EVENTS
- 1782 – George Washington institutes the Purple Heart. Then known as the Badge of Military Merit, the Purple Heart is a military decoration. In 1932, on the 200th birth anniversary of Washington, it was decided that the award would be given to those wounded or killed while serving in the United States Armed Forces as a result of enemy action on or after April 5, 1917. August 7 is annually observed as Purple Heart Day in the United States.
- 1819 – Simon Bolivar triumphs over Spain in the Battle of Boyac.
Battle of Boyac - 1990 – Fun Date: At 12:34:56 the time and date was 12:34:56 7/8/90 i.e. 1234567890.
- 1960 – Ivory Coast Independence. The West African country known as Côte d’Ivoire gained its independence from France after being a member of the French Community for 2 years. Ivory Coast became a French Colony in 1893 under the leadership of explorer Louis Gustave Binger. Felix Houphouet-Boigny became the first president of the independent country and remained in office until his death in 1993.
- 1964 – During the Vietnam War, following an attack on two U.S. destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin off North Vietnam, the U.S. Congress approved the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, granting President Lyndon B. Johnson authority “to take all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against the forces of the United States and to prevent further aggression.”
- 1974 – Daredevil Walks a High Wire Between Twin Towers of the World Trade Center. French high-wire artist Philippe Petit, who was 24 years old at the time, walked 8 times across a high wire between the two towers in 45 minutes. The high wire was was 1,350 feet from the ground.
- 1990 – Just five days after the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, President George Bush ordered Desert Shield, a massive military buildup to prevent further Iraqi advances. This became the Gulf War.
- 1998 – Coordinated bomb attacks in American embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and Nairobi, Kenya kill over 200 people. Responsibility for the twin attacks in the capital cities was taken by an Al-Qaeda affiliate Egyptian Islamic Jihad.
- 2004 – Pitcher Greg Maddux won his 300th baseball game.
- 2008 – War Between Russia and Georgia breaks out. The conflict began over South Ossetia and Abkhazia, two breakaway regions of Georgia. When the two provinces broke away from Georgia in the early 1990s and most of the international community did not recognize their independence. Russia on the other hand, backed them and placed peacekeeping forces in the two regions. In 2008, tensions escalated between the two countries after Russia moved a large number of troops in the area. The war ended with Russian victory and with Georgia losing parts of South Ossetia and Abkhazia to Russia.
BIRTHDAYS
- 1742 – Nathanael Greene (Revolutionary General)
- 1876 – International spy Mata Hari (1876-1917) was born (as Margaret Gertrude Zelle) in Leewarden, Netherlands
- 1904 – African-American statesman and Nobel Prize recipient Ralph J (Bunche (1904-1971) was born in Detroit, Michigan
- 1942 – Garrison Keillor (Writer)
- 1958 – Bruce Dickinson (English singer-songwriter, guitarist, actor)
- 1960 – David Duchovney (Actor)
- 1975 – Charlize Theron (Actress)
Charlize Theron - 1975 – David Hicks (Australian alleged terrorist)
- 1987 – Sidney Crosby (Hockey player)
DEATHS
- 1938 – Constantin Stanislavski (Russian actor, director)
- 1941 – Rabindranath Tagore (Indian author, poet, Nobel Prize laureate)
- 1957 – Oliver Hardy (American comedian, actor)
Oliver Hardy - 2005 – Peter Jennings (Canadian/American journalist)
- 2011 – Mark Hatfield (American politician)
