On July 25, 1783, word of a peace treaty convinces British troops to lift their 7-week siege of the French garrison at Cuddalore, India. The 4-year war between the British East India Company and the French allies of the Kingdom of Mysore in south India was an offshoot of the hostilities of the American Revolution. As a result, some military historians consider the lifting of the siege to be the last official conflict of the Revolution, roughly 21 months after the British defeat at Yorktown. On July 25, 1755, Charles Lawrence, governor of British colonial Nova Scotia, orders all French colonists of the Acadia region of Maritime Canada deported. It was the height of the Seven Years' War, and the questionable loyalty of the Acadians sparks the Great Expulsion of 1755-1764. The exact number of deportees is unknown, but the expulsion came in two phases, and about a third of nearly 12,000 deported in the first phase died in the process, leading some historians to refer to the Expulsion as an example of ethnic cleansing. Most of the deportees in the second phase returned to France, but many were convinced to resettle in Louisiana, where they intermingled with the Creoles and gave birth to the Cajun culture. It's estimated that there are nearly 2 million descendents of the deported Acadians today, about 800,000 of whom live in Louisiana. (sculptures of Longfellow's Acadian character Evangeline in Nova Scotia and St. Martinville, LA) On July 25, 1909 Frenchman Louis Bleriot makes the first crossing of the English Channel in a heavier-than-air craft. The channel had been crossed several times in balloons over the previous 25 years, but no one had accomplished the feat yet in an airplane. In October 1908, London's Daily Mail offered a £500 prize for anyone who could make the flight before the end of the year. When the new year arrived and the prize was unclaimed, the Mail upped it to £1000. That caught the attention of Bleriot, an inventor, engineer and airplane pioneer. Three others would try and fail to make the flight from Calais, France to Dover, England (the shortest possible flight path) in the days before Bleriot, flying a monoplane of his own construction, took off from Calais at 4:41am and landed in Dover 37 minutes later. Following the flight, Bleriot would establish his own airplane manufacturing company (missing out on the opportunity for wealth that World War I could have afforded, as both the British and French militaries distrusted monoplanes for combat roles) and three flying schools before his death in 1936.
On July 26, 1956, Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalises the Suez Canal. One of history's most important commercial projects since it opened in 1869, the canal is technically owned by Egypt, but at the outset was operated by the Suez Canal Company, a consortium owned mostly by French (who built the canal) and Egyptian interests. A financial crisis in 1875 led the Egyptian goverment to sell its share of the company to the United Kingdom. Cold War disputes involving the canal developed in the 1950's, coming to a head when the UK and USA convinced the World Bank not to finance construction of the Aswan Dam on the Nile. Nasser responded by transferring control of the canal to the national Suez Canal Company, intending to build the dam with profits from canal fees. The canal quickly became one of the world's most contested pieces of real estate. Nasser's death in 1970 cooled much of the tension, but Egypt remains in control of the canal to this day (below: the aircraft carrier USS America and an unnamed container ship transit the Canal). On July 26, 1971, Apollo 15 launches with astronauts David Scott (commanding), James Irwin and Alfred Worden aboard. A15 was the first "J Mission" of the Apollo program; satisfied with its ability to precision land and depart from the lunar surface, the attention turned to extensive scientific investigation of the moon. Scott and Irwin would spend 18 1/2 hours outside the lunar module on 4 separate EV excursions, aided in their exploration by the first-time use of the lunar rover (below). On the return trip, Worden would perform NASA's first "deep space" EVA (about 197,000 miles altitude) to retrieve video tapes from the service module's instrument bay. Apollo 15 would be the last space flight for all 3 astronauts; NASA grounded them after it was learned they brought 400 postal covers (specially printed and pre-stamped envelopes) on the mission without permission, later selling some of them to a West German stamp dealer. On July 26, 1989, Cornell University student Robert Morris becomes the first person indicted for Computer Fraud and Abuse. The son of a National Security Agency cryptographer, Morris would later say he developed and launched the "Morris worm" just to see if it could be done. Considered the first computer worm, Morris' program exploited internet-connected computers with weak passwords and infected multiple systems in each work station, slowing down performance and eventually leaving them inoperable until disinfected (he later said the damage was unintentional, and that the worm was merely supposed to highlight weak internet security). Once convicted, Morris' sentence included probation, community service, and $13,000 in fines; a GAO analysis later estimated the worm damaged about 6,000 computer, with repair costs approaching $10 million. Morris is now a tenured professor of electrical engineering and computer technology at MIT.
On July 29, 1976, 19 year old Jody Valenti is dropping her friend, 18 year old Donna Lauria, off at home after a night out in the Bronx, when Valenti's car is approached by a man who produces a gun and fires three shots. The first shot kills Lauria instantly, the second hits Valenti in the leg and the third shot misses. Lauria was the first person killed by David Berkowitz, aka "Son of Sam", who over the next 13 months would kill a total of 6 women and wound 9 people in 7 shootings (he also nonfatally stabbed two women the previous Christmas Eve). Berkowitz targeted women sitting in cars, and in all but one attack, there were either two women or a woman and her boyfriend in the car. He famously taunted police throughout his rampage with letters either left at the crime scene or sent to the press. Captured in August, 1977, Berkowitz received a life sentence, and though he's been eligible for parole since 2002, remains imprisoned in Shawangunk (NY) Correctional Facility. On July 29, 1148, forces of the Second Crusade abandon their siege of the city of Damascus after just 5 days. Crusade leaders were divided in their objectives between Damascus and Edessa in Upper Mesopotamia. In the end, King Louis VII of France and King Conrad III of Germany bowed to the will of Baldwin, King of Jerusalem and the Knights Templar and attacked Damascus. The plan of attack was as confused as the objectives of the leaders involved, and when the Muslims defending the city began receiving reinforcements, the local Crusade lords withdrew their support. The kings had no choice but to withdraw as well, and the Second Crusade soon collapsed. On July 29, 1957, NBC television network debuts Tonight with Jack Paar. NBC had originated the weeknight late night talk/variety show format in 1954 hosted by comedian Steve Allen, who also hosted a Sunday night variety show. In January 1957, NBC decided to have Allen focus on the Sunday night show in order to take on the popular Ed Sullivan Show on CBS, and converted the weeknight late show to a news format. When that show failed in the ratings, the return to the lighter format was made with actor/comedian Paar as host. Paar soon had the show at the top of the ratings. But Paar had a flair for the controversial (example: his introduction of guest Jayne Mansfield with "Here they are..." didn't sit well with network execs), and his clashes with the bosses led him to walk off the set in mid-show during a 1960 taping. He left for good in 1962; one of his guest hosts, TV writer/comedian Johnny Carson, took over the host chair and made the show legendary. But it was Paar's tenure at Tonight that establish the format that most late night talk shows have followed for the last 65 years. (Paar with guest Senator John F. Kennedy)
On August 1, 1798, the British and French navies battle off the delta of the Nile River in Aboukir Bay in the Mediterranean. Napoleon had dispatched an invading task force to Egypt on 17 ships three months earlier in the first move of an effort against British colonies throughout Euro/Asia. The British learned of the sailing, but not its intentions, almost immediately and pursued the small fleet across the Med. Once finding the French at anchor in Aboukir Bay and learning of their intentions, Admiral Horatio Nelson quickly devised and launched a brilliant attack, splitting his force of 14 ships into two lines, raking the French ships from both sides. In a rare (for the time period) night engagement, Nelson sank or captured 13 French ships and nearly 4,000 men, without the loss of any of his fleet. The Battle of the Nile left Great Britain as the principal naval power in the Med and began encouraging other European powers to unite against Napoleon. On August 1, 1965, Frank Herbert publishes his sci-fi epic Dune in book form for the first time. Originally published in 1963 as a serial in two parts in Analog magazine, Dune is set in the distant future and chronicles an interplanetary feudal society, and its members' fight for control of Melange, or "spice", a life extending drug that also enhances mental abilities. Dune would win the 1966 Hugo Award as well as the inaugural Nebula Award for Best Novel. Herbert would write 5 sequels before his death in 1986 and his son Brian has co-written a dozen more since. It has inspired two cinema flim projects and a TV miniseries. With more than 20 million copies in print, Dune is widely considered one of the greatest science fiction novels of all time. On August 1, 1976, Niki Lauda suffers a near fatal crash at Nurburgring. Lauda was the defending Formula One champion with 5 race victories in 1976 when he arrived at "The Ring" for the German Grand Prix. At 23 kilometers (about 14 miles), Nurburgring was by far Formula One's longest track, and Lauda himself tried to orchestrate a boycott of the race due to lack of adequate safety resources throughout the course. The effort failed, and sure enough, on lap 2, Lauda and another driver collided, leaving the champion trapped in the burning car. Other drivers stopped (before safety crews arrived) and pulled Lauda from the car, but he was severely burned and later in the day lapsed into a coma. Incredibly, he not only survived, he missed only two races and finished second in the driver standings that year, winning his second championship in '77.. The crash led Formula One officials to drop Nurburgring from its rotation of Grand Prix eligible tracks. A purpose-built course built in 1984 put the site back on the rotation, and it became the permanent home of the German Grand Prix in 2020 (middle photo shows Lauda practicing at The Ring prior to the '76 Grand Prix).
On August 2, 1873, the Clay Street Hill Railroad, San Francisco's first cable-powered street railway, begins operation. Cable cars operate by means of a cable continuously pulled by underground machinery. A grip underneath the car grabs the cable through a slot in the street, allowing the car to be pulled along above ground rails. Numerous cities around the world employed cable cars, beginning in London in the 1820's. In San Francisco, officials thought cable power would be an economical and humane replacement for horse drawn streetcars on the city's steep hills. The Clay Street line was an immediate success, and by 1890, 22 additional lines had been established. Today, San Francisco is the last remaining major city with a cable car system, though it has been paired down to 3 interconnecting lines, and is a National Historic Landmark. The Clay Street Line closed in 1888, though riders can still catch a car at the corner of Clay and Powell. On August 2, 1947, Star Dust, a British South American Airways airliner (below) flying from Buenos Aires, Argentina to Santiago Chile, crashes in the Andes Mountains, killing all 6 passengers and 5 crew members aboard. The Avro Lancastrian crashed directly into Mount Tupungato in Argentina and was covered by the resultant snow and glacial ice slide. A search of the immediate area failed to turn up a trace of the aircraft, and it was not until the glacier began to shift in 1998 that wreckage became visible, and not until 2002 that the first human remains were recovered. An Argentinian Air Force investigation in '02 absolved pilot Reginald Cook of any blame, noting the weather that day included heavy cloud cover, and that flying in the jet stream (a high altitude phenomenon poorly understood in '47) likely caused a severe navigational error. On August 2, 1937, Congress passes the Marihuana (old spelling) Tax Act of 1937, placing a tax on the sale of cannabis. I would normally follow this sentence with a casually researched history of marijuana as a legal/illegal commodity, but I suspect there are members of this board who can give a far better recitation, and do it from memory, so I'll stop here.
On August 5, 1884, the cornerstone for the Statue of Liberty is laid on Bedloe's Island in New York Harbor/New York/New York City/New Jersey/Hudson River/Upper New York Bay (more on this at the end). One of three islands called the Oyster Islands by Dutch settlers for the plentiful oyster beds in the area (now obliterated), the island became British property after the surrender of Fort Amsterdam in 1664 and was later sold to Isaac Bedloe. The US built a star-shaped fort called Ft. Wood on the island in 1800; that fort is now the base of the Statue. Obsolete by the 1880's, the fort and island were chosen as the site for the Statue by its sculptor, Frederic Auguste Bartholdi. Bledloe Island was renamed Liberty Island in 1956 and is officially owned by the federal government. It straddles the state border between New York and New Jersey, and the question of which state is "home" to the Statue is frequently debated (all of the above locations are accepted as correct answers for question 127 of the immigrants' naturalization exam;"Where is the Statue of Liberty?"). On August 5, 1864, Rear Admiral David Farragut leads of fleet of 18 Union vessels into Mobile Bay, simultaneously attacking three forts and 3 ships defending the key Confederate port. The bay was also heavily littered with mines (called torpedoes at the time), and Farragut's bold decision to charge his fleet into the defenses led to the unconfirmed story of his supposedly ordering his flagship captain to "Damn the torpedoes' full speed ahead." It is known that twice during the engagement, Farragut climbed the main mast of his flagship USS Hartford to see over the smoke to such a height that Captain Percival Drayton order him lashed to the mast to protect him from falling (below right; US Navy WWI recruiting poster). By August 23, the bay's defenses had surrendered, and considering the magnitude of the battle, casualties were relative light, fewer than 200 killed and another 200 wounded on both sides. On August 5, 1957, ABC television network airs the premiere episode of American Bandstand. The program originated as simply Bandstand from Philadelphia's WFIL-TV in 1952, with Bob Horn (a DJ on WFIL-AM radio) as producer and host. Horn was fired after a DWI arrest in 1956, fellow WFIL DJ Dick Clark was recruited to replace him on Bandstand. Clark was firmly in control of the program by the spring of '57 when ABC network execs reached out to a number of local affiliates for programming ideas; he personally pitched Bandstand to network president Thomas Moore. The program featured a combination of record music and "live" performers (who sang over recorded acompaniment; the studio audience heard the live singing but TV viewers got a fully lip-synched performance). Clark also gave audience members the chance to "Rate A Record"; one member famously critiqued a song with the comment "its got a good beat and you can dance to it." Over its 37-year run (with Clark as producer/host throughout), American Bandstand spawned numerous imitators, most notably Soul Train and the BBC's Top of the Pops.
On August 6, 1819, former West Point superintendent Captain Alden Partridge establishes the American Literary, Scientific and Military Academy at Norwich, VT. Partridge had been dismissed at West Point by Congress over differences in his educational philosophy. He felt West Point was beginning to produce an aristocracy of military officers, and advocated for a more traditional, militia-type approch to military education. At what would later be called Norwich University, Partridge developed the Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) program. Norwich is the oldest of America's six Senior Military Colleges, the other being Texas A&M, The Citadel, North Georgia, VMI and Virginia Tech. Although ROTC is an elective at many American universities, it is required at the SMC's (accepting a commission after graduation remains optional), and Congress has the authority to mobilize these students immediately in times of emergency. On August 6, 1962, Jamaica receives its independence from the United Kingdom. The third largest island in the Caribbean, its believed Jamaica' first inhabitants arrived there from South America around 500. The Spanish took over the island after Columbus' arrival in 1494 and named it Santiago. The English took it away in 1655 and renamed it Jamaica, probably referring to the native word Xaymaca ("land of wood and water" or "land of springs"). Its people were gradually granted autonomy over the next 300 years until finally given full independence in 1962, although retaining its membership in the British Commonwealth. Fun fact: probably from its Spanish influence, Jamaica, like Louisiana, calls its political subdivisions parishes. (photo of Kingston, Jamaica's capital city)
On August 7, 1964, Congress passes the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, giving President Lyndon Johnson authority to use military force in Vietnam without a formal declaration of war. The question of whether or not to intervene in the Vietnam conflict had been bandied about Congress for nearly a decade, becoming more intense when it was learned the Soviet Union was aiding North Vietnam. Johnson was certain the American people would not support a declaration of war, though many of his most trusted advisors in Congress said it would be necessary. Those Congressional allies began drafting the resolution months before a US Navy destroyer was attacked by NV gunboats in the Gulf of Tonkin on August 2. Five days later Congress passed the resolution almost unanimously (2 Democrat senators voted no). On August 7, 1978, President Jimmy Carter declares a federal emergency at Love Canal, a neighborhood in Niagara Falls, NY. In 1890,Love Canal had been a proposed model city to be built along the namesake canal, which would be dug at the same time to allow shipping to bypass the Falls. The project was not completed, and in 1942, a local chemical company bought the canal and surrounding acreage as landfill. Over the next ten years, Hooker Chemical dumped nearly 20,000 tons of caustic waste on the site before the landfill was abandoned. Over the next three decades, health issues began appearing in the residents of the surrounding neighborhoods, especially leukemia. Residents had long suspected the canal was the cause, and a state health investigation in 1977 confirmed their suspicions. Following Carter's declaration, Congress passed what would informally be known as the Superfund Act, creating a list of 406 environmentally damaged sites around the nation to be prioritized and funded for cleanup. Love Canal was number one on the list. The government would spend $800 million over 21 years remediating the site (declared complete in 2004), including the evacuation of about 800 families.
On August 8, 1908, in Le Mans, France, Wilbur Wright gives the first public demonstration of he and his brother Orville's Wright Model A airplane. Following their initial success in 1903, the Wright Brothers had spent years improving and refining their flyers (early models had proven virtually unmanageable for any pilots other than themselves). They also reached agreements with the U.S. Army and a French syndicate, though French advocates for powered flight were demonstrably dubious about the reports of the Wrights' success. On August 8, Wilbur flew for only a minute, 45 seconds, but the Model A was clearly maneuverable and easy to handle (Orville would demonstrate an identical Model A for the U.S. Army in Virginia less than a month later). Additional flights over the next few days erased the doubts; the editor of the French aviation magazine L'Aerophile would write," Not one of the former detractors of the Wrights dare question, today, the previous experiments of the men who were truly the first to fly ..." On August 8, 1969, Scottish photographer Iain Macmillan snaps the iconic photo that will grace the cover of The Beatles' Abbey Road album. Macmillan was introduced to John Lennon by Yoko Ono, for whom Macmillan had shot in 1966. Lennon invited him to shoot the album cover photo, but the concept for the photo was Paul McCartney's. At a zebra crosswalk just down the street from EMI (later Abbey Road) Studios, Macmillan would stand on a stepladder and take 6 photos of the Fab Four (crowd control was unnecessary; fans knew the band routinely arrived at the studio after 2pm, so the photo shoot was done at 11:30). The fifth photo was the one that would be used, the closest the four came to having their legs in perfect sync (note that unlike the others, Paul's right leg is forward). Although it’s not indicated in the wikipedia article, based on the descriptions of the photo shoot, I believe the photo Macmillan is posing with is the fourth of the six. Macmillan, who died of lung cancer in 2006, would digitally alter one of the photos in 1993 for the cover of McCartney's Paul Is Live album, this time picturing only Paul with his English sheepdog.
