Holy jumpin’ jelly beans! Here it is, Thursday August twoth, 2007, (yes, I am saying August Tooth. What’s the big deal, we say 4th, 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th don’t we?); geeze, it’s hard to believe that it’s been 214 days since I yelled, “Whoopie”, in celebration of the new year. My how time can go into warp speed when you’re not looking.
But on the other hand, on this day in:
1990 Iraq brazenly charged across the Kuwaiti border and started something that we are still in the middle of.
In 1923 in a hotel in San Francisco, President Warren G. Harding dies of a stroke at the age of 58.
In 1934 with the death of German President Paul von Hindenburg, Chancellor Adolf Hitler becomes absolute dictator of Germany under the title of Fuhrer, or "Leader."
In 1776, members of Congress affix their signatures to an enlarged copy of the Declaration of Independence.
This fateful day in 1987 witnessed the fastest race in Indy car history to that date, when Michael Andretti won the Marlboro 500 at the Michigan International Speedway with an average speed of 171.490mph. Andretti broke the record previously set by Bobby Rahal at 170.722mph. Incidentally, one of the drivers that Andretti sped past on that day was his father and fellow driver, Mario Andretti.
In 1861 The United States Congress passes the first income tax to raise revenues for the war effort. Although never enacted, it was an important fiscal innovation that paved the way for growth of the government in the 20th century.
On this day in 1985, strong and sudden wind gusts cause a plane crash at the Dallas/Fort Worth Airport in Texas that kills 135 people. The rapid and unexpected formation of a supercell, an extremely violent form of thunderstorm, led to the tragedy.
Actress Myrna Loy is born Myrna Adele Williams near Helena, Montana, on this day in 1905.
In 1933 Lawrence of Arabia star, Irish actor Peter O'Toole, is born.
In 1876 "Wild Bill" Hickok, one of the greatest gunfighters of the American West, is murdered in Deadwood, South Dakota.
On this day in 1943, future President John F. Kennedy is serving as commander of a torpedo boat in the Solomon Islands when his ship is fired upon by the Japanese navy.
And, in 1865 The captain and crew of the C.S.S. Shenandoah, still prowling the waters of the Pacific in search of Yankee whaling ships, is finally informed by a British vessel that the South has lost the war.
And, so it goes for August 2th in history.
