August 04

Thursday 04, 2005:

Prime Minister Paul Martin announces that Michaëlle Jean will be Canada's 27th ? and first black ? Governor General.

Monday 04, 1997:

185,000 Teamsters union United Parcel Service drivers walk off the job.

Friday 04, 1995:

Operation Storm begins in Croatia.

Wednesday 04, 1993:

A federal judge sentences LAPD officers Stacey Koon and Laurence Powell to 30 months in prison for violating motorist Rodney King's civil rights.

Sunday 04, 1991:

1991 The Greek cruise ship Oceanos sinks off the coast of South Africa.

Tuesday 04, 1987:

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

Sunday 04, 1985:

In one of the most exciting days in sports, Tom Seaver of the Chicago White Sox won his 300th game and Rod Carew of the California Angels picked up his 3000th hit. It marked the only day in which two men reached baseball's three biggest milestones in the same day.

Saturday 04, 1984:

The African republic Upper Volta changes its name to Burkina Faso.

Thursday 04, 1983:

New York Yankee outfielder Dave Winfield accidentally killed a seagull during a baseball game and was charged by police for his "act of cruelty to animals". His manager Billy Martin quipped, "It's the first time he's hit the cutoff man."

Thursday 04, 1977:

US President Jimmy Carter signs legislation creating the United States Department of Energy.

Monday 04, 1975:

The Japanese Red Army takes more than 50 hostages at the AIA building housing several embassies in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The hostages included the U.S. consul and the Swedish charge d'affaires. The gunmen win the release of five imprisoned comrades and fly with them to Libya.

Monday 04, 1969:

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

Tuesday 04, 1964:

Vietnam War: United States destroyers USS Maddox and USS C. Turner Joy are attacked in the Gulf of Tonkin. Air support from the carrier USS Ticonderoga sinks two, possibly three North Vietnamese gunboats.

Monday 04, 1947:

The Supreme Court of Japan is established.

Friday 04, 1944:

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

Tuesday 04, 1914:

World War I: Germany invaded Belgium; in response, the United Kingdom declares war on Germany. The United States proclaims neutrality.

Monday 04, 1902:

Greenwich foot tunnel under the River Thames opens.

Thursday 04, 1892:

The family of Lizzie Borden is found murdered in their Fall River, Massachusetts home.

Monday 04, 1873:

Indian Wars: While protecting a railroad survey party in Montana, the United States 7th Cavalry, under Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer, clash for the first time with the Sioux (near the Tongue River; only one man on each side is killed).

Friday 04, 1854:

The Hinomaru is established as the official flag to be flown from Japanese ships.

Wednesday 04, 1824:

Battle of Cos fought between Turks and Greeks.

Saturday 04, 1821:

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

Wednesday 04, 1790:

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

Tuesday 04, 1789:

1789 - The feudal system is abolished in France.

Saturday 04, 1753:

George Washington, then a young Virginia planter, becomes a Master Mason, the highest basic rank in the secret fraternity of Freemasonry.

Thursday 04, 1735:

Freedom of the press: New York Weekly Journal writer John Peter Zenger is acquitted of seditious libel against the royal governor of New York, on the basis that what he published was true.

Monday 04, 1704:

During the War of the Spanish Succession an Anglo-Dutch force seizes the rock of Gibraltar.

Tuesday 04, 1693:

Date traditionally ascribed to Dom Perignon's invention of Champagne.

Friday 04, 1578:

Moroccans defeat Portuguese. King Sebastian of Portugal is defeated and killed in North Africa, leaving his elderly uncle, Cardinal Henry, as his heir. This initiates a succession crisis in Portugal.

Tuesday 04, 1265:

The Battle of Evesham of the Second Barons' War is fought in Worcestershire, with the army of future King Edward I of England defeating the forces of rebellious barons led by Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester and killing de Montfort and many of his allies. This is sometimes considered the death of chivalry in England.

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