Skip to main content

Anne Frank captured

Born on This Day

Louis Armstrong

1901 - 1971

Pioneering jazz trumpeter and vocalist nicknamed "Satchmo," also known for popular hits "What a Wonderful World" and "Hello Dolly."

Greta Gerwig

1983 -

Filmmaker who starred in "Frances Ha" and directed "Lady Bird, "Little Women" and "Barbie."

Barack Obama

1961 -

The 44th President of the United States—and the first African American elected to the nation's highest office.

Louis ArmstrongBettmann Archive

Greta GerwigGetty Images for Academy Museum

Barack ObamaGetty Images

1901

AUG4

Jazz legend Louis Armstrong is born in New Orleans, according to recent biographers. This would have been news to Armstrong, who always believed his birthday was July 4, 1900.

Timeline

Also on This Day in History

Discover more of the major events, famous births, notable deaths and everything else history-making that happened on August 4th

George Washington becomes a Master Mason

George Washington, a young Virginia planter, becomes a Master Mason, the highest basic rank in the secret fraternity of Freemasonry. The ceremony was held at the Masonic Lodge No. 4 in Fredericksburg, Virginia. Washington was 21 years old and would soon command his first military operation as a major in the Virginia colonial militia. Freemasonry […]

Russians begin to settle Alaska

On August 4, 1784, one day after anchoring in Three Saints Bay, Russian fur trader Grigory Shelikhov sends a scouting team ashore onto Alaska’s Kodiak Island. There, they establish the first permanent Russian settlement in Alaska. The European discovery of Alaska came in 1741, when a Russian expedition led by Danish navigator Vitus Bering sighted […]

Alexander Hamilton creates Coast Guard to intercept smugglers

The Coast Guard’s first job was tariff enforcement.

Colonel Custer and 7th Cavalry clash with Indians

While protecting a railroad survey party in Montana, Custer and his 7th Cavalry clash for the first time with the local Lakota Native Americans, who will defeat them three years later at the Little Big Horn. During the previous two years, Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer and his 7th Cavalry had not fought a single […]

Lizzie Borden’s parents found dead

On August 4, 1892, Andrew and Abby Borden are found hacked to death in their Fall River, Massachusetts, home. Andrew was discovered in a pool of blood on the living room couch, his face nearly split in two. Abby was upstairs, her head smashed to pieces; it was later determined that she was killed first. […]

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

U.S. proclaims neutrality in World War I

As World War I erupts in Europe, President Woodrow Wilson formally proclaims the neutrality of the United States, a position that a vast majority of Americans favored, on August 4, 1914. Wilson’s initial hope that America could be “impartial in thought as well as in action” was soon compromised by Germany’s attempted quarantine of the […]

Jesse Owens wins long jump—and respect—in Germany

On August 4, 1936, American Jesse Owens wins gold in the long jump at the Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany. It was the second of four gold medals Owens won in Berlin, as he firmly dispelled German Fuhrer Adolf Hitler’s notion of the superiority of an Aryan “master race,” for all the world to see. […]

U.S. and Mexico sign the Mexican Farm Labor Agreement

On August 4, 1942, the United States and Mexico sign the Mexican Farm Labor Agreement, creating what is known as the “Bracero Program.” The program, which lasted until 1964, was the largest guest-worker program in U.S. history. Throughout its existence, the Bracero Program benefited both farmers and laborers but also gave rise to numerous labor […]

Slain civil rights workers found

The remains of three civil rights workers whose disappearance on June 21 garnered national attention are found buried in an earthen dam near Philadelphia, Mississippi. Michael Schwerner and Andrew Goodman, both white New Yorkers, had traveled to heavily segregated Mississippi in 1964 to help organize civil rights efforts on behalf of the Congress of Racial […]

“Talladega Nights” released in theaters

“Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby,” an irreverent comedy based in the outlandish (fictionalized) world of American stock car racing, premieres in movie theaters around the United States on August 4, 2006. The comedian Will Ferrell (who also co-wrote the screenplay with director Adam McKay and served as an executive producer) starred as Ricky […]

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

Oscar Pistorius becomes the first amputee runner to compete at the Olympics

Pistorius finished second and advanced to the semifinals.

Dayton, Ohio shooting becomes second mass shooting in 24-hour period

A mass shooting takes place early in the morning in Dayton, Ohio on August 4, 2019. The killing of nine people and the injuries of 27 was significant in its own right, but this mass shooting was particularly notable for being America’s second in less than 24 hours. Just one day before, a shooter opened […]

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement