Events, Births and Deaths Happening on this Date
Friday, August 7, 2026
Today is the 219th day of 2026. There are 146 days left in this year.
Notable Events
1679
The brigantine Le Griffon becomes the first ship to sail the upper Great Lakes of North America.
1782
George Washington orders the creation of the Badge of Military Merit to honor soldiers wounded in battle. It is later renamed to the more poetic Purple Heart.
1786
The first federal Indian Reservation is created by the United States.
1789
The U.S. War Department was established by Congress.
1791
American troops destroy the Miami town of Kenapacomaqua near the site of present-day Logansport, Indiana in the Northwest Indian War.
1794
U.S. President George Washington invokes the Militia Acts of 1792 to suppress the Whiskey Rebellion in western Pennsylvania.
1909
Alice Huyler Ramsey and three friends become the first women to complete a transcontinental auto trip, taking 59 days to travel from New York, New York to San Francisco, California.
1912
The Progressive Party nominated Theodore Roosevelt for president.
1927
The Peace Bridge opens between Fort Erie, Ontario and Buffalo, New York.
1930
The last confirmed lynching of black people in the Northern United States occurs in Marion, Indiana; two men, Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith, are killed.
1933
The Kingdom of Iraq slaughters over 3,000 Assyrians in the village of Simele. This date is recognized as Martyrs Day or National Day of Mourning by the Assyrian community in memory of the Simele massacre.
1934
The U.S. Court of Appeals upheld a lower court ruling striking down the government's attempt to ban the controversial James Joyce novel ''Ulysses.''
1942
The Battle of Guadalcanal begins as the United States Marines initiate the first American offensive of the war with landings on Guadalcanal and Tulagi in the Solomon Islands.
1944
IBM dedicates the first program-controlled calculator, the Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator (known best as the Harvard Mark I).
1947
The balsa wood raft Kon-Tiki, which had carried a six-man crew 4,300 miles across the Pacific Ocean, crashed into a reef in a Polynesian archipelago.
1959
The United States launched Explorer 6, which sent back a picture of the Earth.
1960
Ivory Coast becomes independent from France.
1962
Canadian-born American pharmacologist Frances Oldham Kelsey is awarded the U.S. President's Award for Distinguished Federal Civilian Service for her refusal to authorize thalidomide.
1964
Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin resolution, giving President Johnson broad powers in dealing with reported North Vietnamese attacks on United States forces.
1969
Richard Nixon appoints Luis R. Bruce, a Mohawk-Oglala Sioux and co-founder of the National Congress of American Indians, as the new commissioner of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
1970
California judge Harold Haley is taken hostage in his courtroom and killed during an effort to free George Jackson from police custody.
1974
French stuntman Philippe Petit walked a tightrope strung between the twin towers of New York's World Trade Center.
1978
U.S. President Jimmy Carter declares a federal emergency at Love Canal due to toxic waste that had been disposed of negligently.
1981
The Washington Star ceases all operations after 128 years of publication.
1985
Takao Doi, Mamoru Mohri and Chiaki Mukai are chosen to be Japan's first astronauts.
1987
Lynne Cox becomes the first person to swim from the United States to the Soviet Union, crossing the Bering Strait from Little Diomede Island in Alaska to Big Diomede in the Soviet Union.
1989
A small plane carrying Congressman Mickey Leland, D-Texas, and 15 others disappeared during a flight in Ethiopia. (The wreckage of the plane was found six days later; there were no survivors.)
1990
President Bush ordered U.S. troops and warplanes to Saudi Arabia to guard the oil-rich desert kingdom against a possible invasion by Iraq.
1998
Terrorist bombs exploded at the U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, killing 224 - including 12 Americans - and injuring more than 5,500.
1999
The Chechnya-based Islamic International Brigade invades neighboring Dagestan.
2000
Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore selected Connecticut Sen. Joseph Lieberman as his running mate; Lieberman was the first Jew on a major party's presidential ticket.
2007
At AT&T Park, Barry Bonds hits his 756th career home run to surpass Hank Aaron's 33-year-old record.
2020
Air India Express Flight 1344 overshoots the runway at Calicut International Airport in the Malappuram district of Kerala, India, and crashes, killing 21 of the 190 people on board.
Notable Births
1876
Mata Hari, was a Dutch exotic dancer and courtesan who was convicted of being a spy for Germany during World War I. She was executed by firing squad in France. (d. 1917)
1884
Billie Burke was an American actress who was famous on Broadway and radio, and in silent and sound films. She is best known as Glinda the Good Witch of the North in the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer movie musical The Wizard of Oz (d. 1970)
1903
Louis Leakey was a Kenyan-British palaeoanthropologist and archaeologist whose work was important in demonstrating that humans evolved in Africa. (d. 1972)
1916
Kermit Love was an American puppet maker, puppeteer, costume designer, and actor in children's television and on Broadway. He was best known as a designer and builder with the Muppets, in particular those on Sesame Street. (d. 2008)
1925
Felice Bryant and Diadorius Boudleaux Bryant were an American husband-and-wife country music and pop songwriting team. They were best known for songs such as "Rocky Top," "We Could", "Love Hurts", and numerous hits by the Everly Brothers. (d. 2003)
1926
Stan Freberg was an American actor, author, comedian, musician, radio personality, puppeteer and advertising creative director. (d. 2015)
1928
James Randi was a Canadian-American stage magician, author and scientific skeptic who extensively challenged paranormal and pseudoscientific claims. (d. 2020)
1942
B.J. Thomas was an American singer widely known for his country, contemporary Christian and pop hits of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. (d. 2021)
1942
Gary "Garrison" Keillor is an American author, singer, humorist, voice actor, and radio personality. He created the Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) show A Prairie Home Companion, which he hosted from 1974 to 2016.
1944
Robert Mueller is an American lawyer who was appointed as special counsel overseeing an investigation into allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election
1950
Rodney Crowell is an American musician, known primarily for his work as a singer and songwriter in country music. Crowell has had five number one singles, all from his 1988 album Diamonds & Dirt.
1954
Jonathan Pollard is a former intelligence analyst for the US government. He was apprehended in 1985, and in subsequent proceedings agreed to a plea deal, pleaded guilty to spying for and providing top-secret classified information to Israel.
1955
Wayne Knight is an American actor. In television, he played Newman on Seinfeld (1992-1998) and Officer Don Orville on 3rd Rock from the Sun (1996-2001).
1958
Bruce Dickinson is a British singer, best known as the lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Iron Maiden. Dickinson has performed in the band across two stints, from 1981 to 1993 and from 1999 to the present day.
1958
Russell Avery Baze is a retired horse racing jockey. He holds the record for the most race wins in North American horse racing history, and is a member of the United States Racing Hall of Fame and the State of Washington Sports Hall of Fame.
1960
David Duchovny is an American actor, writer, producer and musician. He is best known for portraying FBI agent Fox Mulder on the television series The X-Files and as writer Hank Moody on the television series Californication.
1961
Walter Robert John Swinburn was a flat racing jockey and trainer who competed in Great Britain and internationally. (d. 2016)
1962
Alison Brown is an American banjo player, guitarist, composer, and producer. She has won and has been nominated for several Grammy awards and is known for her unique style of playing.
1966
Jimmy Wales, also known on Wikipedia by the nickname Jimbo Wales, is an American-British Internet entrepreneur, webmaster, and former financial trader. He is a co-founder of the online non-profit encyclopedia Wikipedia.
1971
Rachel York is an American actress and singer. She is known for stage roles in City of Angels, The Scarlet Pimpernel, Victor/Victoria, Kiss Me, Kate, Sly Fox, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and Anything Goes.
1975
Charlize Theron is a South African and American actress and producer. One of the world's highest-paid actresses, she is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award.
Notable Deaths
1957
Oliver Hardy was an American comic actor and half of Laurel and Hardy, the double act that began in silent films and lasted from 1926 to 1957. He appeared with his comedy partner Stan Laurel in 107 short films, feature films, and cameo roles. (b. 1892)
1970
Jonathan P. Jackson who died of gunshot wounds suffered during his armed invasion of a California courthouse. At age 17, Jackson stormed the Marin County Courthouse with automatic weapons, kidnapping Superior Court Judge Harold Haley. (b. 1953)
1972
Joi Lansing was an American model, film and television actress, and nightclub singer. She was noted for her pin-up photos and roles in B-movies. (b. 1929)
1986
William J. Schroeder died after living 620 days with the "Jarvik 7" artificial heart. (b. 1932)
2004
Red Adair was an American oil well firefighter. He became notable internationally as an innovator in the highly specialized and hazardous profession of extinguishing and capping oil well blowouts, both land-based and offshore.
2005
Peter Jennings was a Canadian-American television journalist, best known for serving as the sole anchor of ABC World News Tonight from 1983 until his death from lung cancer in 2005. (b. 1938)
2008
Andrea Pininfarina was an Italian engineer and manager, former CEO of the Italian coachbuilder Pininfarina, founded by his grandfather Battista "Pinin" Farina in 1930 and still controlled by the family. (b. 1957)
2009
Mike Seeger was an American folk musician and folklorist. He was a distinctive singer and an accomplished musician who played autoharp, banjo, fiddle, dulcimer, guitar, mouth harp, mandolin, dobro, jaw harp, and pan pipes. (b. 1933)
2015
Mae Louise Suggs was an American professional golfer, one of the founders of the LPGA Tour and thus modern ladies' golf. (b. 1923)
2017
David Maslanka was an American composer of Polish descent who wrote for a variety of genres, including works for choir, wind ensemble, chamber music, and symphony orchestra. (b. 1943)
2017
Don Baylor was an American baseball player and manager. During 19 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), Baylor was a power hitter known for standing very close to home plate and was a first baseman, left fielder, and designated hitter. (b. 1949)
2021
Trevor Moore was an American comedian, actor, writer, filmmaker, and solo comedy musician. (b. 1980)
2021
Markie Post was an American actress. Her best known roles include: bail bondswoman Terri Michaels in The Fall Guy on ABC from 1982 to 1985 (b. 1950)
2023
William Friedkin, American film director. He is best known for his crime thriller film The French Connection (1971), which won five Academy Awards. (b. 1935)