Today in Labor HIstory August 3, 2026

 

Florence Reece

Uriah Smith Stephens was born on this day in Cape May, New Jersey.  A tailor by trade, in 1869 he led nine Philadelphia garment workers to found the Knights of Labor, one of the more successful early unions. – 1821

Fighting broke out when sheriff’s deputies attempted to arrest Wobbly leader Richie “Blackie” Ford as he addressed striking field workers at the Durst Ranch in Wheatland, California. Four died in the so-called “Wheatland riots” when police fired into a crowd of California farmworkers trying to organize for better working conditions. Conditions were terrible with no water for the workers. They routinely contracted dysentery, malaria and typhoid fever. Two labor leaders, one of whom was not even present at the massacre, were later convicted of murder for encouraging workers to organize, which forced officials to shoot and kill.   – 1913

U.S. federal air traffic controllers began a nationwide strike after their union, PATCO, rejected the government’s final contract offer. Most of the 13,000 strikers ignored orders to go back to work and were fired on August 5 by President Reagan for participating in an illegal work stoppage. Reagan’s action – and the inability of the labor movement to respond to the crisis – led to the rapid downhill spiral of unions. – 1981

Labor activist and songwriter Florence Reece died. She had been active in Harlan County, Kentucky coal strikes and penned the famed labor song “Which Side Are You On?” The song was written in 1931 on an old wall calendar while Sheriff J.H. Blair was searching for her husband and ransacking her home. Blair had led his gang of thugs on a violent rampage, beating and murdering union leaders. – 1986

Important Events From This day in History August 3

 

 

3 Aug, 1981 Air Traffic Controllers Strike

1981 : 13,000 Air traffic controllers walked off the job today in hopes that the U.S. federal government would agree to their demands for better pay. President Ronald Reagan had warned them they would be fired if they went on strike and a short time later he did have them fired.

3 Aug, 1914 World War I Declaration of War

1914 : Germany and France Declare war on the other signaling the beginning of the first World War.

3 Aug, 1923 Calvin Coolidge Sworn In As President

1923 : Calvin Coolidge was sworn in as president of the United States after learning that President Warren Harding had collapsed and died while visiting California the day before. He was sworn in by his father, Colonel John C. Coolidge at his father's farmhouse in Plymouth, Vermont. Find More What happened in 1923.

3 Aug, 1940 England World War II

1940 : British troops hammered the Germans with air raids which the former claimed as “a smashing success”. Supplies, harbors, and airplane hangers were targeted in over 100 German cities. The British hoped to smash the Nazi blitzkrieg at its source. However, in retaliation, German war planes retaliated by bombing north western England.

3 Aug, 1957 Cuba Fidel Castro

1957 : Rebel resistance and strikes were plaguing President Fulgenico Batista’s government in Cuba. Fidel Castro’s forces poured down from their secret mountain hide- out to fight with Batista’s troops. A news blackout was in effect. The revolutionary stronghold in Santiago De Cuba had armed men demand gas from a gas station and then set fire to it.

3 Aug, 1958 North Pole Nautilus

1958 : The US Nuclear Submarine Nautilus is the first undersea vessel to reach the Geographic North Pole.

3 Aug, 1961 Arms Build Up During Cold War

1961 : President John F. Kennedy got approval from Congress to spend $958 million to purchase missiles, planes, and war ships to bolster the American military. This arms build up was felt to be needed because of the communist threat to West Berlin and other areas. Kennedy got powers from Congress to call 250,000 reservists into active duty and to extend their tour of duty for one year.

3 Aug, 1970 U.S.A. Hurricane Celia

August 3, 1970 : The category 3 hurricane "Hurricane Celia" makes landfall near Corpus Christi, Texas killing 15 in Texas and hundreds of millions of dollars of damage.

3 Aug, 1977 CIA and Mind Control

1977 : As of today the CIA has spent a total of $25 million over 25 years started in 1950 to study mind control and brainwashing. Research was done by Dr. D. Ewen Cameron on sensory deprivation, isolation, and his own methods of “psychic driving”. He did these experiments at McGill University in Montreal. The psychiatric patients that Cameron used as subjects were damaged for life. The CIA also funded drug experiments on patients and staff at Memorial Hospital in Providence, Rhode Island. Brainwashing experiments were also done at Cornell University Medical Center and Dr. Carl Pfeiffer did LSD studies on federal inmates in Atlanta, and the Bordentown Reformatory in New Jersey from 1955-64.

3 Aug, 1978 Israel Bombs Southern Lebanon

1978 : Israel retaliates after Palestinian terrorists bomb a Tel Aviv market by sending in bombers to a guerrilla base southern Lebanon.

3 Aug, 1978 Canada Commonwealth Games

1978 : The Queen opens the 11th Commonwealth Games in Edmonton, Canada.

3 Aug, 1982 U.S.A. Sodomy Arrest

1982 : Michael Hardwick is arrested for sodomy after a police officer observes him having sex with another man in his own bedroom in Georgia. In 1986 the Supreme Court handed down its decision in Bowers v. Hardwick, ruling by a 5-4 vote that states could continue to treat certain types of consensual sex as criminal acts.

Today in Labor History August 1, 2026

 

After organizing a strike of metal miners against the Anaconda Company, Wobbly organizer Frank Little was dragged from his boarding house room by six masked men. He was beaten and taken to the edge of town where he was lynched and hanged from a railroad trestle. A note with the words “First and last warning” was pinned to his thigh, referring to earlier vigilantes giving people three warnings to stop objectionable actions. The note also included the number 3-7-77 (a sign of vigilantes active in the 19th century in Virginia City, Montana that some people thought referred to grave measurements), and the initials of other union leaders, suggesting they were next to be killed. An estimated 10,000 workers lined the route of his funeral procession, which was followed by 3,500 more persons. He was buried in Butte’s Mountain View Cemetery. His grave marker reads “Slain by capitalist interests for organizing and inspiring his fellow men”. Years later writer Dashiell Hammett would recall his early days as a Pinkerton detective agency operative and recount how a mine company representative offered him $5,000 to kill Little. He says he quit the agency that night. – 1917

Sheriff Sid Hatfield and Ed Chambers were murdered by Baldwin-Feltz private cops for their part in the Matewan Battle in 1920, when two Feltz family thugs were killed by Hatfield and his deputies. They were executed in Welch WV., on the steps of the McDowell County courthouse, in front of their wives. This led to the Battle of Blair Mountain, where 20,000 coal miners marched to the anti-union stronghold of Logan County to overthrow Sheriff Dan Chaffin, the coal company tyrant who murdered miners with impunity. – 1921

Seventy Police officers in Hilo, Hawaii attempted to disband 200 unarmed protesters supporting the striking Longshoremen’s and Warehousemen’s Union. In their attempts to disband the crowd, officers tear gassed, hosed and finally fired their riot guns, leading to 50 injuries. – 1938

The American Federation of Musicians began a strike against the major American recording companies in a fight over royalty payments.  Decca Records settled with the union after one year, followed shortly by Capitol Records, while Victor and Columbia Records held out for another year before agreeing to the union’s terms.  The strike did not affect musicians performing on live radio shows or in concerts. – 1942

A 17-day, company-instigated wildcat strike (a strike without union authorization) in Philadelphia tried to bar eight African-American trolley operators from working. Transport Workers Union members stayed on the job in support of the men. – 1944

The Government & Civic Employees Organizing Committee merged into State, County & Municipal Employees. – 1956

The Window Glass Cutters League of America merged with the Glass Bottle Blowers – 1975

A ten-month strike against Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel won an agreement guaranteeing defined-benefit pensions for 4,500 Steelworkers. – 1997

The California School Employees Association affiliated with AFL-CIO. – 2001

Important Events From This day in History August 1

 

 

1 Aug, 1968 UK Apple Records

1968 : The Beatles finish recording their first record "Hey Jude" for Apple Records part of Apple Corps Ltd which they had created earlier in the year, it is released on 2August 6 with the B side "Revolution". The "Hey Jude" single went to number 1 on September 28th and stayed #1 for 9 weeks.

1 Aug, 1981 U.S.A. MTV Debuts

1981 : MTV the music video cable channel whose original purpose was to "play music videos" launches. The first music video shown on MTV was "Video Killed the Radio Star" by The Buggles.

1 Aug, 1900 China Boxer Rebellion

1900 : The Boxer Rebellion erupted and the Chinese were fighting the Europeans. U.S. troops were sent to help quell the violence. It appeared unclear who actually remained in charge in Peking, but, General Chafee’s strong U.S. cavalry filled the gap in international forces. European politicians wanted a full scale attack the last week of August, but, the U.S. to poised their military personnel to attack immediately.

1 Aug, 1914 Germany Declaration of War

1914 : Germany sent a declaration of war to the Russian minister of foreign affairs as the German army began mobilizing for war.

1 Aug, 1929 U.S.A. Thomas Edison

1929 : A state-wide contest held in West Orange County, New Jersey held by Thomas Edison to determine who his next 49 proteges would be. The tough exam questions included knowledge about science, geography, history, chemistry, and personal ethics. One query asked if “… a lie (is) permissible and … if they would choose to become successful at the loss of happiness, comfort, reputation, pride, honor, health, money, or love.” Among the extensive and penetrating questions asked was this one – “What new discovery or invention do you believe would be the greatest benefit to mankind?”

1 Aug, 1936 Germany Olympic Games

1936 : Possibly one of the most controversial Olympic games of modern times opens in Berlin, Germany with a ceremony presided over by Adolf Hitler. The Games of the XI Olympiad were used by Germany as a tool for propaganda. to promote their ideology, and its promotion of the superiority of the "Aryan Race" by only allowing Germans of "Aryan race" to compete for Germany.

1 Aug, 1941 Willy's Jeep Introduced

August 1, 1941 : Willy's Truck Company introduced the Jeep for the U.S. Army who were looking for a fast lightweight all terrain vehicle.

1 Aug, 1944 Polish Home Army

1944 : Following the sustained attack by the Red Army on German Nazi troops the Polish Home army begin the battle to liberate Warsaw from German control. The home army had been fighting the German invasion as an underground movement up to this day, but with the German troops already reeling from Russian attacks the Poles came out into the open to regain control for their beloved country.

1 Aug, 1949 England Atlantic Pact

August 1, 1949 : After World War II strategies for the defense of Europe was to be discussed in London when U.S. chiefs of staff visited. Americans were expected to employ both financial and military support as well as equipment to prevent Soviet political aggression. The Atlantic Pact made up of European countries possessed 2 million troops, but their military budget had been severely curtailed due to reconstruction costs after the ravages of war. Already, The Cold War was shaping up.

1 Aug, 1966 University Of Texas Shootings

1966 : Ex Marine Charles Whitman with a stockpile of guns and ammunition on the observatory platform at a 300 foot tower at the University of Texas proceeds to shoot 46 people, killing 14 people and wounding 31. He had killed both his wife and mother the night before. Charles J Whitman’s name will go on in infamy after he went on a rampage killing 14 people, in Austin Texas. One of the Catholic priests that took his funeral service insisted that for 25 years Whitman had lived a quiet, good, and honest life, before the killer started shooting victims from the university tower.

1 Aug, 1970 Soaring Inflation Worries

August 1, 1970 : President Richard Nixon’s powers to freeze prices, wages, and interest rates were to be voted on in the house amid howls of foul play from Republicans. Soaring inflation prompted this move to give the president more executive powers.

1 Aug, 1971 Space Apollo 15

1971 : During a moon safari on "lunar rover" astronauts David Scott and James Irwin have uncovered a rock ( Genesis rock ) believed to be about 4,500 million years old which may date back to the origin of the Moon.

1 Aug, 1972 U.S.A. George Bush

August 1, 1972 : Future President George W Bush, son of former president George Herbert Walker Bush, is suspended from flying with the Texas Air National Guard for missing an annual medical examination.

1 Aug, 1976 Germany F1 Crash Niki Lauda

1976 : Austrian born Formula 1 racing driver Niki Lauda became trapped inside his Ferrari after an horrific accident at the Grand Prix in Germany. He was trapped inside the burning car until other drivers managed to pull him from his burning Ferrari. Although he was out for some time with his injuries, in 1977 and 1984 he won the F1 World Championship again.

1 Aug, 1994 Michael Jackson Marries

1994 : The king of pop and the daughter of the king of rock confirmed they were secretly married 11 weeks ago. Michael Jackson, 35, and Lisa Marie Presley, 26, announced in a statement.

1 Aug, 1997 U.S.A. Thyroid Cancer

August 1, 1997 : The National Cancer Institute released information that nuclear testing during the 1950s could be a cause of thyroid cancer and as many as 10,000 to 75,000 people, exposed to the 1950s fallout as children, could develop thyroid cancer.

1 Aug, 2000 U.S.A. Titanic

2000 : Judge J. Calvitt Clarke Jr. on his own accord ruled that the R.M.S. Titanic Company, who had salvage rights to the Titanic, was banned from cutting into the sunken ship and plundering the artifacts. The salvage company apparently was searching for $300 million in lost diamonds and had sold chunks of coal from the famous ship wreck.

1 Aug, 2000 UK Concern Over Petrol Prices

2000 : Concern in the UK is growing as petrol goes over the 80p per litre mark making the cost of petrol just over £3.00 per gallon or $5.85 (current US Price is $1.26 per gallon) motorists are unhappy that in the UK 75% of the cost of a gallon or more than £2.00 goes to taxes.

1 Aug, 2001 U.S.A. Ban on Human Cloning

2001 : The United States House of Representatives votes to ban all human cloning but it is not voted into law as the Democratic led Senate votes against it. The current status of cloning around the world is still in disarray as many see the possibilities of (human therapeutic cloning) which could provide great breakthroughs in medical science for regenerative medicine, and tissues and organs for transplantation. But concerns over mad scientists tinkering with the gift of life makes the laws which are needed to allow for medical advances difficult to formulate.