Today is Monday, Aug. 5, the 218th day of 2024.
There are 148 days left in the year.
ON THIS DATE IN HISTORY
On Aug. 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.
1861 — Abraham Lincoln signed the Revenue Act of 1861, which levied the first income tax on Americans (a flat tax of 3% on those making over $800/year) to help fund the Union’s Civil War effort.
1864 — During the Civil War, Union Adm. David G. Farragut led his fleet to victory in the Battle of Mobile Bay, Ala.
1884 — The cornerstone for the Statue of Liberty’s pedestal was laid on Bedloe’s Island in New York Harbor.
1914 — What’s believed to be the first electric traffic light system was installed in Cleveland, Ohio, at the intersection of East 105th Street and Euclid Avenue.
1936 — Jesse Owens of the United States won the 200-meter 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 music and dance show “American Bandstand,” hosted by Dick Clark, made its national network debut, beginning a 30-year run on ABC-TV.
1962 — Marilyn Monroe, 36, was found dead in her Los Angeles home; her death was ruled a probable suicide from “acute barbiturate poisoning.”
1964 — US Navy pilot Everett Alvarez Jr. became the first American flier to be shot down and captured by North Vietnam; he was held prisoner until February 1973.
1974 — he 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.
2010 — Thirty-three workers were trapped in a copper mine in northern Chile after a tunnel caved in (all were rescued after being entombed for 69 days).
2011 — The sun-powered robotic explorer Juno rocketed toward Jupiter on a five-year quest to discover the secret recipe for making planets. (Juno reached Jupiter on July 4, 2016.)
