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Nixon announces he will resign

Born on This Day

Matthew Henson

1866 - 1955

African American explorer who co-discovered the North Pole with Robert Peary in 1909.

Esther Williams

1921 - 2013

Swimmer and actress known as the "Million Dollar Mermaid" for her roles in water-themed films of the 1940s and '50s.

Roger Federer

1981 -

Swiss tennis player regarded as one of the greatest of all time. Won 20 Grand Slam titles.

Matthew HensonBettmann Archive

Esther WilliamsNBCUniversal via Getty Images

Roger FedererGetty Images for The Laver Cup

1929

AUG8

Germany’s Graf Zeppelin, a 776-foot-long dirigible, lifts off from Lakehurst, New Jersey, on its first round-the-world flight. It returns to Lakehurst three weeks later, having set a record for global circumnavigation.

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 8th

Spanish Armada defeated

Off the coast of Gravelines, France, Spain’s so-called “Invincible Armada” is defeated by an English naval force under the command of Lord Charles Howard and Sir Francis Drake. After eight hours of furious fighting, a change in wind direction prompted the Spanish to break off from the battle and retreat toward the North Sea. The […]

Brigham Young chosen to lead Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

After Joseph Smith, the founder and prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, was murdered, Elder Brigham Young is chosen to be the church’s next leader.

Robert E. Lee offers resignation as commander of the Confederate army

In the aftermath of his defeat at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, Confederate General Robert E. Lee sends a letter of resignation as commander of the Army of Northern Virginia to Confederate President Jefferson Davis. The letter came more than a month after Lee’s retreat from Pennsylvania. At first, many people in the South wondered if in fact […]

Emiliano Zapata born

Emiliano Zapata, a leader of peasants and Indigenous people during the Mexican Revolution, is born in Anenecuilco, Mexico. Born a peasant, Zapata was forced into the Mexican army in 1908 following his attempt to recover village lands taken over by a rancher. After the revolution began in 1910, he raised an army of peasants in […]

Battle of Amiens begins

On August 8, 1918, the Allies launch a series of offensive operations against German positions on the Western Front during World War I with a punishing attack at Amiens, on the Somme River in northwestern France. After heavy casualties incurred during their ambitious spring 1918 offensive, the bulk of the German army was exhausted, and […]

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German saboteurs executed in Washington, D.C.

During World War II, six German saboteurs who secretly entered the United States on a mission to attack its civil infrastructure are executed by the United States for spying. Two other saboteurs who disclosed the plot to the FBI and aided U.S. authorities in their manhunt for their collaborators were imprisoned. In 1942, under Nazi […]

President Truman ratifies United Nations Charter

President Harry S. Truman signs the United Nations Charter, and the United States becomes the first nation to complete the ratification process and join the new international organization. Although hopes were high at the time that the United Nations would serve as an arbiter of international disputes, the organization also served as the scene for […]

Soviets declare war on Japan, invade Manchuria the next day

On August 8, 1945, the Soviet Union officially declares war on Japan, pouring more than 1 million Soviet soldiers the following day into Japanese-occupied Manchuria, northeastern China, to take on the 700,000-strong Japanese army. The dropping of the bomb on Hiroshima by the Americans did not have the effect intended: unconditional surrender by Japan. Half […]

Spike Lee’s first feature, “She’s Gotta Have It,” premieres

On August 8, 1986, actor, writer and director Spike Lee’s first feature-length movie, She’s Gotta Have It, opens in theaters around the United States. Made on a shoestring budget, She’s Gotta Have It was a comedy about a young African American woman in Brooklyn, New York, and her three suitors. The movie launched Lee’s career […]

Gangsta rap hits the mainstream with the release of N.W.A’s “Straight Outta Compton”

On August 8, 1988, hip hop group N.W.A—”Niggaz With Attitude” launch their debut album, Straight Outta Compton. The recording, which would go triple platinum, revolutionized the hip hop genre, bringing a harder-edged, more profane “gangsta” rap to a wide audience. As of 1988, the top-selling hip hop albums of all time were Run D.M.C.’s Raising […]

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Lights go on at Wrigley

On August 8, 1988, the Chicago Cubs host the first night game in the history of Wrigley Field. The first-ever night game in professional baseball took place nearly 60 years earlier, on May 2, 1930, when a Des Moines, Iowa, team hosted Wichita for a Western League game. The match-up drew 12,000 people at a […]

5-day long Russo-Georgian War begins

On August 8, 2008, a long-simmering conflict between Russia and Georgia boiled over into a shooting war between the small Caucasian nation and the superpower of which it was once a part. The brief Russo-Georgian War was the most violent episode in a conflict that began more than a decade before. Georgia declared independence from […]

Sonia Sotomayor is sworn in as an associate justice of the Supreme Court

On August 8, 2009, Sonia Sotomayor is sworn in as an associate justice of the Supreme Court. She becomes the first Hispanic justice to serve on the nation’s highest court.

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