TODAY IN HISTORY
TODAY IS THURSDAY, AUG. 9, the 221st day of 2018. There are 144 days left in the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN HISTORY: On this date in 1974, Vice President Gerald R. Ford became the nation’s 38th chief executive as President Richard Nixon’s resignation took effect.
In 1854, Henry David Thoreau’s “Walden,” which described Thoreau’s experiences while living near Walden Pond in Massachusetts, was first published.
In 1902, Edward VII was crowned king of Britain following the death of his mother, Queen Victoria.
In 1936, Jesse Owens won his fourth gold medal at the Berlin Olympics as the United States took first place in the 400-meter relay.
In 1945, three days after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Japan, a U.S. B-29 Superfortress code-named Bockscar dropped a nuclear device (“Fat Man”) over Nagasaki, killing an estimated 74,000 people.
In 1969, actress Sharon Tate and four other people were found brutally slain at Tate’s Los Angeles home; cult leader Charles Manson and a group of his followers were later convicted of the crime.
In 1982, a federal judge in Washington ordered John W. Hinckley Jr., who’d been acquitted of shooting President Ronald Reagan and three others by reason of insanity, committed to a mental hospital.
In 1997, Haitian immigrant Abner Louima was brutalized in a Brooklyn, N.Y., station house by Officer Justin Volpe, who raped him with a broken broomstick. Volpe was later sentenced to 30 years in prison. An Amtrak train with more than 300 people aboard derailed on a bridge near Kingman, Ariz.; 183 people were injured.
In 2004, Oklahoma City bombing conspirator Terry Nichols, addressing a court for the first time, asked victims of the blast for forgiveness as a judge sentenced him to 161 consecutive life sentences.
In 2014, Michael Brown Jr., an unarmed 18-year-old black man, was shot dead by a police officer following an altercation in Ferguson, Mo.; Brown’s death led to sometimes-violent protests in Ferguson and other U.S. cities.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Basketball Hall-of-Famer Bob Cousy is 90. Actress Cynthia Harris is 84. Tennis Hall-of-Famer Rod Laver is 80. Jazz musician Jack DeJohnette and comedian-director David Steinberg are 76. Actor Sam Elliott is 74. Singer Barbara Mason is 71. Former MLB All-Star pitcher Bill Campbell is 70. College Football Hallof-Famer and former NFL player John Cappelletti is 66. College Football Hall-of-Famer and former NFL player Doug Williams is 63. Actress Melanie Griffith is 61. Actress Amanda Bearse is 60. Hockey Hall-of-Famer Brett Hull and TV host Hoda Kotb are 54. Actor Pat Petersen is 52. Pro and College Football Hall-of-Famer Deion Sanders is 51. Actress Gillian Anderson, actor Eric Bana and producer-director McG (aka Joseph McGinty Nichol) are 50. NHL player-turned-assistant coach Rod Brind’Amour, TV anchor Chris Cuomo, actor Thomas Lennon and rock musician Arion Salazar are 48. Actress Nikki Schieler Ziering is 47. Latin rock singer Juanes and actress Liz Vassey are 46. Actor Kevin McKidd is 45. Actress Rhona Mitra is 43. Actor Texas Battle and actress Jessica Capshaw are 42. Actress Ashley Johnson is 35.