TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT ALSO ON THIS DATE

August 3, 1972

The U.S. Senate ratified the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty between the United States and the Soviet Union.

1492

Christopher Columbus set sail from Palos, Spain, on a voyage that took him to the present-day Americas.

1807

Former Vice President Aaron Burr went on trial before a federal court in Richmond, Virginia, charged with treason.

1921

Baseball commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis refused to reinstate the former Chicago White Sox players implicated in the “Black Sox” scandal, despite their acquittals in a jury trial.

1936

Jesse Owens of the United States won the first of his four gold medals at the Berlin Olympics as he took the 100-meter sprint.

1958

The nuclear-powered submarine USS Nautilus became the first vessel to cross the North Pole underwater.

1966

Comedian Lenny Bruce, whose raunchy brand of satire and dark humor landed him in trouble with the law, was found dead in his Los Angeles home; he was 40.

1981

U.S. air traffic controllers went on strike, despite a warning from President Ronald Reagan they would be fired, which they were.

1987

The Iran-Contra congressional hearings ended, with none of the 29 witnesses tying President Ronald Reagan directly to the diversion of arms-sales profits to Nicaraguan rebels.

1993

The Senate voted 96-tothree to confirm Supreme Court nominee Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

1994

Arkansas carried out the nation’s first triple execution in 32 years.