August 7
1782 - Gen. George Washington created the Order of the Purple Heart, a decoration to recognize merit in enlisted men and noncommissioned officers.
1789 - Congress established the U.S. War Department.
1912 - The Progressive Party nominated Theodore Roosevelt for president.
1942 - U.S. forces landed at Guadalcanal, marking the start of the first major allied offensive in the Pacific during World War II.
1947 - The wooden raft Kon-Tiki, which carried Thor Heyerdahl and five companions more than 4,000 miles across the Pacific Ocean, crashed into a reef.
1959 - The United States launched Explorer 6, which sent back a picture of Earth.
1964 - Congress passed the Tonkin Gulf Resolution, which expanded President Lyndon B. Johnson's use of military powers in the Vietnam War.
1971 - The Apollo 15 moon mission ended successfully as its command module splashed down in the Pacific Ocean.
1974 - French stuntman Philippe Petit walked a tightrope strung between the twin towers of New York's World Trade Center.
1987 - Lynne Cox became the first person to swim from the United States to the Soviet Union, making the 2.7 mile trip through the frigid waters of the Bering Strait. Cox is surprised by the relatively warm welcome she receives from the Soviets.
1989 - A plane carrying U.S. Rep. Mickey Leland, D-Texas, and 14 others disappeared over Ethiopia. (The wreckage of the plane was found six days later; there were no survivors.)
1990 - President George H.W. Bush ordered U.S. troops and warplanes to Saudi Arabia to guard the oil-rich desert kingdom against a possible invasion by Iraq.
1998 - American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were bombed by terrorists, killing 224 and injuring more than 5,500.
2000 - Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore selected Connecticut Sen. Joseph Lieberman as his running mate, the first Jewish candidate on a major party ticket.
2008 - Georgia shelled the capital of breakaway republic South Ossetia. (Russia responded by occupying much of Georgia in a five-day war.)
2008 - A U.S. military jury at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base gave Osama bin Laden’s driver a surprisingly light 5-1/2-year sentence for aiding terrorism, making him eligible for parole in just five months. (The U.S. later transferred Salim Hamdan to his home country of Yemen, which released him in January 2009.)
2009 - Former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin accused President Barack Obama of proposing a "death panel" that would decide who receives treatment in his health care plan.
2010 - Elena Kagan was sworn in as the 112th justice and fourth woman to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court.
2011 - The Treasury Department announced that Secretary Timothy Geithner had told President Barack Obama he would remain on the job, ending speculation he would leave the administration.
2012 - Jared Lee Loughner agreed to spend the rest of his life in prison, accepting that he went on a deadly shooting rampage at an Arizona political gathering in 2011 and sparing the victims a lengthy, possibly traumatic death-penalty trial.
2015 - Colorado theater shooter James Holmes was spared the death penalty in favor of life in prison after a jury in Centennial failed to agree on whether he should be executed for his murderous attack on a packed movie premiere that left 12 people dead.
2016 - An accident on a 17-story waterslide at Schlitterbahn Waterpark in Kansas City, Kansas, claimed the life of a 10-year-old boy.
Birthdays
22 - Sydney McLaughlin (track & field athlete)
23 - Jalen Hurts (football player)
24 - Kyler Murray (football player)
24 - Evaluna Montaner (singer)
25 - Liam James (actor)
25 - Brett Gray (actor)
30 - Mike Trout (baseball player)
31 - Helen Flanagan (actress)
32 - DeMar DeRozan (basketball player)
34 - Sidney Crosby (hockey player)
38 - Tina O'Brien (actress)
40 - Randy Wayne (actor)
42 - Eric Johnson (actor)
46 - Charlize Theron (actress)
47 - Michael Shannon (actor)
49 - Greg Serano (actor)
54 - Charlotte Lewis (actress)
55 - David Mann (actor)
58 - Harold Perrineau (actor)
60 - Maggie Wheeler (actress)
61 - David Duchovny (actor)
63 - Bruck Dickinson (singer)
66 - Wayne Knight (actor)
69 - Caroline Aaron (actress)
71 - Alan Keyes (TV host)
77 - David Rasche (actor)
77 - John Glover (actor)
78 - Lana Cantrell (singer)
79 - Tobin Bell (actor)
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Today in Sports History - August 7
1936 - Twenty-two nations began play in the inaugural basketball competition in the Olympic Games. The first Olympic basketball game saw Estonia defeat France 34-29.
1956 - Satchel Paige, age 51, of the Miami Marlins, wins a game before the largest crowd in minor league history (57,000). The Marlins defeated the Columbus Jets in their International League matchup held at Miami's Orange Bowl.
1968 - In his major league debut, Joe Keough of the Oakland Athletics hit a home run in his first at-bat.
1972 - Yogi Berra, Sandy Koufax, Lefty Gomez, Early Wynn, Josh Gibson, Will Harridge, Buck Leonard and Ross Youngs are inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
1978 - Eddie Mathews, Addie Joss and Larry MacPhail are inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
1984 - The United States wins its first ever Olympic gold medal in women's basketball with an 85-55 win over South Korea.
1985 - A five-year agreement between the major league baseball players union and team owners ended a two-day mid-season player strike. The season resumed the next day.
1987 - The Pittsburgh Pirates retired Bill Mazeroski's #9.
1991 - The American men's 4x100 relay team of Carl Lewis, Mike Marsh, Leroy Burrell an Dennis Mitchell sets a world record wih a time of 37.67 seconds at the World Track & Field Championships in Zurich, Switzerland.
1999 - Wade Boggs of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays collects his 3,000th career hit and becomes the first player in MLB history to record his 3,000th hit on a home run.
2002 - Major league baseball players and owners agreed on the sport's first tests for steroids.
2004 - Greg Maddux of the Chicago Cubs earns his 300th career win.
2005 - American sprinter Justin Gatlin wins the 100 meter dash at the World Track & Field Championships in Helsinki, Finland with a time of 9.88 seconds.
2007 - Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants hits his 756th career home run, breaking Hank Aaron's record and becoming Major League Baseball's all-time home run leader.
2010 - Jerry Rice, Emmitt Smith, John Randle, Russ Grimm, Rickey Jackson, Floyd Little and Dick LeBeau are inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
2016 - Ichiro Suzuki of the Miami Marlins becomes the 30th player in MLB history to record 3,000 career hits.
2016 - Jim Furyk became the first golfer to shoot a 58 in PGA Tour history during the Travelers Championship in Connecticut with a 12-under 58 in the final round. (Furyk finished tied for fifth at 11 under, three strokes behind winner Russell Knox.) He also became the first player in Tour history to shoot to sub-60 rounds.
1782 - Gen. George Washington created the Order of the Purple Heart, a decoration to recognize merit in enlisted men and noncommissioned officers.
1789 - Congress established the U.S. War Department.
1912 - The Progressive Party nominated Theodore Roosevelt for president.
1942 - U.S. forces landed at Guadalcanal, marking the start of the first major allied offensive in the Pacific during World War II.
1947 - The wooden raft Kon-Tiki, which carried Thor Heyerdahl and five companions more than 4,000 miles across the Pacific Ocean, crashed into a reef.
1959 - The United States launched Explorer 6, which sent back a picture of Earth.
1964 - Congress passed the Tonkin Gulf Resolution, which expanded President Lyndon B. Johnson's use of military powers in the Vietnam War.
1971 - The Apollo 15 moon mission ended successfully as its command module splashed down in the Pacific Ocean.
1974 - French stuntman Philippe Petit walked a tightrope strung between the twin towers of New York's World Trade Center.
1987 - Lynne Cox became the first person to swim from the United States to the Soviet Union, making the 2.7 mile trip through the frigid waters of the Bering Strait. Cox is surprised by the relatively warm welcome she receives from the Soviets.
1989 - A plane carrying U.S. Rep. Mickey Leland, D-Texas, and 14 others disappeared over Ethiopia. (The wreckage of the plane was found six days later; there were no survivors.)
1990 - President George H.W. Bush ordered U.S. troops and warplanes to Saudi Arabia to guard the oil-rich desert kingdom against a possible invasion by Iraq.
1998 - American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were bombed by terrorists, killing 224 and injuring more than 5,500.
2000 - Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore selected Connecticut Sen. Joseph Lieberman as his running mate, the first Jewish candidate on a major party ticket.
2008 - Georgia shelled the capital of breakaway republic South Ossetia. (Russia responded by occupying much of Georgia in a five-day war.)
2008 - A U.S. military jury at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base gave Osama bin Laden’s driver a surprisingly light 5-1/2-year sentence for aiding terrorism, making him eligible for parole in just five months. (The U.S. later transferred Salim Hamdan to his home country of Yemen, which released him in January 2009.)
2009 - Former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin accused President Barack Obama of proposing a "death panel" that would decide who receives treatment in his health care plan.
2010 - Elena Kagan was sworn in as the 112th justice and fourth woman to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court.
2011 - The Treasury Department announced that Secretary Timothy Geithner had told President Barack Obama he would remain on the job, ending speculation he would leave the administration.
2012 - Jared Lee Loughner agreed to spend the rest of his life in prison, accepting that he went on a deadly shooting rampage at an Arizona political gathering in 2011 and sparing the victims a lengthy, possibly traumatic death-penalty trial.
2015 - Colorado theater shooter James Holmes was spared the death penalty in favor of life in prison after a jury in Centennial failed to agree on whether he should be executed for his murderous attack on a packed movie premiere that left 12 people dead.
2016 - An accident on a 17-story waterslide at Schlitterbahn Waterpark in Kansas City, Kansas, claimed the life of a 10-year-old boy.
Birthdays
22 - Sydney McLaughlin (track & field athlete)
23 - Jalen Hurts (football player)
24 - Kyler Murray (football player)
24 - Evaluna Montaner (singer)
25 - Liam James (actor)
25 - Brett Gray (actor)
30 - Mike Trout (baseball player)
31 - Helen Flanagan (actress)
32 - DeMar DeRozan (basketball player)
34 - Sidney Crosby (hockey player)
38 - Tina O'Brien (actress)
40 - Randy Wayne (actor)
42 - Eric Johnson (actor)
46 - Charlize Theron (actress)
47 - Michael Shannon (actor)
49 - Greg Serano (actor)
54 - Charlotte Lewis (actress)
55 - David Mann (actor)
58 - Harold Perrineau (actor)
60 - Maggie Wheeler (actress)
61 - David Duchovny (actor)
63 - Bruck Dickinson (singer)
66 - Wayne Knight (actor)
69 - Caroline Aaron (actress)
71 - Alan Keyes (TV host)
77 - David Rasche (actor)
77 - John Glover (actor)
78 - Lana Cantrell (singer)
79 - Tobin Bell (actor)
==============================================
Today in Sports History - August 7
1936 - Twenty-two nations began play in the inaugural basketball competition in the Olympic Games. The first Olympic basketball game saw Estonia defeat France 34-29.
1956 - Satchel Paige, age 51, of the Miami Marlins, wins a game before the largest crowd in minor league history (57,000). The Marlins defeated the Columbus Jets in their International League matchup held at Miami's Orange Bowl.
1968 - In his major league debut, Joe Keough of the Oakland Athletics hit a home run in his first at-bat.
1972 - Yogi Berra, Sandy Koufax, Lefty Gomez, Early Wynn, Josh Gibson, Will Harridge, Buck Leonard and Ross Youngs are inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
1978 - Eddie Mathews, Addie Joss and Larry MacPhail are inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
1984 - The United States wins its first ever Olympic gold medal in women's basketball with an 85-55 win over South Korea.
1985 - A five-year agreement between the major league baseball players union and team owners ended a two-day mid-season player strike. The season resumed the next day.
1987 - The Pittsburgh Pirates retired Bill Mazeroski's #9.
1991 - The American men's 4x100 relay team of Carl Lewis, Mike Marsh, Leroy Burrell an Dennis Mitchell sets a world record wih a time of 37.67 seconds at the World Track & Field Championships in Zurich, Switzerland.
1999 - Wade Boggs of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays collects his 3,000th career hit and becomes the first player in MLB history to record his 3,000th hit on a home run.
2002 - Major league baseball players and owners agreed on the sport's first tests for steroids.
2004 - Greg Maddux of the Chicago Cubs earns his 300th career win.
2005 - American sprinter Justin Gatlin wins the 100 meter dash at the World Track & Field Championships in Helsinki, Finland with a time of 9.88 seconds.
2007 - Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants hits his 756th career home run, breaking Hank Aaron's record and becoming Major League Baseball's all-time home run leader.
2010 - Jerry Rice, Emmitt Smith, John Randle, Russ Grimm, Rickey Jackson, Floyd Little and Dick LeBeau are inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
2016 - Ichiro Suzuki of the Miami Marlins becomes the 30th player in MLB history to record 3,000 career hits.
2016 - Jim Furyk became the first golfer to shoot a 58 in PGA Tour history during the Travelers Championship in Connecticut with a 12-under 58 in the final round. (Furyk finished tied for fifth at 11 under, three strokes behind winner Russell Knox.) He also became the first player in Tour history to shoot to sub-60 rounds.
