Events, Births and Deaths Happening on this Date
Thursday, August 6, 2026
Today is the 218th day of 2026. There are 147 days left in this year.
Notable Events
1787
The Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia began to debate the articles contained in a draft of the United States Constitution.
1806
The Holy Roman Empire went out of existence as Emperor Francis I abdicated.
1819
Norwich University is founded in Vermont as the first private military school in the United States.
1825
Bolivia declared its independence from Peru.
1861
Britain imposes the Lagos Treaty of Cession to suppress slavery in what is now Nigeria.
1862
The Confederate ironclad CSS Arkansas is scuttled on the Mississippi River after suffering catastrophic engine failure near Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
1890
Convicted murderer William Kemmler became the first person to be executed in the electric chair as he was put to death at Auburn State Prison in New York.
1926
Warner Brothers premiered its ''Vitaphone'' sound-on-disc movie system in New York.
1926
Gertrude Ederle of New York became the first American woman to swim the English Channel.
1942
Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands becomes the first reigning queen to address a joint session of the United States Congress.
1945
Hiroshima, Japan is devastated when the atomic bomb "Little Boy" is dropped by the United States B-29 Enola Gay. Around 70,000 people are killed instantly, and some tens of thousands die in subsequent years from burns and radiation poisoning.
1956
After going bankrupt in 1955, the American broadcaster DuMont Television Network makes its final broadcast, a boxing match from St. Nicholas Arena in New York in the Boxing from St. Nicholas Arena series.
1958
Law of Permanent Defense of Democracy, outlawing the Communist Party of Chile and banning 26,650 persons from the electoral lists is repealed in Chile.
1962
Jamaica became an independent dominion within the British Commonwealth.
1965
US President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Voting Rights Act of 1965 into law.
1990
The United Nations Security Council orders a global trade embargo against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion of Kuwait.
1991
Tim Berners-Lee releases files describing his idea for the World Wide Web. WWW makes its first appearance as a publicly available service on the Internet.
1991
Takako Doi, chair of the Social Democratic Party, becomes Japan's first female speaker of the House of Representatives.
1996
NASA announces that the ALH 84001 meteorite, thought to originate from Mars, contains evidence of primitive life-forms.
1997
British Prime Minister Tony Blair shook hands with Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams in the first meeting in 76 years between a British leader and the IRA's allies.
1997
Ending years of impassioned rivalry, Apple Computer and Microsoft agreed to share technology in a deal giving Microsoft a stake in Apple's survival.
1997
Korean Air Flight 801 crashed at Nimitz Hill, Guam, killing 229 of the 254 people on board.
1998
Former White House intern Monica Lewinsky spent 8 1/2 hours testifying before a grand jury about her relationship with President Clinton.
1998
The House Government Reform and Oversight Committee voted to cite Attorney General Janet Reno for contempt of Congress for her refusal to turn over reports recommending that she seek an independent counsel to investigate campaign fund-raising.
2001
Twenty-eight mentally ill persons tied to a chain are burnt to death at a faith based institution at Erwadi, Tamil Nadu.
2010
Flash floods across a large part of Jammu and Kashmir, India, damages 71 towns and kills at least 255 people.
2011
A United States military helicopter is shot down, killing 30 American special forces members and a working dog, seven Afghan soldiers, and one Afghan civilian. It was the deadliest single event for the United States in the War in Afghanistan.
2012
NASA's Curiosity rover lands on the surface of Mars.
2015
A suicide bomb attack kills at least 15 people at a mosque in the Saudi city of Abha.
Notable Births
1809
Alfred, Lord Tennyson, was an English poet. He was the Poet Laureate during much of Queen Victoria's reign. (d. 1892)
1846
Anna Haining Bates, was a Canadian woman famed for her great stature of 7 feet 11 inches (2.41 m). She was one of the tallest women ever. Her parents were of average height and were Scottish immigrants. (d. 1888)
1848
Susie Taylor is known for being the first Black nurse during the American Civil War. Beyond just nursing the wounded of the 1st South Carolina Volunteer Infantry Regiment, Taylor was the first Black woman to self-publish her memoirs. (d. 1912)
1881
Louella Parsons was an American gossip columnist and a screenwriter. She was retained by William Randolph Hearst because she had championed Hearst's mistress Marion Davies and subsequently became an influential figure in Hollywood. (d. 1972)
1901
Dutch Schultz was an American mobster based in New York City in the 1920s and 1930s. Schultz made his fortune in organized crime-related activities, including bootlegging and the numbers racket. (d. 1935)
1911
Lucille Ball was an American actress, comedian, and producer. She was nominated for 13 Primetime Emmy Awards, winning five times, and was the recipient of several other accolades. (d. 1989)
1917
Robert Mitchum was an American actor. He is known for his antihero roles and film noir appearances. He received nominations for an Academy Award, and a BAFTA Award. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1984 (d. 1997)
1924
Samuel Bowers, American activist, co-founded the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan (d. 2006)
1928
Andy Warhol was an American visual artist, film director, producer, and leading figure in the pop art movement. (d. 1987)
1938
American computer scientist who made many significant contributions to the development of the Internet, particularly with respect to standards. He is known principally for being the Editor of the Request for Comment (RFC) document series (d. 2000)
1943
Jon Postel, American computer scientist who made many significant contributions to the development of the Internet, particularly with respect to standards. (d. 1998)
1950
Dorian Harewood is an American actor, best known for playing Jesse Owens in The Jesse Owens Story. (1984)
1951
Catherine Hicks is a retired American actress. She played the character Annie Camden on the long-running television series 7th Heaven. Other roles included Dr. Faith Coleridge on the soap opera Ryan's Hope (1976-1978)
1958
Randy DeBarge is an American R&B/soul singer and bass guitarist, best known for being one of the original members of the popular Motown singing family group DeBarge.
1963
Kevin Mitnick was an American computer security consultant, author, and convicted hacker. He is best known for his high-profile 1995 arrest and five years in prison for various computer and communications-related crimes. (d. 2023)
1970
M. Night Shyamalan, is an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. He is best known for making original films with contemporary supernatural plots and twist endings.
1972
Geri Halliwell-Horner is an English singer, songwriter, author, and actress. She rose to prominence in the 1990s as Ginger Spice, a member of the girl group the Spice Girls.
1976
Soleil Moon Frye is an American actress, director, producer, and screenwriter. She began her career as a child actress at the age of two. When she was seven, Frye won the role of Penelope "Punky" Brewster in the NBC sitcom Punky Brewster.
Notable Deaths
1945
Richard Bong was a U.S. Army Air Forces major and Medal of Honor recipient in World War II. He was one of the most decorated American fighter pilots and the country's top flying ace in the war, credited with shooting down 40 Japanese aircraft. (b. 1920)
1973
Fulgencio Batista was a Cuban military officer and politician who served as the elected president of Cuba from 1940 to 1944 and as a military dictator from 1952 to 1959, until he was overthrown in the Cuban Revolution. (b. 1901)
1978
Edward Durell Stone, American architect, designed Radio City Music Hall and the Kennedy Center (b. 1902)
1978
Pope Paul VI died at Castel Gandolfo at age 80. (b. 1897)
1991
Harry Reasoner was an American journalist for CBS and ABC News, known for his use of language as a television commentator and as one of the original hosts of the news magazine 60 Minutes. (b. 1923)
2003
Julius Baker was one of the foremost American orchestral flute players. During the course of five decades he concertized with several of America's premier orchestral ensembles. (b. 1915)
2004
Rick James, American singer-songwriter and producer (b. 1948)
2005
Creme Puff was a cat. She was the oldest cat ever recorded according to the 2010 edition of Guinness World Records, when she died aged 38 years and 3 days. (b. 1967)
2009
John Hughes, American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1950)
2009
Willy DeVille was an American singer and songwriter. During his thirty-five-year career, first with his band Mink DeVille (1974-1986) and later on his own, DeVille created original songs rooted in traditional American musical styles. (b. 1950)
2012
Marvin Hamlisch was an American composer and conductor. Hamlisch was one of only 18 people to win Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony awards. (b. 1944)
2013
Jerry Wolman was an American developer in Washington, D.C. and owned the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League in the 1960s. (b. 1927)