History of 5 August
1914 – The first electric traffic signal lights were installed in Cleveland, Ohio.
1921 – The first play-by-play broadcast of a baseball game was done by Harold Arlin. KDKA Radio in Pittsburgh, PA described the action between the Pirates and Philadelphia.
1921 – The cartoon “On the Road to Moscow”, by Rollin Kirby, was published in the “New York World”. It was the first cartoon to win a Pulitzer Prize.
1923 – Henry Sullivan became the first American to swim across the English Channel.
1924 – In the New York “Daily News” debuted the comic strip “Little Orphan Annie,” by Harold Gray.
1944 – Polish insurgents liberated a German labor camp in Warsaw. 348 Jewish prisoners were freed.
1953 – During the Korean conflict prisoners were exchanged at Panmunjom. The exchange was labeled Operation Big Switch.
1960 – For the first time, two major league baseball clubs traded managers. Detroit traded Jimmy Dykes for Cleveland’s Joe Gordon.
1963 – The Limited Test Ban Treaty was signed by the United States, Britain, and the Soviet Union. The treaty banned nuclear tests in space, underwater, and in the atmosphere.
1964 – U.S. aircraft bombed North Vietnam after North Vietnamese boats attacked U.S. destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin.
1966 – In New York, groundbreaking for the construction of the original World Trade Center began.
1969 – The Mariner 7, a U.S. space probe, passed by Mars. Photographs and scientific data were sent back to Earth.
1974 – U.S. President Nixon said that he expected to be impeached. Nixon had ordered the investigation into the Watergate break-in to halt.
1974 – “Tank McNamara”, the comic strip, premiered in 75 newspapers.
1981 – The U.S. federal government started firing striking air traffic controllers.
1984 – Toronto’s Cliff Johnson set a major league baseball record by hitting the 19th pinch-hit home run in his career.
1986 – It was revealed that artist Andrew Wyeth had secretly created 240 drawings and paintings of his neighbor. The works of Helga Testorf had been created over a 15-year period.
1989 – In Honduras, five Central American presidents began meeting to discuss the timetable for the dismantling of the Nicaraguan Contra bases.
1990 – U.S. President George H.W. Bush angrily denounced the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait.
1991 – An investigation was formally launched by Democratic congressional leaders to find out if the release of American hostages was delayed until after the Reagan-Bush presidential election.
1991 – Iraq admitted to misleading U.N. inspectors about secret biological weapons.
1992 – Federal civil rights charges were filed against four Los Angeles police officers. The officers had been acquitted on California State charges. Two of the officers were convicted and jailed on violation of civil rights charges.
1998 – Iraqi President Saddam Hussein began not cooperating with U.N. weapons inspectors.
1999 – Mark McGwire (St. Louis Cardinals) hit his 500th career home run. He also set a record for the fewest at-bats to hit the 500 homerun mark.
2002 – The U.S. closed its consulate in Karachi, Pakistan. The consulate was closed after local authorities removed large concrete blocks and reopened the road in front of the building to normal traffic.
2009 – Google purchased its first public company. The company was the video software maker On2 Technologies.
2011 – NASA announced that its Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter had captured photographic evidence of possible liquid water on Mars during warm seasons.
2011 – Juno was launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on a mission to Jupiter. It was the first solar-powered spacecraft to go to Jupiter.
2011 – Standard & Poor’s Financial Services lowered the United States’ AAA credit rating by one notch to AA-plus.
2012 – The Wisconsin Sikh temple shooting took place in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, killing six victims; the perpetrator committed suicide after being wounded by police.
2015 – The Environmental Protection Agency at Gold King Mine wastewater spill releases three million gallons of heavy metal toxin tailings and wastewater into the Animas River in Colorado.
Celebrating Birthday Today
- 1981 – David Clarke, English ice hockey player
- 1981 – Carl Crawford, American baseball player
- 1981 – Maik Franz, German footballer
- 1981 – Erik Guay, Canadian skier
- 1981 – Travie McCoy, American rapper, singer, and songwriter
- 1981 – Anna Rawson, Australian golfer
- 1982 – Jamie Houston, English-German rugby player
- 1982 – Lolo Jones, American hurdler
- 1982 – Michele Pazienza, Italian footballer
- 1982 – Tobias Regner, German singer-songwriter
- 1982 – Jeff Robson, Australian rugby league player
- 1982 – Pete Sell, American mixed martial artist
- 1984 – Steve Matai, New Zealand rugby league player
- 1984 – Helene Fischer, German singer-songwriter
- 1985 – Laurent Ciman, Belgian footballer
- 1985 – Salomon Kalou, Ivorian footballer
- 1985 – Gil Vermouth, Israeli footballer
- 1985 – Erkan Zengin, Swedish footballer
- 1986 – Paula Creamer, American golfer
- 1986 – Kathrin Zettel, Austrian skier
- 1987 – Genelia D’Souza, Indian actress
- 1988 – Michael Jamieson, Scottish-English swimmer
- 1988 – Federica Pellegrini, Italian swimmer
- 1989 – Ryan Bertrand, English footballer
- 1989 – Mathieu Manset, French footballer
- 1991 – Esteban Gutiérrez, Mexican race car driver
- 1991 – Konrad Hurrell, Tongan rugby league player
- 1991 – Andreas Weimann, Austrian footballer
- 1995 – Pierre-Emile Højbjerg, Danish footballer
- 1996 – Takakeishō Mitsunobu, Japanese sumo wrestler
- 1997 – Jack Cogger, Australian rugby league player