August 1, 1770 - William
Clark of the Lewis and Clark expedition fame, was
born. They explored the lands purchased from France called "The Louisiana
Purchase."
August 1, 1781 - British
forces, numbering 10,000 under General Cornwallis' comand
occupied Yorktown, VA. The battle that followed was won by the Patriots,
but it took two years for the peace Treaty between England and the new United
States to be drawn up and signed.
August 1, 1785 - Caroline
Herschel discovered a comet, probably the first woman to do so.
Herschel was born in Germany, but later joined her older brother in England. He
was Astronomer to King George III. She became his assistant and discovered
several comets. One is named for her: 35P/Herschel-Rigollet. George III put her
on his payroll for fifty pounds a year as William's assistant.
August 1, 1779 - Francis
Scott Key, who wrote "The Star Spangled Banner," was
born.
August 1, 1818 - Maria
Mitchell was born. She too was an astronomer and she discovered a
comet in 1847. She was taught by her father and assisted him from the age of
twelve. She taught at Vassar.
August 2, 1850 -
The Underground Railroad was started by William Still.
August 5, 1876 - Mary
Ritter Beard, an historian, archivist, women's suffrage
activist and reformer, was born. She was married to the historian Charles
Beard and they wrote books together. Beard worked for the New
York Suffrage Party and the World Center for Women's Archives.
August 6, 1965 - President
Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Voting Rights Bill into
law.
August 7, 1907 - Dr.
Ralph J. Bunche, the first African-American Nobel Peace Prize
winner, was born. He later served in the Department of State and in
several positions at the United Nations. See below.
August 9, 1974 - President
Richard M. Nixon resigned, the first and only president to so do, in
the wake of the Watergate scandal and cover-up.
August 9, 1978 - President
Jimmy Carter signed a $1.6 billion bailout for New York City.
August 10 ,1989 -
Then Gen. Colin Powell was nominated to be the Chairman of the
Joint Chiefs of Staff, the first African-American to hold that position. He
later served as Secretary of State.
August 10, 1993 - Ruth
Bader Ginsburg, Esq. was sworn in by President William J. Clinton as a
Supreme Court Justice becoming only the second woman and the first Jewish
woman to serve on the Court. There are now three women Supreme Court
Justices.
August 14, 1863 - President
Abraham Lincolnwelcomed and spoke to an African-American audiencein
the White House.
August 14, 1935 - President
Franklin D. Rooseveltsigned the Social Security Act into
law. It was part of the New Deal, following the "Great
Depression."
August 17, 1807 - The
Clermont, Robert Fulton's steamboat, made its first trip, traveling from
Manhattan up the Hudson River to Albany, ushering in a transformative era in
transportation and commerce. It was not the first steamboat, but it was the
first commercially successful one in the United States.
August 17, 1978 - Three
Americans landed outside Paris, completing the first successful crossing of
the Atlantic Ocean in a balloon. The trip from Maine to France took six days.
August 18, 1774 -
Meriwether Lewis, Clark's partner, was born.
August 19, 1893 -
Designer and taste maker Coco Chanel was born. She
revolutionized the way women dress in the years after World War II and had a
great influence on haute couture. Chanel was the only person in her industry to
be in Time Magazine's 100 most influential
people of the 20th century.
August 19, 1933 -
Service began on the IND subway in New York City.
August 19, 1954 - Dr.
Bunche was named Undersecretary of the United Nations.
August 21, 1959 - Hawaii became
the 50th state.
August 22, 1893 - Writer
and humorist Dorothy Parkerwas born. She was one of a group of
prominent writers who met at the Algonquin Hotel in Manhattan and sat at the
famous "Round Table." Parker was one of the writers for
the script of the 1937 "A Star is Born," starring
Janet Gaynor. A 1954 musical version starred Judy Garland. She wrote
for various publications. Barbra Streisand starred in the 1976
version.
Editor's
Note: one of my aunts
worked in publishing and had lunch with her a few times at the "Round
Table"!
August 23, 1956 - Elvis
Presley's recording of "Hound Dog" topped the charts.
August 24,1814 -
British forces marched into Washington, D. C. during the War
of 1812. When First Lady, Dolley Madison fled the White House, she
took the famous Gilbert Stuart portrait of George Washington with her.
The White House and the Library of Congress were burned. In 2003,
Tony Blair, then Prime Minister of Great Britain, in a speech to the
U. S. Congress, apologized!
August 25, 1928 - Admiral
Richard Byrd left on an expedition to the South Pole on the ice
breaker the "City of New York."
August 26, 1920 - The
19th Amendment to the U. S. Constitution was ratified. It granted women
the right to vote. This was the end of a long road which began
with a Women's Rights meeting in Seneca Falls, New York in 1848. President
Woodrow Wilson had announced his support for women's suffrage in 1918.
August 26, 1935 -
Geraldine Ferraro, a lawyer, teacher and writer who was the first woman nominated
to be Vice President of the United States, was born. She served
in the House of Representatives. She was also the first Italian-American
to be on a ticket. Ferraro ran on the ticket with Vice President
Walter Mondale in 1984. They lost to Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush.
Ms. Ferraro died in March of this year.
August 26, 1971 -
Congress recognized this date as"Women's Equality Day." On
this date in 1920. Congress passed the 19th amendment to the Constitutution
giving women the right to vote.
August 28, 1963 - The
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his renowned "I Have
a Dream" speech in Washington, D, C. before many , many thousands
of people. It is known as "The March on Washington, D.C."
August 31, 1774 - John
and Sam Adams, cousins, arrived in Philadelphia as delegates to the
Continental Congress.
August 31, 1803 - Lewis set
out from Pittsburgh on the first leg of the Lewis and Clark expedition. He
joined up with Clark on October 13th. The goal was to explore the
Louisiana Purchase territory which had been bought from France. Their guides
included a part Native American fur trapper and his Native American wife,
Sacagawea. She was the translator for part of the journey as well as a
guide.
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