806 the Holy Roman Empire goes out of existence as Francis I abdicates.
E08061926 the first woman swims the English Channel.
E08061952 Satchel Paige becomes the oldest pitcher to pitch a complete game or a shutout, beating Detroit 1-0, at age 47.
E08071782 George Washington creates the Order of the Purple Heart.
E08071789 Congress establishes the US War Department.
E08071807 the first servicable steamboat, the Cleremont, goes on it's first voyage.
E08071942 the Marines land on Guadalcanal.
E08071956 the largest crowd in minor league baseball history, 57,000, watch Satchel Paige of Miami beat Columbus in the Orange Bowl.
E08071964 Congress passes the Tonkin Resolution, the official start of the Vietnam war.
E08080117 Hadrian succeeds Trajan as Roman Emperor, inheriting the biggest-ever Roman Empire.
E08081814 peace negotiations begin in Ghent, Belgium (War of 1812).
E08081815 Napoleon Bonaparte is exiled to St. Helena island.
E08081844 Bringham Young is chosen as leader of the Mormon Church after Joseph Smith is killed.
E08081876 Thomas Edison patents the mimeograph machine.
E08081900 the first Davis Cup tennis matches are held in Boston.
E08081940 the Battle of Britain begins in World War II.
E08081963 the Great Train Robbery takes place in England when thieves get away with 2.6 million pounds in bank notes.
E08081991 Englishman John McCarthy is freed after more than five years of captivity in Lebanon.
E08091842 the US-Canadian border is defined by the Webster-Ashburton Treaty.
E08091974 Richard Nixon resigns the presidency.
E08101821 Missouri becomes the 24th state.
E08101846 the Smithsonian Institute is established.
E08101970 Jim Morrison's obscenity trial begins in Miami.
E08101981 Pete Rose breaks Stan Musial's baseball record of 3,630 hits.
E08111934 the first prisoners arrive at Alcatraz Prison.
E08111991 American Edward Tracy is released after being held hostage for nearly five years in Lebanon.
E08121851 Issac Singer patents his sewing machine.
E08121898 Hawaii is formally annexed to the United States.
E08121972 the last US combat troops leave Vietnam.
E08121976 Nolan Ryan strikes out number 2,500, Buddy Bell of Cleveland.
E08121981 IBM introduces their first personal computer (PC).
E08131521 Hernando Cortez captures present-day Mexico City from the Aztec's.
E08131889 William Gray patents the coin-operated telephone.
E08131919 Man o' War loses his only horse race, to Upset.
E08131935 the first Roller Derby is held in Chicago by Leo Seltzer.
E08131961 East Germany seals off West Berlin from East Berlin.
E08141846 Henry David Thoreau is jailed for tax resistance.
E08141885 the hamburger is invented by Charlie Nagreen in Seymour, WI.
E08141900 international forces, including US Marines, enter Beijing to put down the Boxer Rebellion.
E08141917 China declares war on Germany in WWI.
E08141935 the US Social Security Law is enacted.
E08141941 Roosevelt and Churchill sign the Atlantic Charter.
E08141945 VJ Day - Japan surrenders to end World War II.
E08141959 the formation of the American Football League (AFL) is announced in Chicago with play to begin in 1960.
E08141977 the largest crowd in American soccer history (77,961) watches the New York Cosmos (with Pele) defeat the Ft. Lauderdale Strikers 8-3 in a playoff game.
E08151914 the Panama Canal opens to traffic.
E08151918 the US and Russia sever diplomatic ties.
E08151939 "The Wizard of Oz" premieres in Hollywood.
E08151945 wartime rationing of gasoline and fuel oil ends.
E08151947 India gains its independence from England.
E08151961 work begins on the Berlin Wall.
E08151969 the Woodstock Festival opens in New York.
E08151979 Led Zeppelin releases "In Through the Out Door".
E08151987 the Halton septuplets are born in England.
E08151991 more than 750,000 people watch a concert by Paul Simon in New York's Central Park.
E08161896 gold is discovered in Bonanza Creek, Alaska.
E08161971 Grand Funk Railroad releases "Gimme Shelter".
E08161978 James Earl Ray denies killing Martin Luther King, saying he was set up by a mystery man named "Raoul".
E08171786 Prussian King Frederick the Great dies at age 74.
E08171807 Robert Fulton makes the first practical steamboat trip; New York City to Albany, 150 miles in 32 hrs aboard the Clermont.
E08171943 the Allied forces gain contol of Sicily in WWII.
E08181835 the last of the Pottawatomie Indians leave Chicago.
E08181969 the Woodstock Festival finally closes (18 hours late with Jimi Hendrix finishing) in front of 20,000 people.
E08181987 American Charles Glass escapes after two months of captivity in Lebanon.
E08191812 the USS Constitution (Old Ironsides) defeats the British frigate Guerriere in a naval battle east of Nova Scotia.
E08191848 the New York Herald reports the discovery of gold in California.
E08191929 "Amos and Andy" premieres on NBC radio.
E08191960 Francis Gary Powers is convicted of spying by the USSR.
E08191968 NBC-TV broadcasts the last episode of "The Monkees".
E08191991 President Mikhail Gorbachev is overthrown in a coup in the Soviet Union.
E08201667 John Milton's `Paradise Lost' is first published.
E08201866 President Andrew Johnson officially declares the Civil War over.
E08201940 Winston Churchill pays tribute to the Royal Air Force, saying, "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few."
E08201968 the Soviet Union invades Czechoslovakia to end the liberalization drive of leader Alexander Dubcek.
E08201974 Nolan Ryan makes the `Guiness Book of World Records', throwing a pitch at 100.9 miles per hour in a regular season baseball game.
E08201977 Voyager II is launched.
E08201979 swimmer Diana Nyad becomes the first woman to swim from the Bahamas to Florida in 27 hours and 38 minutes.
E08211858 the famous debates began between senatorial contenders Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas begin.
E08211959 Hawaii becomes the 50th state.
E08211968 the Soviet Union invades Czechoslovakia to stop the Czech revolution.
E08211991 Mikhail Gorbachev is restored to power in the Soviet Union.
E08221762 Ann Franklin becomes the first female editor of an American newspaper, the Mercury of Newport, RI.
E08221787 John Fitch's steamboat completes it's tests, years before Fulton builds his steamboat.
E08221902 Teddy Roosevelt becomes the first president to ride in an automobile.
E08221911 the Louvre Museum announces the "Mona Lisa" had been stolen the night before. It is found two years later in Italy.
E08221950 Althea Gibson becomes the first black tennis player to be accepted to play for the national championship.
E08221989 Nolan Ryan strikes out batter number 5,000, Rickey Henderson of Oakland.
E08231889 the first ship-to-shore wireless message is received in the US: a US lightship to Cliff House in San Francisco.
E08231914 Japan declares war on Germany in WWI.
E08231927 Sacco and Vanzetti are executed for murder.
E08231972 Grand Funk Railroad releases "Rock & Roll Soul".
E08231973 ABC-TV broadcasts the last episode of "The Mod Squad".
E08240410 King Alaric and the Visigoths invade and sack Rome.
E08241814 the British invade and sack Washington, DC.
E08241869 the waffle iron is invented.
E08241909 workers start pouring concrete for the Panama Canal.
E08241932 Amelia Earhart becomes the first woman to fly non-stop across the US, going from Los Angeles to Newark in 19 hours.
E08241949 the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, (NATO), is established.
E08241968 France explodes their first thermonuclear hydrogen bomb.
E08241991 Mikahil Gorbachev quits the Russian Communist Party and dissolves the Party's Central Committee, effectively ending the Communist Party in Russia.
E08251916 the National Park Service is established.
E08251944 Paris is liberated from Nazi occupation in WWII.
E08251974 Nolan Ryan strikes out number 1,500, Sandy Alomar of the Yankees.
E08251981 Voyager II flies past Saturn.
E08251989 Voyager II flies past Neptune.
E08260055 B.C. - the Romans under Julius Caesar invade England.
E08261629 the Cambridge Agreement is pledged. The Massachusetts Bay Co. stockholders agree to emigrate to New England.
E08261791 John Fitch is granted a US patent for his working steamboat.
E08261859 the first successful oil well is drilled near Titusville, PA., by Edwin Drake.
E08261920 the 19th Amendment is ratified, giving women the right to vote.
E08261939 NBC-TV televises the first Major League baseball game (Cincinnati and Brooklyn split a double-header.)
E08261957 the USSR announces it has successfully tested an intercontinental ballistic missle.
E08271793 Robespierre is elected to the "Committee of Public Safety" in France.
E08271883 Krakatoa, east, of Java, erupts.
E08271928 the Kellogg-Briand Pact is signed, where 60 nations agree to outlaw war.
E08271962 the US launches the Mariner II space probe, which flies by Venus in December.
E08281609 Henry Hudson discovers Delaware Bay.
E08281922 the first radio commercial airs on WEAF in New York City. (The Queensboro Realty Co. pays $100 for a 10-minute spot.)
E08281963 200,000 people march on Washington, DC., where Martin Luther King, Jr. delivers his "I Have A Dream" speech.
E08281968 police and anti-war demonstrators clash outside the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
E08281978 John Paul I is named pope.
E08291533 Atahualpa, the last Incan King of Peru, dies.
E08291842 England defeats China in the Opium War.
E08291893 Whitcomb Judson patents the zipper.
E08291896 chop suey is invented in New York City.
E08301862 Confederate forces defeat the Union forces at the Second Battle of Bull Run.
E08301905 Ty Cobb makes his major league debut.
E08301941 the siege of Lenengrad begins.
E08301966 NBC-TV broadcasts the last episode of "Dr. Kildare".
E08301968 the Beatles release "Hey Jude", b/w "Revolution".
E08301979 the first recorded occurrance of a comet hitting the sun (the energy released was about equal to 1 million hydrogen bombs).
E08311881 the first US tennis championships are held in Newport, RI.
E08311887 Thomas Edison patents the Kinetoscope, which produced moving pictures.
E08311978 Nolan Ryan strikes out number 2,000, Ron LeFlore of Detroit.
E08311980 the Solidarity Labor Union in Poland is founded.
;
; Disasters/Accidents/Deaths
;
D08011966 Charles Whitman kills 16 people and injures 30 while sniping from the tower at the University of Texas.
D08021876 (Wild) Bill Hickock, frontiersman, dies.
D08021921 Enrico Caruso, opera singer, dies.
D08021923 Warren G. Harding, the 29th President, dies at age 57.
D08021979 Thurman Munson, baseball player, dies.
D08021985 137 people are killed when a Delta Airlines jet crashes at Dallas/Ft. Worth International Airport.
D08031973 Flash fire kills 51 at amusement park. (Isle of Man, U.K.)
D08031975 At least 500 drowned when 2 river boats collided and sank in China's West River.
D08041875 Hans Christian Andersen, author, dies at age 70.
D08041984 Richard Burton, actor, dies at age 58.
D08041991 Jeri Southern, musician, dies at age 64.
D08051895 Friedrich Engels, philosopher, dies at age 74.
D08051991 Paul Brown, football coach/owner, dies at age 82.
D08061945 the atom bomb is dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, by the `Enola Gay'.
D08061951 Flooding caused by typhoons kills some 4,800 in Manchuria.
D08061991 Harry Reasoner, journalist, dies at age 68.
D08071882 the Hatfield/McCoy feud, which eventually claims more than 100 victims, begins.
D08081868 Quake that destroyed Arica, Chile disenterred bodies in the cementary and stood them upright overlooking the survivors.
D08081956 Fire & explosion kills 263 Belgian & Italian miners at Marcinelle, Belgium.
D08081991 Sam Goody, record store owner, dies at age 87.
D08081991 James Irwin, astronaut, dies at age 61.
D08091945 the atom bomb is dropped on Nagasaki, Japan.
D08091969 the Charles Manson "family" murders Sharon Tate (age 26), Steven Earl Parent (age 18), Abigail Folger (age 25), Voytek Frykowski (age 32) and Jay Sebring (age 35).
D08091970 Peruvian Airlines jet carrying 45 U.S. exchange students exploded in flight killing all 91 aboard, except the co-pilot.
D08101856 Hurricane washes away 2-300 revelers at Last Island, Louisiana.
D08101887 Excursion train crashed through burning bridge. Kerosene lamps burned the wreckage, killing 101. (Chatsworth, Illinois)
D08101969 the Charles Manson "family" murders Leno (age 44) and Rosemary LaBianca (age 38).
D08101991 John Abt, lawyer, dies at age 87.
D08111772 Explosive eruption blows 4,000 feet off the summit of Papandayan, Java, killing more than 3,000.
D08111956 Jackson Pollack, artist, dies at age 44.
D08111965 the Watts' riots in Los Angeles, ends with $200 million in damages, with 34 people are killed and more than 1,000 injured.
D08111974 Head-on collision between two buses killed 21. (Ankara, Turkey)
D08111991 J.D. McDuffie, race car driver, dies at age 52.
D08121985 520 people are killed when a JAL 747 crashes into a mountain in Japan.
D08131868 Series of quakes kills 25,000 & causes $300 million damages in areas of Arequipa, Tacna, & Chincha. (Peru & Equador)
D08131939 Sabotage was suspected in the crash of the 'City of San Francisco' which fell into the Humboldt River killing 24. (Elko, Nevada)
D08131991 Jack Ryan, inventor of the Barbie doll and air-to-air missles, dies at age 65.
D08141958 Gladys Presley, Elvis' mother, dies.
D08141958 KLM Superconstellation crashed west of Ireland, killing 99.
D08141972 East German charter to Bulgaria crashes S.E. of Berlin. 156 die
