On This Day in History - August 1st - Almanac

Today is Wednesday, Aug. 1, the 213th day of 2018 with 152 to follow.

The moon is waning. Morning stars are Jupiter, Mars, Neptune, Saturn and Uranus. Evening stars are Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, Neptune, Saturn, Uranus and Venus.

Those born on this date are under the sign of Leo. They include Roman Emperor Claudius I, born in 10 B.C.; explorer William Clark in 1770; Francis Scott Key, composer of "The Star-Spangled Banner," in 1779; author Herman Melville (Moby-Dick) in 1819; activist/labor organizer Mary Harris "Mother" Jones in 1837; photojournalist Gerda Taro in 1910; musician Ramblin' Jack Elliott in 1931 (age 87); comic actor Dom DeLuise in 1933; French fashion designer Yves St. Laurent in 1936; musician Jerry Garcia, co-founder of the Grateful Dead rock group, in 1942; basketball Hall of Fame member Roy Williams in 1950 (age 68); rapper Coolio, born Artis Leon Ivey Jr., in 1963 (age 55); British film director Sam Mendes in 1965 (age 53); actor Tempestt Bledsoe in 1973 (age 45); actor Jason Momoa in 1979 (age 39); actor Elijah Kelley in 1986 (age 32); actor Max Carver in 1988 (age 30); actor Oona Laurence in 2002 (age 16).

On this date in history:

In 1498, Italian explorer Christopher Columbus set foot on the American mainland for the first time, at the Paria Peninsula in present-day Venezuela.

In 1790, the first U.S. census showed a population of 3,929,214 people in 17 states.

In 1907, an Aeronautical Division was added to the Army Signals Corps. The first aircraft bought by this forerunner of the U.S. Air Force was built by the Wright brothers.

In 1961, the first Six Flags amusement park opened on 212 acres in Arlington, Texas. In its opening year, admission for adults cost $2.75 and for children cost $2.25.

In 1966, Charles Whitman killed 16 people, including his wife and mother, in Austin, Texas. Thirty-two people were wounded. Most of Whitman's victims were struck by shots fired from the University of Texas Tower. The gunman, a student and ex-Marine, was killed by a police officer.

In 1977, Francis Gary Powers, pilot of a U-2 spy plane shot down over the Soviet Union in 1960, was killed in the crash of his weather helicopter in Los Angeles.

In 1981, MTV premiered with the Buggles' "Video Killed the Radio Star."

In 1994, Lisa Marie Presley confirmed rumors that she had married pop star Michael Jackson May 26 in the Dominican Republic. The couple divorced less than two years later.

In 2004, nearly 400 people died in a supermarket fire on the outskirts of Asuncion, Paraguay.

In 2005, Saudi King Fahd bin Abdul Aziz, who had ruled since 1982, died after a long illness at the age of 83. He was succeeded by his half-brother, Crown Prince Abdullah.

In 2007, an eight-lane bridge across the Mississippi River at Minneapolis, collapsed during the evening rush hour, killing 13 people and injuring nearly 150. About 50 vehicles were thrown into or near the water when the steel-and-concrete Interstate 35W span buckled and fell.

In 2010, a worldwide ban on cluster bombs went into effect. Cluster bombs, usually dropped from planes, are filled with smaller anti-personnel bombs, which are scattered over wide areas.

In 2011, when the U.S. House of Representatives approved the deficit reduction bill, one of the "yes" votes was cast by Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., taking part in her first congressional business since she was shot in the head in an assassination attempt in January in Tucson. She was greeted with a standing ovation.

In 2014, U.S. President Barack Obama said some CIA agents who interrogated suspects after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States "crossed a line" and "tortured some folks."

In 2017, the Senate confirmed Christopher Wray as the new FBI director, filing a post left vacant when President Donald Trump fired James Comey.

A thought for the day: "Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning." -- Albert Einstein