What Happened in Past Augusts?
August 11, 2009
Compiled by Phyllis Barr
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August 1, 1770 — William Clark of the Lewis and Clark expedition fame is born.
August 1, 1785 — Caroline Herschel discovers a comet, probably the first woman to do so. Born in Germany, Herschel later joins her older brother in England, where he is astronomer to King George III. She becomes his assistant and discovers several comets. One is named for her: 35P/Herschel-Rigollet. George III puts her on his payroll for 50 pounds a year as William’s assistant.
On the same day in 1818 Maria Mitchell is born. She, too, is an astronomer and she discovers a comet in 1847. She is taught by her father and assists him from the age of 12. She teaches at Vassar, and she Herschel know each other.
August 1, 1779 — Francis Scott Key, who wrote “The Star Spangled Banner,” is born.
August 2, 1850 — The Underground Railroad is started by William Still.
August 5, 1876 — Mary Ritter Beard, an historian, archivist, women’s suffrage activist and reformer, is born. She marries historian Charles Beard and they write books together. The most famous is “The Rise of American Civilization.” Among her solo works is “Women as Force in History.” Beard works for the New York Suffrage Party and the World Center for Women’s Archives.
August 6, 1965 — President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Voting Rights Bill into law.
August 7, 1907 — Dr. Ralph J. Bunche, the first African-American Nobel Peace Prize winner, is born. He later serves in the Department of State and in several positions at the United Nations. See below.
August 9, 1974 — President Richard M. Nixon resigns, the first and only president to so do, in the wake of the Watergate scandal and cover-up.
August 9, 1978 — President Jimmy Carter signs a $1.6 billion bailout for New York City.
August 10, 1989 — Gen. Colin Powell is nominated to be the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the first African-American to hold that position. He later serves as Secretary of State.
August 10, 1993 — Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Esq. is sworn in by President William J. Clinton as a Supreme Court Justice, becoming only the second woman and the first Jewish woman to serve on the Court.
August 14, 1863 — President Abraham Lincoln welcomes and speaks to an African-American audience in the White House.
August 14, 1935 — President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Social Security Act into law. It is part of the New Deal, following the “Great Depression.”
August 17, 1807 — The Clermont, Robert Fulton’s steamboat, makes its first trip, traveling from Manhattan up the Hudson River to Albany, ushering in a transformative era in transportation and commerce. It is not the first steamboat, but it is the first commercially successful one in the United States.
August 17, 1978 — Three Americans land outside Paris, completing the first successful crossing of the Atlantic Ocean in a balloon. The trip from Maine to France takes six days.
August 18, 1774 — Meriwether Lewis, Clark’s partner, is born.
August 19, 1893 — Designer and taste-maker Coco Chanel is born. She revolutionizes the way women dress in the years after World War II and has a great influence on haute couture. She herself is influenced by menswear. Chanel is the only person in her industry to be in Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people of the 20th century.
August 19, 1933 — Service begins on the IND subway in New York City.
August 19, 1954 — Dr. Bunche is named Undersecretary of the United Nations.
August 21, 1959 — Hawaii becomes the 50th state.
August 22, 1893 — Writer and humorist Dorothy Parker is born. She is one of a group of prominent writers who meet at the Algonquin Hotel in Manhattan and sit at the famous “Round Table.” Parker is one of the writers for the script of the 1937 “A Star is Born,” starring Janet Gaynor. A 1954 musical version stars Judy Garland. She writes for Vanity Fair and The New Yorker, among other publications.
Editor’s Note: One of my aunts worked in publishing and had lunch with her a few times at the Round Table!
August 23, 1956 — Elvis Presley’s recording of “Hound Dog” tops the charts.
August 24,1814 — British forces march into Washington, D.C., during the War of 1812. When First Lady, Dolley Madison flees the White House, taking the famous Gilbert Stuart portrait of George Washington with her. The White House and the Library of Congress are burned. In 2003, Tony Blair, then Prime Minister of Great Britain, in a speech to the U. S. Congress, apologizes.
August 25, 1928 — Admiral Richard Byrd leaves on an expedition to the South Pole on the ice breaker the “City of New York.”
August 26, 1920 — The 19th Amendment to the U. S. Constitution passes. It grants women the right to vote. This is the end of a long road that began with a Women’s Rights meeting in Seneca Falls, N.Y., in 1848. President Woodrow Wilson announces his support for women’s suffrage in 1918. The House of Representatives approves an amendment to the Constitution, but the Senate does not. The National Women’s Party urges people to vote against Senators who were against suffrage in the 1918 mid-term election. After the election, more members of the Senate and House support it and both the Senate and House pass the resolution in 1919, the former by 56 to 25 votes and the latter by 304-89. It is ratified and becomes part of the Constitution on Aug. 26, 1920 after Tennessee ratifies it, the 36th state to so do.
August 26, 1935 — Geraldine Ferraro, a lawyer, teacher and writer and the first woman nominated to be Vice President of the United States, is born. She serves in the House of Representatives. She is also the first Italian-American to be on a ticket. Ferraro runs on the ticket with Vice President Walter Mondale in 1984. They lose to Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush.
August 26, 1971 — Congress recognizes that date as “Women’s Equality Day.”
August 28, 1963 — The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivers the “I Have a Dream” speech in Washington, D.C., before many thousands of people.
August 31, 1803 — Lewis sets out from Pittsburgh on the first leg of the Lewis and Clark expedition. He joins up with Clark on Oct. 13. The goal is to explore the Louisiana Purchase territory which had been bought from France. Their guides include a part Native American fur trapper and his Native American wife, Sacagawea. She is the translator for part of the journey as well as a guide.
Until next month,
Historically yours,
Phyllis
Phyllis Barr, known as “lady history” specializes in historical research. Her company, Corporate Culture Marketing by Barr Consulting, helps companies leverage history and heritage as a marketing tool and uses history to help companies resolve culture clashes after a merger. She also offers services in curating , preserving records, and oral history. Contact her at lady...@earthlink.net
