August 2

Scott Winters August 2, 2022 1 Comment

A quick look at Today in History, check out some Celebrity Birthdays, and find out what Days of the Year to celebrate.

TODAY IN HISTORY:

1776 – Members of the Continental Congress began adding their signatures to the Declaration of Independence.

1790 – The first U.S. Census was conducted.

1791 – Samuel Briggs and his son, Samuel Briggs, Jr., received a patent for a nail-making machine. They were the first father/son pair to receive a patent.

1858 – The first mailboxes were installed along the street in Boston, MA and New York, NY.

1861 – The first Income Tax was passed by the United States Congress. The revenues were intended for the war effort against the South. The tax was never enacted.

1870 – The world’s first underground tube railway opened in London, England.

1873 – The Clay Street Hill Railroad began operating the first cable car in San Francisco, CA’s famous cable car system.

1887 – Rowell Hodge received a patent for barbed wire.

1892 – Charles A. Wheeler received a patent for the first escalator.

1921 – Eight White Sox players were acquitted of throwing the 1919 World Series.

1923 – Vice President Calvin Coolidge became the 30th President of the United States, after the death of Warren G. Harding.

1923 – The first Lake Michigan car ferry began operation to cross the Straits of Mackinaw between the upper and lower peninsula’s of Michigan.

1926 – John Barrymore and Mary Astor starred in the first showing of the Vitaphone System. The system combined the pictures and sound for the movies.

1937 – The Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 was passed to render marijuana and all its by-products illegal.

1938 – In an experiment, bright yellow baseballs were used in a major league baseball game between the Brooklyn Dodgers and the St. Louis Cardinals. The hope was the balls would be easier to see.

1939 – Albert Einstein wrote a letter to President Franklin Roosevelt urging the U.S. to begin the Manhattan Project to develop a nuclear weapon.

1939 – President Franklin Roosevelt signed the Hatch Act. The act prohibited civil service employees from taking an active part in political campaigns.

1943 – The U.S. Navy patrol torpedo boat, PT-109, sank after being attacked by a Japanese destroyer. Lt. John F. Kennedy, future President, saved all but two of his crew.

1964 – The Pentagon reported the first of two North Vietnamese attacks on U.S. destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin.

1965 – American’s first “Trimline” telephones were made available in Detroit, MI.

1982 – The Post Office issued a stamp honoring baseball great Jackie Robinson

1983 – U.S. House of Representatives approved a law that designated the third Monday of January be a federal holiday in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The law was signed by President Ronald Reagan on November 2.

1985 – 137 people are killed when a Delta jumbo jet crashed at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.

1987 – “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” was re-released for it’s 50th anniversary.

1989 – The movie “Parenthood”, directed by Ron Howard and starring Steve Martin, premiered in theaters.

1990 – Iraqi troops invaded Kuwait and seized petroleum reserves. That aggression began the Persian Gulf War.

1995 – China ordered the expulsion of two U.S. Air Force officers. The two were said to have been caught spying on military sights.

BIRTHDAYS:

Kathy Lennon – 79 years old (1943) – Singer (The Lennon Sisters)

Joanna Cassidy – 77 years old (1945) – Actress (“Blade Runner”, TV’s “Six Feet Under”, “Dallas”, “Boston Legal”, “Diagnosis Murder”, “Buffalo Bill”)

Lance Ito – 72 years old (1950) – Judge (Presided over the O.J. Simpson murder trial)

Butch Patrick – 69 years old (1953) – Actor (Played Eddie on TV’s “The Munsters”, “Lidsville”)

Victoria Jackson – 63 years old (1959) – Actress, comedian (“Casual Sex”, “UHF”, TV’s “Saturday Night Live”, “Romeo!”, “Strip Mall”)

Cynthia Stevenson – 60 years old (1962) – Actress (“The Player”, “Forget Paris”, “Home for the Holidays”, “Air Bud: Golden Receiver”, TV’s “Cheers”)

Mary-Louise Parker – 58 years old (1964) – Actress (“RED”, “RED 2”, “Fried Green Tomatoes”, “Boys on the Side”, TV’s “Weeds”, “The West Wing”)

Kevin Smith – 52 years old (1970) – Director, actor (“Clerks”, “Chasing Amy”, “Dogma”, “Jersey Girl”, “Mallrats”)

Sam Worthington – 46 years old (1976) – Actor (“Avatar”, “Terminator Salvation”, “Clash of the Titans”, “Wrath of the Titans”)

Edward Furlong – 45 years old (1977) – Actor (“Detroit Rock City”, “Pecker”, “American History X”, “Terminator 2: Judgment Day”)