Important Events From This day in History August 8

 

1974 U.S.A. Nixon Resigns

1974 : Richard Nixon Announces his resignation following the Watergate Scandal During a nationally televised broadcast.

1962 Polio Mass Immunizations

1962 : A polio scare brought a decree from the Taylor-Jones County health authorities to do a mass immunization of all residents and encourage surrounding counties to do likewise. According to a spokesperson from the Medical Society, “The Sabin vaccine gives immunity to polio, whereas the Salk vaccine prevents paralytic polio.” They decided that the Sabin vaccine was the best, since it is given orally, not like the Salk vaccine which has to be injected.

1910 Spain Uprising Quelled

1910 : In San Sebastian, uprisings against the Spanish government ruled by King Alfonso XIII were quelled by cavalry, infantry, and other military men. A large bull fight took place on this day, however, some priests shouted, “Death to Spain! Long live the Pope!” One hundred and fifty people were arrested and the rest took flight. Troops were guarding the palace where the queen mother and her children were staying.

1921 Ship Sinks Off Alaska

1921 : Off the coast of Alaska, the ship Alaska bound for San Francisco met with tragedy. In the fog the ship hit a rocky ledge twice. The boilers blew up as a result, blowing a lot of its passengers off the decks and out into the icy ocean. One hundred and sixty-six people were saved off of the vessel, but thirty-one were missing, and 28 were dead. The ship, Anyox, rescued the survivors, but risked the rocky reef in the fog.

1929 U.S.A. Graf Zeppelin

1929 : The airship Graf Zeppelin began its world tour today from Lakehurst, New Jersey, USA.

1st Leg Lakehurst, New Jersey across the Atlantic to Friedrichshafen, Germany

2nd Leg Friedrichshafen, Germany across Siberia to Tokyo, Japan

3rd Leg Tokyo, Japan across Pacific Ocean to Los Angeles, USA

4th Leg Los Angeles, USA to Lakehurst, New Jersey, USA

The total trip flying time between taking off at Lakehurst to landing in Lakehurst took 12 days and 11 minutes and covered 19,500 miles. The overall elapsed times due to stops and refueling was 19 days.

1937 Canada Wife Beating IS Legal

1937 : In Hamilton, Ontario a man who was charged with beating his wife was deemed to be within his legal rights. Canadian judge, William McLeary cited the English Common Law made in 1879 which stated that a man has a right in certain cases to “chastise or confine” his wife.

1942 U.S.A. Operation Pastorius

1942 : Six Members who were part of Operation Pastorius are executed in the electric chair at the District of Columbia jail. Operation Pastorius was a failed plan by German Nazi's to sabotage American economic targets including hydro-electric plants, railway stations, and other key US targets, they were landed in the US by German U-Boats in June and the plan failed because two of the saboteurs (Dasch and Burger) decided they did not wish to proceed with the plan and informed the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The trial was before a seven-member military commission who sentenced all eight to death but President Roosevelt commuted Burger's and Dasch's to prison sentences because of their co-operation with the FBI.

1949 Ecuador Earthquake

1949 : Ecuador was rocked by a devastating earthquake in 1949, killing 4,600 people and doing an estimated 20 million dollars damage. To add to the tragedy a plane on a mission of mercy crashed and killed 34 more people. In the plane crash were four government dignitaries, 28 Shell Oil Company employees, and the pilot and crew.

1956 U.S.A. First State Bank Tuscola

1956 : In Tuscola, the First State Bank was burned out, but immediately re-opened the very next morning in a feed store. When the bank opened in 1912 customers made their deposits through chicken wire, this bank had survived the Great Depression when lesser banks went under and fire did not interrupt business much.

1956 Belgium Coal Mine Fire Marcinelle

1956 : A fire in a coal mine in Marcinelle, Belgium leaves 262 miners dead.

1963 Great Britain "The Great Train Robbery"

1963 : The date of "The Great Train Robbery" in United Kingdom when thieves held up a train carrying the Royal Mail and stole 120 mail sacks , the mail sacks contained cash and gems valued in excess of 7 Million.

1976 U.S.A. Legionnaire’s Disease

1976 : In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania ten thousand legionnaires who attended a convention from July 21st - July 24th were in a panic after the outbreak of a mystery disease among their ranks. Twenty-four persons have already died and 87 are ill. Doctors are completely baffled as to what virus or fungus could have caused this illness. Also, it is costing $25,000 a day to try and target the culprit. Meanwhile, street names for the mystery diagnosis have arisen. It is dubbed Legionnaire’s disease, Philadelphia fever, or Veteran’s Virus.

1988 The Burmese 8888 Uprising

1988 : Students begin protesting for a return to democracy and are joined Burmese citizens from all walks of life, including Buddhist monks. The demonstrations were peaceful and spread from the Burmese capital to other cities in Burma. As the numbers of protesters grew Burma's military government leader Ne Win put military soldiers on the streets with orders, "That Guns were not to shoot upwards,", it is estimated that the soldiers killed in excess of 2,500 students and Buddhist monks before the uprising ended. In 2007 protests started again and the government response led to the use of force by the military.

1991 Lebanon John McCarthy Released

1991 : John McCarthy a British journalist has been released after being held captive for more than five years by Islamic Jihad. The terrorist militant organisation are still holding a number of American and English hostages including Terry Anderson, Tom Sutherland and Terry Waite.

1992 Croatia Children's Charity Foundation

1992 : A Croatian relief foundation has had a flood of calls and donations lately. It started after a news reel showed a load of Croatian children get sprayed with bullets. Prior to this the Croatian Family Funds had received very little notice. However, many people now want to adopt a Croatian child from Bosnia-Herzegovina. Adoptions, will have to wait though, because it is too dangerous to enter the war zone.

2000 Brush Fires Worst In 50 Years

2000 : As the number, intensity and area of the Western United States affected by brush fires increases to more than 1.5 million hectares burned making this the worst year for wild fires in 50 years. Below is an idea and the scale of the problem.

US States Affected: Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.

Firefighters involved in fighting the fires: State, Marines, Army, National Guard, Canadian Assistance, Mexican Assistance.

Number of Fires: 60,000 fires so far, Number Of Acres Burnt So Far: Four million acres, Number Of Acres Still Burning: 900,000 acres

This has been the worst in 50 years and firefighters see no end to the problems because of more continued high temperatures, low humidity, and rainless thunderstorms causing lightning which ignites most of the fires in the first place. This year may well go down in record books as the worst in history because August and September are traditionally the worst months of the year and this is just the start of August.

https://www.thepeoplehistory.com/august9th.html