August 7 1533 Alonso de Ercilla y Zuniga was born. 1789 Congress established the U.S. War Department. 1876 Mati Hari was born. 1903 Louis Leakey was born. 1904 Ralph Johnson Bunche was born. 1912 The Progressive Party nominated Theodore Roosevelt for president. 1942 U.S. forces landed at Guadalcanal, marking the start of the first major allied offensive in the Pacific during World War II. 1942 Garrison Keillor was born. 1947 The wooden raft Kon-Tiki, which carried Thor Heyerdahl and five companions more than 4,000 miles, crashed into a reef in the Pacific. 1959 The United States launched Explorer 6, which sent back a picture of Earth. 1964 Congress passed the Tonkin Gulf Resolution, which expanded President Johnsons use of military powers in the Vietnam War. 1987 Lynne Cox became the first person to swim from the United States to the Soviet Union, making the 2.7 mile trip through the frigid waters of the Bering Strait. Cox was surprised by the (relatively) warm welcome she received from the Soviets. 1998 U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were bombed, by terrorists. Some 224 were killed and more than 5,500 injured. 2000 Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut was selected by Al Gore to be the first Jewish vice-presidential candidate on a major party ticket. 2007 Barry Bonds passed Hank Aaron on baseball’s all-time homerun list. The record, however, was discredited by many because of Bond’s alleged steroid use. 2008 Georgia shelled the capital of breakaway republic South Ossetia. (Russia responded by occupying much of Georgia in a five-day war.) 2010 Elena Kagan was sworn in as the 112th justice and fourth woman to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court.
Posted on: Thu, 07 Aug 2014 11:18:30 +0000
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