TODAY IN HISTORY
TODAY IS SUNDAY, AUG. 2, the 215th day of 2020. There are 151 days left in the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN HISTORY:
On this date in 1776, members of the Second Continental Congress began attaching their signatures to the Declaration of Independence.
In 1610, during his fourth voyage to the Western Hemisphere, English explorer Henry Hudson sailed into what is now known as Hudson Bay.
In 1862, the Ambulance Corps for the Army of the Potomac was created at the order of Maj. Gen. George McClellan during the Civil War.
In 1922, Alexander Graham Bell, generally regarded as the inventor of the telephone, died in Nova Scotia, Canada, at age 75.
In 1923, the 29th 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 way for Adolf Hitler’s complete takeover.
In 1939, Albert Einstein signed a letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt urging creation of an atomic weapons research program. President Roosevelt signed the Hatch Act, which prohibited civil service employees from taking an active part in political campaigns.
In 1945, President Harry S. Truman, Soviet leader Josef Stalin and Britain’s new prime minister, Clement Attlee, concluded the Potsdam conference.
In 1980, 85 people were killed when a bomb exploded at the train station in Bologna, Italy.
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, seizing control of the oil-rich emirate. (The Iraqis were later driven out in Operation Desert Storm.)
In 2014, Dr. Kent Brantly, the first Ebola victim to be brought to the United States from Africa, was safely escorted into a specialized isolation unit at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, where he recovered from the disease.
In 2016, President Barack Obama castigated Donald Trump as “unfit” and “woefully unprepared” to serve in the White House, and challenged Republicans to withdraw their support for their party’s nominee, declaring “there has to come a point at which you say ‘enough.’”
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Actor Nehemiah Persoff is 101. Rock musician Garth Hudson (The Band) is 83. Singer Kathy Lennon (The Lennon Sisters) is 77. Actor Kathryn Harrold is 70. Actor Butch Patrick (TV: “The Munsters”) is 67. Rock music producer/drummer Butch Vig (Garbage) is 65. Actors Victoria Jackson and Apollonia are 61. Actor Cynthia Stevenson is 58. Actor Mary Louise Parker is 56. Rock musician John Stanier is 52. Writer-actor-director Kevin Smith is 50. Actor Jacinda Barrett is 48. Actor Sam Worthington and figure skater Michael Weiss are 44. Actor Edward Furlong is 43. Actor Marci Miller is 35. Singer Charli XCX and actor Hallie Eisenberg are 28.