August 14th
Today in America's Present Past
1559 | Explorer Tristan de Luna y Arellano lands in Pensacola Bay, Florida.
1765 | Massachusetts colonists challenged British rule by an Elm (Liberty Tree) that became a rallying image.
1784 | Indian Wars: Awa’uq Massacre.
1842 | Indian Wars: Second Seminole War declared over after nearly seven years.
1851 | Gunfighter Doc Holiday was born.
1852 | First Lady Margaret Taylor died.
1861 | Engineer Bion J. Arnold was born in Casanova, Michigan.
1862 | POTUS: Republican President Lincoln received the first group of African Americans (clerics, entrepreneurs, and educators) to confer with a US president.
1863 | Poet Ernest Thayer was born.
1870 | Admiral David Farragut died.
1873 | “Field & Stream" begins publishing.
1888 | Entrepreneur Charles Crocker died.
1890 | Cleric Fr. Michael J. McGivney died.
1903 | Entertainer John Ringling North was born.
1908 | Civil Rights: Race riot in Springfield, Illinois.
1911 | Journalist Ethel Lois Payne was born.
1913 | Entrepreneur Josephine Cochrane died.
1923 | Composer William Flanagan was born in Detroit, Michigan.
1929 | Writer Thomas Meehan was born.
1935 | POTUS: Democrat President Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act.
1936 | Outlaw Rainey Bethea publicly hanged.
1937 | The Appalachian Trail was formally completed from Georgia to Maine.
1941 | POTUS: Democrat President Roosevelt joins with British Prime Minister Churchill to issue the “Atlantic Charter.”
1945 | Actor Steve Martin was born.
1945 | WWII: Victory over Japan (V-J) Day.
1946 | Actor Antonio Fargas was born.
1947 | Author Danielle Steele was born.
1950 | Cartoonist Gary Larson was born.
1951 | Entrepreneur William Randolph Hearst died.
1952 | Architect C. Howard Crane died.
1959 | Basketball Pro Magic Johnson was born in Lansing, Michigan.
1962 | Civil Rights: Shady Grove Baptist Church burned in Leesburg, Georgia.
1963 | Musician Clyde Hurley died.
1966 | Actress Halle Berry was born.
1973 | Vietnam War: The U.S. ends its bombing of Cambodia.
1976 | Poet Jericho Brown was born.
1997 | War on Terror: Timothy McVeigh was sentenced to death for the Oklahoma City bombing.
2024 | Actress Gena Rowlands died.