August 14th in History

“Kissing the War Goodbye,” US Navy photograph by Lt. Victor Jorgensen, taken August 14, 1945

Today in History

  • Macbeth kills King Duncan I of Scotland and takes the throne (1040)
  • The Mainz Psalter, the first book with a printed date of publication and a printed colophon, is published (1457)
  • The Haitian Revolution begins (1791)
  • Japan issues its first patent, for the invention of a rust-proof paint (1885)
  • France becomes the first country to require motor vehicle registration (1893)
  • The first claimed powered flight, by Gustave Whitehead, allegedly takes place (1901)
  • FDR signs the Social Security Act (1935)
  • World War II: FDR and Churchill sign the Atlantic Charter (1941)
  • World War II: Japan accepts the Allied surrender terms and the Emperor records the Imperial Rescript on Surrender, marked as Victory in Japan (VJ) Day in the US (1945)
  • The American Football League is founded (1959)
  • Offshore pirate radio is banned in the UK (1967)
  • The Rocky Horror Picture Show, longest-running release in film history, opens in London (1975)
  • Solidarity strikes at the Gdansk, Poland, shipyards, led by Lech Walesa (1980)
  • Carlos the Jackal is captured (1994)
  • The US Embassy in Cuba reopens after 54 years (2015)

Birthdays

  • Richard von Krafft-Ebing, psychologist (1840)
  • Doc Holliday, dentist and gambler (1851)
  • John Galsworthy, author (1867)
  • Francis Ford, filmmaker (1881)
  • Alice Ghostley, actress (1923)
  • Buddy Greco, singer and pianist (1926)
  • Lina Wertmüller, filmmaker (1928)
  • Earl Weaver, baseball player and manager (1930)
  • Lee Hoffman, author (1932)
  • David Crosby, singer-songwriter (1941)
  • Steve Martin, comedian and filmmaker (1945)
  • Susan Saint James, actress (1946)
  • Maddy Prior, singer (1947)
  • Danielle Steele, author (1947)
  • Gary Larson, cartoonist (1950)
  • Stanley McChrystal, US General (1954)
  • Marcia Gay Harden, actress (1959)
  • Magic Johnson, basketball player (1959)
  • Halle Berry, model and actress (1966)
  • Catherine Bell, actress (1968)
  • Mila Kunis, actress (1983)
  • Tim Tebow, football player (1987)

Deaths

  • David Farragut, US admiral (1870)
  • William Randolph Hearst, newspaper publisher (1951)
  • Hugo Eckener, Graf Zeppelin captain (1954)
  • Bertolt Brecht, playwright (1956)
  • Frederick Joliot-Curie, physicist and Marie Curie’s son-in-law (1958)
  • Clifford Odets, playwright and director (1963)
  • Oscar Levant, actor, pianist, and composer (1972)
  • Dorothy Stratten, model and actress (1980)
  • J. B. Priestley, author (1984)
  • Enzo Ferrari, car manufacturer (1988)
  • John Sirica, Watergate judge (1992)
  • Pee Wee Reese, baseball player (1999)
  • Fyuvsh Finkel, actor (2016)

Holidays and Observances

  • Anniversary Day (Tristan da Cunha)
  • Commemoration of Wadi al-Dahab (Morocco)
  • Engineer’s Day (Domincan Republic)
  • Day of the Defenders of the Fatherland (Abkazia)
  • Independence Day (Pakistan)
  • Pramuka Day (Indonesia)
  • Falklands Day

August 14 is the 226th day of the year (227th in leap years). There are 139 days remaining until the end of the year.