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Paul Johnson

Paul Johnson

Paul Johnson

This Day in History – August 4

By Paul Johnson
Jesse Owens competing in a race during the Olympic Games at Berlin. He won four gold medals at the Berlin Olympics, 100 metres, 200 metres, long jump and the 4 x 100 metres relay.

August 4 is the 216th day of 2022, with 149 days remaining in the year.

Today doubles As National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day, National IPA Day and National White Wine Day

There are 32 days left until Labor Day, 88 days to Halloween, 94 left in Daylight Saving Time

  • August 4, 1790

    The U.S. Coast Guard is founded as the Revenue Cutter Service

  • August 4, 1821

    The Saturday Evening Post is published as a weekly for the first time and is published until 1969

  • August 4, 1830

    Plans for the city of Chicago were laid out.

  • August 4, 1854

    Louis Vuitton, French fashion designer who founded the Louis Vuitton line, was born (d. 1892)

  • August 4, 1901

    Louis Armstrong, American jazz trumpeter and singer, was born (d. 1971)

  • August 4, 1916

    The United States had reached agreement with Denmark to purchase the Danish Virgin, Islands for $25 million.

  • August 4, 1936

    Jesse Owens of the United States won the second of his four gold medals at the Berlin, Olympics.  He won the long jump competition over German Luz Long, who was first to congratulate him.

  • August 4, 1944

    15-year-old Anne Frank was arrested with her sister, parents and four others by the German Gestapo after hiding for two years inside a building in Amsterdam.  She had kept a diary during her family’s containment. (Anne and her sister, Margot, died at the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.)

  • August 4, 1958

    The Billboard Hot 100 is published for the first time AND Bobby Darin’s first hit – “Splish Splash” reaches #3

  • August 4, 1962

    Marilyn Monroe died (b. 1926)

  • August 4, 1964

    The bodies of missing civil rights workers Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman and James Chaney were found buried in an earthen dam in Mississippi.

  • August 4, 1984

    Purple Rain by Prince hits #1 on the Billboard Hot 100

  • August 4, 1972

    Arthur Bremer was convicted and sentenced in Maryland, to 53 years in prison for his attempt on the life of Alabama Gov. George C. Wallace Bremer was untimatey released from prison in 2007)

  • August 4, 1987

    The Federal Communications Commission voted 4-0 to abolished the Fairness Doctrine, which required radio and television stations to present balanced coverage of controversial issues. (Ironically, this decision ultimately allowed conservative talk radio in the U.S. – which perpetually complains of the threat of “Leftist Socialist Media” to its existence.)

  • August 4, 1990

    Vision of Love by Mariah Carey hit’s #1

  • August 4, 1993

    LAPD officers Stacey Koon and Laurence Powell were sentenced to 30 months in prison for violating Rodney King’s civil rights

  • August 4, 1997

    185,000 UPS drivers walked off the job and went on strike

  • August 4, 2007

    Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants tied Hank Aaron’s 755 career home runs.

  • August 4, 2009

    North Korean leader Kim Jong-il pardoned two American journalists, who had been arrested and imprisoned for illegal entry earlier in the year AND , Paula Abdul announced she was not returning to American Idol.

  • August 4, 2010

    Former Sports Illustrated columnist and model Jenn Sterger claimed Brett Favre sent her naughty text messages and pictures when they both worked for the New York Jets.

  • August 4, 2012

    Michael Phelps won the 18th Olympic gold medal of his career as the United States won the medley relay at the London Games. The United States set a world record to wAugust 4, the women’s medley relay. Serena Williams beat Maria Sharapova 6-0, 6-1 to joAugust 4, Steffi Graf as the only women to complete the Golden Slam — winning the Olympics and the four majors.

  • August 4, 2019

    A masked gunman fired on revelers enjoying summer nightlife in a popular entertainment district of Dayton, Ohio, leaving nine people dead and 27 wounded; police said officers shot and killed the shooter within 30 seconds of the start of his rifle rampage.

  • August 4, 2020

    Nearly 3,000 tons of ammonium nitrate that had been improperly stored for years in the port of Beirut, Lebanon, exploded, killing more than 200 people,injuring more than 6,000 as well as devastating nearby neighborhoods. It was one of the largest non-nuclear explosions ever recorded.

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