August 7th
Today in America's Present Past
1726 | Revolutionary War leader James Bowdoin was born.
1742 | General Nathanael Greene was born.
1760 Indian Wars: Ft Loudon, Tennessee, surrenders to the Cherokee Indians.
1782 | War of Independence: George Washington creates two Honorary Badges of Distinction and a Badge of Military Merit (now the Purple Heart). It was the first time military awards were presented to ordinary soldiers.
1789 | Congress: created the Department of War.
1795 | Poet Joseph Rodman Drake was born.
1864 | Civil War: Battle of Moorefield, West Virginia.
1904 | Nobel Laureate and diplomat Ralph Bunche was born in Detroit, Michigan.
1910 | Cleric Clark Poling was born.
1911 | Director Nicholas Ray was born.
1930 | Civil Rights: A large mob estimated at 2,000 lynched two young black men, Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith, in Marion, Indiana.
1934 | A U.S. Court of Appeals upheld a lower court ruling striking down the government's attempt to ban the James Joyce novel "Ulysses.”
1939 | Entrepreneur Howard Hughes was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal.
1942 | Radio personality Garrison Keillor was born.
1946 | A half-dollar commemorative coin of Booker T. Washington is minted.
1948 | Scientist James Allison was born.
1957 | Congress: The Senate passed the Civil Rights Act of 1957.
1957 | Comedian Oliver Hardy died.
1959 | Poet Peter Gizzi was born in Alma, Michigan.
1964 | Congress: Passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution.
1966 | Civil Rights: Race riot in Lansing, Michigan.
1966 | Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales was born.
1968 | Civil Rights: Miami, Florida, race riots.
1990 | War on Terror: The U.S. deploys troops to Saudi Arabia, beginning Operation Desert Shield.
2005 | Journalist Peter Jennings died.
2010 | SCOTUS: Justice Elena Kagan was sworn in.
2022 | Historian and author David McCullough died.