August 9
1854 - Henry David Thoreau's "Walden," recounting his experiment in solitary life on the shores of Walden Pond in Massachusetts, was published.
1934 - President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed an executive order nationalizing silver.
1944 - 258 African-American sailors based at Port Chicago, California, refused to load a munitions ship following a cargo vessel explosion that killed 320 men, many of them Black. (Fifty of the sailors were convicted of mutiny, fined and imprisoned.)
1945 - Three days after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Japan, a U.S. B-29 Superfortress code-named Bockscar dropped a nuclear device nicknamed "Fat Man" over Nagasaki, Japan, killing an estimated 74,000 peple.
1965 - Singapore proclaimed its independence from Malaysia.
1974 - Vice President Gerald Ford was sworn in as the nation's 38th president following the resignation of Richard Nixon.
1982 - A federal judge in Washington ordered John W. Hinckley Jr., who’d been acquitted of shooting President Ronald Reagan and three others by reason of insanity, committed to a mental hospital.
1988 - President Ronald Reagan nominated Lauro Cavazos to be secretary of education; Cavazos became the first Hispanic to serve in the Cabinet.
1995 - Jerry Garcia, lead singer and guitarist of the Grateful Dead, died from a heart attack at age 53.
2004 - Oklahoma City bombing conspirator Terry Nichols, addressing a court for the first time, asked victims of the blast for forgiveness as a judge sentenced him to 161 consecutive life sentences.
2012 - The United States began a landmark project to clean up dioxin left from Agent Orange at the site of a former U.S. air base in Danang in central Vietnam, 50 years after the defoliant was first sprayed by American planes on Vietnam’s jungles to destroy enemy cover.
2014 - Michael Brown Jr., a Black 18-year-old, was shot to death by a police officer following an altercation in Ferguson, Missouri; Brown’s death led to sometimes-violent protests in Ferguson and other U.S. cities, spawning a national “Black Lives Matter” movement.
2021 - Officials said the Taliban had taken control of two more provincial capitals in Afghanistan, as U.S. and NATO forces finalized their pullout from the country.
2021 - Canada ended its prohibition on Americans crossing the border to shop, vacation or visit, but the United States kept similar coronavirus restrictions in place for Canadians.
Birthdays
29 - Rydel Funk (singer)
31 - Alexa Bliss (professional wrestler)
32 - Adelaide Kane (actress)
37 - Anna Kendrick (actress)
39 - Ashley Johnson (actress)
46 - Jessica Capshaw (actress)
47 - Rhona Mitra (actress)
49 - Kevin McKidd (actor)
50 - Liz Vassey (actress)
51 - Nikki Schieler Ziering (actress)
52 - Thomas Lennon (actor)
52 - Chris Cuomo (TV news journalist)
52 - Rod Brind'Amour (hockey player)
54 - Eric Bana (actor)
54 - Gillian Anderson (actress)
55 - Deion Sanders (football player/coach)
58 - Hoda Kotb (TV host)
58 - Brett Hull (hockey player)
64 - Amanda Bearse (actress)
65 - Melanie Griffith (actress)
67 - Doug Williams (football player)
70 - John Cappelletti (football player)
75 - Barbara Mason (singer)
78 - Sam Elliott (actor)
84 - Rod Laver (tennis player)
94 - Bob Cousy (basketball player)
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Today in Sports History - August 9
1936 - Jesse Owens became the first American to win four gold medals in one Olympic Games.
1971 - Satchel Paige is inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
1975 - The New Orleans Superdome as officially opened when the Saints played the Houston Oilers in exhibition football. The new Superdome cost $163 million to build.
1977 - The NHL refuses a merger proposal with six clubs from the World Hockey Association (WHA): the Cincinnati Stingers, New England Whalers, Houston Aeros, Quebec Nordiques, Winnipeg Jets, and Edmonton Oilers. (The NHL would later accept the Whalers, Nordiques, Jets and Oilers in 1979.)
1981 - Major league baseball teams resumed play at the conclusion of the first mid-season players’ strike.
1988 - Wayne Gretzky of the Edmonton Oilers was traded to the Los Angeles Kings. The trade was at Gretzky's request. He was sent to the Kings with Mike Krushelnyski and Marty McSorley. Edmonton received Jimmy Carson, Martin Gelina, three first-round draft picks and cash.
1990 - The NHL approved the sale of the Minnesota North Stars by George and Gordon Gund. The Gunds were granted the rights to a Bay Area team that could begin play in October 1991. The team was the San Jose Sharks.
2002 - Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants hits his 600th career home run.
2012 - At the London Games, Usain Bolt won the 200 meters in 19.32 seconds, making him the only man with two Olympic titles in that event. The U.S. women’s soccer team won the gold medal, avenging one of its most painful defeats with a 2-1 victory over Japan.
2012 - Shannon Eastin became the first female to officiate an NFL game when she worked as a line judge in a preseason game between the San Diego Chargers and the Green Bay Packers.
2016 - At the Rio Games, Michael Phelps earned the 20th and 21st Olympic gold medals of his career as he won the 200-meter butterfly and anchored the United States to victory in the 4x200 freestyle relay. Katie Ledecky earned her second gold in Rio by winning the 200-meter freestyle. The U.S. women’s gymnastics team won gold for a second consecutive Olympics.
1854 - Henry David Thoreau's "Walden," recounting his experiment in solitary life on the shores of Walden Pond in Massachusetts, was published.
1934 - President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed an executive order nationalizing silver.
1944 - 258 African-American sailors based at Port Chicago, California, refused to load a munitions ship following a cargo vessel explosion that killed 320 men, many of them Black. (Fifty of the sailors were convicted of mutiny, fined and imprisoned.)
1945 - Three days after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Japan, a U.S. B-29 Superfortress code-named Bockscar dropped a nuclear device nicknamed "Fat Man" over Nagasaki, Japan, killing an estimated 74,000 peple.
1965 - Singapore proclaimed its independence from Malaysia.
1974 - Vice President Gerald Ford was sworn in as the nation's 38th president following the resignation of Richard Nixon.
1982 - A federal judge in Washington ordered John W. Hinckley Jr., who’d been acquitted of shooting President Ronald Reagan and three others by reason of insanity, committed to a mental hospital.
1988 - President Ronald Reagan nominated Lauro Cavazos to be secretary of education; Cavazos became the first Hispanic to serve in the Cabinet.
1995 - Jerry Garcia, lead singer and guitarist of the Grateful Dead, died from a heart attack at age 53.
2004 - Oklahoma City bombing conspirator Terry Nichols, addressing a court for the first time, asked victims of the blast for forgiveness as a judge sentenced him to 161 consecutive life sentences.
2012 - The United States began a landmark project to clean up dioxin left from Agent Orange at the site of a former U.S. air base in Danang in central Vietnam, 50 years after the defoliant was first sprayed by American planes on Vietnam’s jungles to destroy enemy cover.
2014 - Michael Brown Jr., a Black 18-year-old, was shot to death by a police officer following an altercation in Ferguson, Missouri; Brown’s death led to sometimes-violent protests in Ferguson and other U.S. cities, spawning a national “Black Lives Matter” movement.
2021 - Officials said the Taliban had taken control of two more provincial capitals in Afghanistan, as U.S. and NATO forces finalized their pullout from the country.
2021 - Canada ended its prohibition on Americans crossing the border to shop, vacation or visit, but the United States kept similar coronavirus restrictions in place for Canadians.
Birthdays
29 - Rydel Funk (singer)
31 - Alexa Bliss (professional wrestler)
32 - Adelaide Kane (actress)
37 - Anna Kendrick (actress)
39 - Ashley Johnson (actress)
46 - Jessica Capshaw (actress)
47 - Rhona Mitra (actress)
49 - Kevin McKidd (actor)
50 - Liz Vassey (actress)
51 - Nikki Schieler Ziering (actress)
52 - Thomas Lennon (actor)
52 - Chris Cuomo (TV news journalist)
52 - Rod Brind'Amour (hockey player)
54 - Eric Bana (actor)
54 - Gillian Anderson (actress)
55 - Deion Sanders (football player/coach)
58 - Hoda Kotb (TV host)
58 - Brett Hull (hockey player)
64 - Amanda Bearse (actress)
65 - Melanie Griffith (actress)
67 - Doug Williams (football player)
70 - John Cappelletti (football player)
75 - Barbara Mason (singer)
78 - Sam Elliott (actor)
84 - Rod Laver (tennis player)
94 - Bob Cousy (basketball player)
==============================
Today in Sports History - August 9
1936 - Jesse Owens became the first American to win four gold medals in one Olympic Games.
1971 - Satchel Paige is inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
1975 - The New Orleans Superdome as officially opened when the Saints played the Houston Oilers in exhibition football. The new Superdome cost $163 million to build.
1977 - The NHL refuses a merger proposal with six clubs from the World Hockey Association (WHA): the Cincinnati Stingers, New England Whalers, Houston Aeros, Quebec Nordiques, Winnipeg Jets, and Edmonton Oilers. (The NHL would later accept the Whalers, Nordiques, Jets and Oilers in 1979.)
1981 - Major league baseball teams resumed play at the conclusion of the first mid-season players’ strike.
1988 - Wayne Gretzky of the Edmonton Oilers was traded to the Los Angeles Kings. The trade was at Gretzky's request. He was sent to the Kings with Mike Krushelnyski and Marty McSorley. Edmonton received Jimmy Carson, Martin Gelina, three first-round draft picks and cash.
1990 - The NHL approved the sale of the Minnesota North Stars by George and Gordon Gund. The Gunds were granted the rights to a Bay Area team that could begin play in October 1991. The team was the San Jose Sharks.
2002 - Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants hits his 600th career home run.
2012 - At the London Games, Usain Bolt won the 200 meters in 19.32 seconds, making him the only man with two Olympic titles in that event. The U.S. women’s soccer team won the gold medal, avenging one of its most painful defeats with a 2-1 victory over Japan.
2012 - Shannon Eastin became the first female to officiate an NFL game when she worked as a line judge in a preseason game between the San Diego Chargers and the Green Bay Packers.
2016 - At the Rio Games, Michael Phelps earned the 20th and 21st Olympic gold medals of his career as he won the 200-meter butterfly and anchored the United States to victory in the 4x200 freestyle relay. Katie Ledecky earned her second gold in Rio by winning the 200-meter freestyle. The U.S. women’s gymnastics team won gold for a second consecutive Olympics.
