4 August

367      Gratian, son of Roman Emperor Valentinian I, is named co-Augustus by his father and associated to the throne aged eight.

1060   Henry I of France (died) (born 1008)

1113     Gertrude of Saxony (died) (born 1030)

1290   Leopold I (born), Duke of Austria (died 1326)

1327    First War of Scottish Independence: James Douglas leads a raid into Weardale and almost kills Edward III of England.

1521    Pope Urban VII (born) (died 1590)

1526    Juan Sebastián Elcano (died), Spanish explorer (born 1476)

1578    Thomas Stukley (died), English mercenary (born 1520)

1604   François Hédelin, abbé d’Aubignac (born), French cleric and author (died 1676)

1612    Hugh Broughton (died), English scholar and theologian (born 1549)

1693    Date traditionally ascribed to Dom Perignon’s invention of Champagne, although he actually did not have anything to do with sparkling wine.

1701    Thomas Blackwell (born), Scottish historian and scholar (died 1757)

1719    Johann Gottlob Lehmann (born), German mineralogist and geologist (died 1767)

1755    Nicolas-Jacques Conté (born), French painter (died 1805)

1789    In France members of the National Constituent Assembly take an oath to end feudalism and abandon their privileges.

1790 – A newly passed tariff act creates the Revenue Cutter Service (the forerunner of the United States Coast Guard).

1792    Percy Bysshe Shelley (born), English poet (died 1822)

1795    Timothy Ruggles (died), American lawyer, jurist, and politician (born 1711)

1821 – Atkinson & Alexander publish The Saturday Evening Post for the first time as a weekly newspaper.

1821    James Springer White (born), American religious leader, co-founded the Seventh-day Adventist Church (died 1881)

1821    Louis Vuitton (born), French fashion designer, founded Louis Vuitton (died 1892)

1834   John Venn (born), English logician and mathematician (died 1923)

1849   Anita Garibaldi (died), Brazilian wife of Giuseppe Garibaldi (born 1821)

1873    American Indian Wars: while protecting a railroad survey party in Montana, the United States 7th Cavalry, under Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer clashes for the first time with the Cheyenne and Lakota people near the Tongue River; only one man on each side is killed.

1873    Viktor Hartmann (died), Russian painter (born 1834)

1875    Hans Christian Andersen (died), Danish author and poet (born 1805)

1892   The father and stepmother of Lizzie Borden are found murdered in their Fall River, Massachusetts home.

1900   Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother of the United Kingdom (born) (died 2002)

1901    Louis Armstrong (born), American trumpeter and singer (died 1971)

1910    William Schuman (born), American composer (died 1992)

1912    Raoul Wallenberg (born), Swedish architect and diplomat (died 1947)

1914    World War I: Germany invades Belgium. In response, Belgium and the United Kingdom declare war on Germany. The United States declares its neutrality.

1915    Warren Avis (born), American businessman, founded Avis Rent a Car System (died 2007)

1917    John Fitch (born), American race car driver (died 2012)

1918    Iceberg Slim (born), American author (died 1992)

1920   Helen Thomas (born), American journalist and author (died 2013)

1932    Liang Congjie (born), Chinese environmentalist, founded Friends of Nature (died 2010)

1940   Larry Knechtel (born), American bass player (Bread and The Wrecking Crew) (died 2009)

1942    Alberto Franchetti (died), Italian composer (born 1860)

1944    Richard Belzer (born), American actor, producer, and screenwriter

1944    The Holocaust: a tip from a Dutch informer leads the Gestapo to a sealed-off area in an Amsterdam warehouse, where they find and arrest Jewish diarist Anne Frank, her family, and four others.

1955    Billy Bob Thornton (born), American actor, singer, director, and screenwriter (The Boxmasters)

1958    The Billboard Hot 100 is published for the first time.

1961    Barack Obama (born), American lawyer and politician, 44th President of the United States, Nobel Prize laureate

1962    Paul Reynold (born)s, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (A Flock of Seagulls)

1964    American civil rights movement: civil rights workers Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman and James Chaney are found dead in Mississippi after disappearing on June 21.

1964    Gulf of Tonkin incident: U.S. destroyers USS Maddox and USS Turner Joy report coming under attack in the Gulf of Tonkin.

1965    Dennis Lehane (born), American author

1968   Daniel Dae Kim (born), South Korean-American actor

1969    Vietnam War: At the apartment of French intermediary Jean Sainteny in Paris, American representative Henry Kissinger and North Vietnamese representative Xuan Thuy begin secret peace negotiations. The negotiations will eventually fail.

1971    Jeff Gordon (born), American race car driver

1977    U.S. President Jimmy Carter signs legislation creating the United States Department of Energy.

1978    Kurt Busch (born), American race car driver

1984   The Republic of Upper Volta changes its name to Burkina Faso.

1985    Don Whillans (died), English mountaineer (born 1933)

1987    The Federal Communications Commission rescinds the Fairness Doctrine which had required radio and television stations to present controversial issues “fairly”.

1993    A federal judge sentences Los Angeles Police Department officers Stacey Koon and Laurence Powell to 30 months in prison for violating motorist Rodney King’s civil rights.

1999    Victor Mature (died), American actor and singer (born 1913)

2005   Anatoly Larkin (died), Russian-American physicist (born 1932)

2007   Lee Hazlewood (died), American singer-songwriter and producer (born 1929)

2007   NASA’s Phoenix spaceship is launched.

2009   Blake Snyder (died), American screenwriter and producer (born 1957)

2013   Keith H. Basso (died), American anthropologist (born 1940)

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EO Smith

Interests include biological anthropology, evolution, social behavior, and human behavior. Conducted field research in the Tana River National Primate Reserve, Kenya and on Angaur, Palau, Micronesia, as well as research with captive nonhuman primates at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center and the Institute for Primate Research, National Museums of Kenya.
EO Smith
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