On This Day in History - August 5th - Almanac

Today is Saturday, Aug. 5, the 217th day of 2023 with 148 to follow.

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

Those born on this date are under the sign of Leo. They include French novelist Guy de Maupassant in 1850; Joseph Merrick, subject of The Elephant Man, in 1889; U.S. Gen. Hazel Johnson in 1927; film director John Huston in 1906; astronaut Neil Armstrong in 1930; hockey Hall of Fame member Herb Brooks in 1937; actor Loni Anderson in 1945 (age 78); actor Maureen McCormick in 1956 (age 67); singer Pete Burns in 1959; basketball Hall of Fame member Patrick Ewing in 1962 (age 61); actor Jonathan Silverman in 1966 (age 57); director James Gunn in 1966 (age 57); rapper Adam Yauch in 1964; actor Jesse Williams in 1981 (age 42); rapper Travie McCoy in 1981 (age 42); Olympic runner/bobsledder Lolo Jones in 1982 (age 41); actor Adam Irigoyen in 1997 (age 26); actor Olivia Holt in 1997 (age 26); actor Albert Tsai in 2004 (age 19).

On this date in history:

In 1833, Chicago, with a population of about 200, was incorporated as a village.

In 1858, after several unsuccessful attempts, the first telegraph line across the Atlantic Ocean was completed.

In 1861, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln approved the first federal income tax. A wartime measure, it was rescinded in 1872.

In 1944, Polish underground forces freed hundreds of Jewish prisoners from the Gęsiowka Nazi work camp in an attempt to retake Warsaw from the Germans, a battle known as the Warsaw Uprising.

In 1949, an estimated 6,000 people were killed and about 20,000 injured in an earthquake that destroyed dozens of towns in Ecuador.

In 1957, Dick Clark's American Bandstand began airing nationally. Clark, who hosted the show for decades, as well as New Year's Rockin' Eve, died April 2012.

In 1962, Marilyn Monroe died of an overdose of barbiturates. She was 35.

In 1974, U.S. President Richard Nixon admitted ordering the Watergate investigation halted six days after the break-in. Nixon said he expected to be impeached.

In 1981, by executive order, U.S. President Ronald Reagan fired 11,359 air-traffic controllers on strike over failed negotiations to raise their pay and shorten their workweek.

In 1991, Iraq said it misled U.N. inspectors about secret biological weapons and also admitted extracting plutonium from fuel at a nuclear plant.

In 2003, U.S. Episcopal officials approved election of the church's first openly gay bishop, V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire.

In 2007, U.S. President George W. Bush signed into law a bill to allow government eavesdropping of telephone conversations and email of U.S. citizens without a warrant if there's "reasonable belief" that one party isn't in the United States.

In 2010, the U.S. Senate cleared the way for Solicitor General Elena Kagan to become the newest member of the Supreme Court when it voted 63-37 to confirm her nomination by President Barack Obama. She was sworn in two days later to succeed the retiring John Stevens.

In 2012, a gunman police described as a white supremacist shot six people to death, injured four others, then killed himself at a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wis. The victims were one woman and five men, and ranged in age from 39 to 84. Police treated the shooting as a domestic terrorism incident.

In 2016, the Summer Olympics opening ceremony kicked off in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

In 2019, the Indian government announced plans to strip autonomy from the predominantly Muslim Kashmir region.

In 2022, Death Valley National Park experienced its rainiest day on record, according to the National Park Service and the National Weather Service. The park said 1.7 inches fell, shattering the previous record of 1.47 inches in a day.

A thought for the day: "Blackness is not a monolith. We are not homogenous people; we are not all the same." - American actor Jesse Williams