This Day in History – August 2, 2011

338 BC A Macedonian army led by Philip II defeated the combined forces of Athens and Thebes in the Battle of Chaeronea, securing Macedonian hegemony in Greece and the Aegean. 1375 1st roller skating rink opens (London) 1377 Russian troops are defeated in the Battle on Pyana River because of drunkenness. 1776 Formal signing of the Declaration of Independence 1610 Henry Hudson sails into what is now known as Hudson Bay thinking he had made it through the Northwest Passage and reached the Pacific Ocean. 1819 1st parachute jump in US 1832 1,300 Illinois militia defeat Sac & Fox Indians, end Black Hawk War 1934 Gleichschaltung: Adolf Hitler becomes Führer of Germany. 1858 1st street mailboxes-Boston, Mass 1909 1st Lincoln head pennies minted 1909 Army Air Corps formed as Army takes 1st delivery from Wright Brothers 1934 1st airplane train, plane tows 3 mail gliders behind it 1934 William Franks twirls an indian club overhead 17,280 times in 1 hour 1937 The Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 is passed in America, the effect of which is to render marijuana and all its by-products illegal. 1938 1st test of a yellow baseball (Dodgers vs Cardinals) 1939 Albert Einstein and Leó Szilárd write a letter to Franklin D. Roosevelt, urging him to begin the Manhattan project to develop a nuclear weapon. 1943 Rebellion in the Nazi death camp of Treblinka. 1943 World War II: the Motor Torpedo Boat PT-109 is rammed by the Japanese destroyer Amagiri and sinks. Lt. John F. Kennedy, future U.S. President, saves all but two of his crew. 1959 Milwaukee Brave Bill Bruton hits 2 bases loaded triples 1961 Beatles 1st gig as house band of Liverpool’s Cavern Club 1965 Morley Safer’s sends 1st Vietnam report indicating we are losing 1967 New Orleans Saints 1st pre-season game, they lose to LA Rams 16-77 1972 Gold hits record $70 an ounce in London 1985 Delta Air Lines Flight 191, a Lockheed L-1011 TriStar crashes at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport killing 137. 1985 NASA launches space vehicle S-209 1986 Jackie Joyner-Kersee (US) sets record for heptathlon (7161 pts) 1986 TODAY/PC born today 1987 Michael Andretti runs fastest Indy car race in history (171.49 MPH) 1989 NASA confirmed Voyager 2’s discovery of 3 more moons of Neptune designated temporarily 1989 N2, 1989 N3 & 1989 N24 1989 Pakistan is re-admitted to the Commonwealth of Nations after having restoring democracy for the first time since 1972. 1989 A massacre is carried out by an Indian Peace Keeping Force in Sri Lanka killing 64 ethnic Tamil civilians. 1990 Iraq invades Kuwait, eventually leading to the Gulf War. 1991 Funk singer Rick James, arrested on sexual torture charges 1991 Space shuttle STS 43 (Atlantis 9) launched 2005 Air France Flight 358, landed at Toronto Pearson International Airport, and ran off the runway causing the plane to burst into flames. There are 12 serious injuries and no fatalities.]]]]> ]]>