HIGHLIGHTS IN HISTORY
Today’s highlight:
On August 5, 1962, South African anti-apartheid activist Nelson Mandela was arrested on charges of leaving the country without a passport and inciting workers to strike; it was the beginning of 27 years of imprisonment.
On this date:
1864: During the Civil War, Union Adm. David G. Farragut led his fleet to victory in the Battle of Mobile Bay, Alabama.
1921: A baseball game was broadcast for the first time as KDKA radio announcer Harold Arlin described the action between the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Philadelphia Phillies from Forbes Field. The
Pirates won, 8-5.
1933: President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the National Labor Board, which was later replaced with the National Labor Relations Board.
1936: Jesse Owens of the
United States won the 200meter dash at the Berlin Olympics, collecting the third of his four gold medals.
1953: Operation Big Switch began as remaining prisoners taken during the Korean War were exchanged at Panmunjom.
1957: The teenage dance show “American Bandstand,” hosted by Dick Clark, made its network debut on ABC-TV.
1962: Actress Marilyn Monroe, 36, was found dead in her Los Angeles home; her death was ruled a probable suicide from “acute barbiturate poisoning.”
1967: The U.S. space probe Mariner 7 flew by Mars, sending back photographs and scientific data.
1974: The White House released transcripts of subpoenaed tape recordings showing that President Richard Nixon and his chief of staff, H.R. Haldeman, had discussed a plan in June 1972 to use the CIA to thwart the FBI’s Watergate investigation; revelation of the tape sparked Nixon’s resignation.
1981: The federal government began firing air traffic controllers who had gone out on strike.
1991: Democratic congressional leaders formally launched an investigation into whether the 1980 Reagan-Bush campaign had secretly conspired with Iran to delay release of American hostages until after the presidential election, thereby preventing an “October surprise” that supposedly would have benefited President Jimmy Carter.
Ten years ago:
President George W. Bush arrived in South Korea to begin a three-country Asia tour. Seven firefighters and two pilots were killed in a helicopter crash in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest.