TODAY IN HISTORY
TODAY IS THURSDAY, AUG. 6, the 219th day of 2020. There are 147 days left in the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN HISTORY:
On this date in 1945, during World War II, the U.S. B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay dropped an atomic bomb code-named “Little Boy” on Hiroshima, Japan, resulting in an estimated 140,000 deaths. (Three days later, the United States exploded a nuclear device over Nagasaki; five days after that, Imperial Japan surrendered.)
In 1809, one of the leading literary figures of the Victorian era, poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson, was born in Somersby, Lincolnshire, England.
In 1911, actor-comedian Lucille Ball was born in Jamestown, New York.
In 1926, Gertrude Ederle became the first woman to swim the English Channel, arriving in Kingsdown, England, from France in 14½ hours.
In 1930, New York State Supreme Court Justice Joseph Force Crater went missing after leaving a Manhattan restaurant; his disappearance remains a mystery.
In 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act.
In 1973, entertainer Stevie Wonder was seriously injured in a car accident in North Carolina.
In 1978, Pope Paul VI died at Castel Gandolfo at age 80.
In 1986, William J. Schroeder died at Humana Hospital-Audubon in Louisville, Kentucky, after living 620 days with the Jarvik 7 artificial heart.
In 1991, the World Wide Web made its public debut as a means of accessing webpages over the internet. TV newsman Harry Reasoner died in Norwalk, Connecticut, at age 68.
In 1993, Louis Freeh won Senate confirmation to be FBI director.
In 2009, Sonia Sotomayor was confirmed as the first Hispanic Supreme Court justice by a Senate vote of 68-31. John Hughes, 59, Hollywood’s youth movie director of the 1980s and ’90s, died in New York City.
In 2013, U.S. Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan went on trial at Fort Hood, Texas, charged with killing 13 people and wounding 32 others in a 2009 attack. (Hasan, who admitted carrying out the attack, was convicted and sentenced to death.)
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Children’s performer Ella Jenkins is 96. Actordirector Peter Bonerz is 82. Actor Louise Sorel is 80. Actor Dorian Harewood is 70. Actor Catherine Hicks is 69. Rock singer Pat MacDonald (Timbuk 3) is 68. Country musician Mark DuFresne is 67. Actor Faith Prince is 63. Actor Michelle Yeoh is 58. Country singers Patsy and Peggy Lynn are 56. Basketball Hall-of-Famer David Robinson and actor Jeremy Ratchford are 55. Movie writer-director M. Night Shyamalan is 50. Actor Merrin Dungey is 49. Singer Geri Halliwell Horner and actor Jason O’Mara are 48. Singeractor David Campbell and actor Vera Farmiga are 47. Actors Soleil Moon Frye and Melissa George are 44. Rock singer Travis McCoy and actor Leslie Odom Jr. are 39. Actor Romola Garai is 38. Rock musician Eric Roberts is 36.
— Associated Press