Today is Friday, August 2nd, the 215th day of the yr 2024. There are 151 days left within the yr.
Today in history:
On August 2, 1921, a jury in Chicago acquitted several former members of the Chicago White Sox baseball team and two others of conspiracy to defraud the general public within the infamous “Black Sox” scandal (although they were banned from Major League Baseball for all times by Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis).
Also on this date:
In 1776, members of the Second Continental Congress began signing the Declaration of Independence.
In 1873, inventor Andrew S. Hallidie (HAH'-lih-day) successfully tested a cable automotive he had designed for town of San Francisco.
In 1876, frontiersman “Wild Bill” Hickok was shot by Jack McCall while playing poker in a bar in Deadwood, Dakota Territory. The man was later hanged.
On August 2, 1923, the twenty ninth President of the United States, Warren G. Harding, died in San Francisco; Vice President Calvin Coolidge became President.
In 1934, German President Paul von Hindenburg died, paving the best way for Adolf Hitler to take complete power.
In 1939, Albert Einstein signed a letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt calling for the creation of a nuclear weapons research program.
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In 1974, former White House Counsel John W. Dean III was sentenced to 1 to 4 years in prison for obstruction of justice in reference to the Watergate cover-up. (Dean ultimately served 4 months.)
In 1985, 137 people were killed when Delta Air Lines Flight 191, a Lockheed L-1011 Tristar, crashed while attempting to land at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.
In 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait and took control of the oil-rich emirate. (The Iraqis were later expelled by the United States in Operation Desert Storm.)
In 2018, Pope Francis decreed that the death penalty was “inadmissible” under all circumstances and that the Catholic Church should work for its abolition.
Today's birthdays:
- Rock musician Garth Hudson (The Band) is 87.
- The creator Isabel Allende is 82.
- Singer Kathy Lennon (The Lennon Sisters) is 81.
- Actor Butch Patrick (TV: “The Munsters”) is 71.
- Rock music producer/drummer Butch Vig is 69.
- Actress Mary-Louise Parker is 60.
- Screenwriter, actor and director Kevin Smith is 54.
- Actor Sam Worthington is 48.
- Actor Edward Furlong is 47.
- Television meteorologist Dylan Dreyer (TV: “Today”) is 43.
- Actress Lily Gladstone is 38.
- WNBA point guard Skylar Diggins-Smith is 34.
- Singer Charli XCX is 32.
- Olympic gold medalist in swimming, Simone Manuel, is 28.
Originally published:
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