Today In History - August 7

768 Stephen III begins his reign as the Catholic Pope
1498 Columbus arrives in the Caribbean
1620 Kepler's mother is arrested for witchcraft in an effort to discredit his work
1782 George Washington creates the Order of the Purple Heart
1789 The US War Department established
1819 The Battle of Boyac
1820 The first potatoes are planted in Hawaii
1882 Hatfield and McCoy feud: 100 wounded or die
1888 Theophilus Van Kannel of Philadelphia patents the revolving door
1893 The 53rd Congress convenes
1912 The Progressive (Bull Moose) Party nominates Theodore Roosevelt for president
1927 The Peace Bridge between US and Canada dedicated
1934 The US Court of Appeals upheld a lower court's ruling striking down the government's attempt to ban the controversial James Joyce novel "Ulysses"
1940 Largest amount paid for a stamp: $45,000
1941 551 Jews are shot in Kishnev ghetto in Romania
1942 The first American offensive in the Pacific in WW2: Guadalcanal
1946 The first coin bearing the portrait of a Negro is authorized
1953 Eastern Airlines enters the jet age by using Electra prop-jets
1954 Charles Mahoney becomes the first US black to serve as a full UN delegate
1957 Oliver Hardy, of Laurel and Hardy, dies at age 65
1959 Explorer 6 transmits the first TV photo of Earth from space
1960 The Ivory Coast gains independence from France
1960 Students stage "kneel-in" demonstrations in Atlanta churches
1961 Cosmonaut Gherman Titov orbits the Earth for a full day in Vostok 2
1963 Jacqueline Kennedy becomes the first, First Lady to give birth since Mrs. Cleveland
1964 The US Congress approves Gulf of Tonkin resolution
1966 Race riot in Lansing Michigan
1970 The first computer chess tournament is held
1970 Four people, including the presiding judge, are killed in a courthouse shootout in San Rafael, CA: Police accuse Angela Davis of providing the weapons used
1971 Apollo 15 returns to Earth
1974 Philippe Petit walks a tightrope strung between the twin towers of the World Trade Center
1976 The US Viking 2 goes into Martian orbit after an 11-month flight from Earth
1978 Thousands of mourners file past the body of Pope Paul VI
1983 The first World Track and Field Championships
1983 Bobby Murcer day at Yankee Stadium
1983 675,000 employees strike AT&T
1984 Japan beats the US for the Olympic gold medal in baseball
1985 Baseball players end a 2 day strike
1990 Desert Shield begins: US deploys troops: Saudi Arabia allows US troops on their soil to stop an Iraqi invasion
1991 Court rules that Manuel Noriega may access some secret US documents

Today In History - August 7

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