Lt(jg) John F. Kennedy aboard PT-109

Today in History

• Roman armies destroy the Second Temple in Jerusalem (216 BCE)
• Explorer Henry Hudson enters Hudson Bay (1610)
• The US Declaration of Independence is signed (1776)
• The first San Francisco cable car begins operation (1873)
• The positron is discovered (1932)
• Hitler becomes Führer of Germany (1934)
• The Marihuana Tax Act of 1937, rendering marijuana illegal in the US, is passed (1937)
• Albert Einstein and Leo Szilard write a letter to US President Franklin D. Roosevelt urging the development of atomic weapons (1939)
• Jewish prisoners stage a revolt at the Treblinka death camp (1943)
• The PT-109, commanded by Lt(jg) John F. Kennedy, is rammed and sinks (1943)
• World War II: The Potsdam Conference ends (1945)
• Iran invades Kuwait, leading to the Gulf War (1990)

Birthdays

• Pierre Charles L’Enfant, architect who designed Washington, DC (1754)
• Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, designer of the Statue of Liberty (1834)
• Red Ames, baseball player (1882)
• Jack L. Warner, co-founded Warner Brothers Studios (1892)
• Helen Morgan, actress and singer (1900)
• Myrna Loy, actress (1905)
• Gary Merrill, actor (1915)
• Nehemiah Person, actor (1919)
• Betsy Bloomingdale, socialite and fashion icon (1922)
• Shimon Peres, President of Israel (1923)
• James Baldwin, author (1924)
• Carroll O’Connor, actor (1924)
• Peter O’Toole, actor (1932)
• Hank Cochran, country musician (1935)
• Garth Hudson, member of The Band (1937)
• Wes Craven, filmmaker (1939)
• James Fallows, journalist (1949)
• Victoria Jackson, Saturday Night Live cast member (1959)
• Mary-Louise Parker, actress (1964)
• Kevin Smith, filmmaker (1970)
• Edward Furlong, actor (1977)
• Charli XCX, singer-songwriter (1922)

Deaths

• Thomas Gainsborough, painter (1788)
• Wild Bill Hickok, lawman (1876)
• Enrico Caruso, tenor (1921)
• Alexander Graham Bell, inventor (1922)
• Warren G. Harding, 29th US President (1923)
• Paul von Hindenburg, German president (1934)
• Wallace Stevens, poet (1955)
• Fritz Lang, filmmaker (1976)
• Raymond Carver, author (1988)
• William S. Burroughs, author (1997)
• Shari Lewis, puppeteer (1998)

Holidays and Celebrations

• Day of Azerbaijani Cinema (Azerbaijan)
• Our Lady of the Angels Day (Costa Rica)
• Paratroopers Day (Russia)
• Republic Day (Republic of Macedonia)

August 2 is the 214th day of the year (215th in leap years). There are 151 days remaining until the end of the year.