On Aug. 25, 1814, one of the most humiliating incidents in American history ended when British troops, after a 26-hour occupation, abandoned Washington, D.C.—but not before they had flown the Union Jack on top of Capitol Hill and burned all the public buildings in the young nation’s capital, including the Capitol Building (missing its uncompleted rotunda), White House, and Treasury Building. The British occupation was purely a retaliatory action—Washington, D.C., held no military significance. read more...
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After 83 years, historians and legal scholars still disagree about the trial, conviction, and execution of Italian anarchists Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti. The men died in the electric chair of the state prison in Charlestown, Ma., on Aug. 23, 1927, charged with the murder of two men during an armed robbery in Braintree, Ma., on April 15, 1920. Sacco, Vanzetti and their lawyers fought a protracted, tangled legal battle for seven years trying to clear their names, but lost in the end. read more...
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NewsInHistory.com is continually adding more content to our historical newspaper archive—titles new to our collection as well as expanding the date ranges and number of issues for titles already in our archive. This current addition involves 33 newspapers from 23 states; 2 of these titles are new to our archive. A total of 11,897 issues have been added in this release! Here are the details:
Alabama
Mobile Register (Mobile). 999 issues: 1977 to 1984
Arkansas read more...
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History was made at the Strand Theatre in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, on Aug. 12, 1939, with the premiere of a remarkable movie that is now recognized as one of the greatest films ever made: “The Wizard of Oz.” This fantasy musical featured an excellent cast, led by 16-year-old Judy Garland in the lead role of Dorothy, engaging songs, dazzling color, and intriguing special effects. read more...
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The Japanese city of Hiroshima was destroyed when the United States dropped a single nuclear weapon, the “Little Boy” atomic bomb, on Aug. 6, 1945, instantly killing over 70,000 people and horribly wounding even more. This was the first time a nuclear weapon was used in war. Three days later, for the second—and, so far, only other—time in history, another nuclear weapon was used to destroy the Japanese city of Nagasaki. Six days later, on Aug. 15, Japan announced its surrender—World War II was over. read more...
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With a ceremony marked by speeches and prayers, a 21-gun salute, plenty of patriotic music, and a strong Masonic influence, the cornerstone for the Statue of Liberty on Liberty Island (then called Bedloe’s Island) in New York Harbor was laid on Aug. 5, 1884. The statue, a gift from France, was a celebration of freedom and liberty between two nations, both leading republics, that had shared close ties ever since France’s support helped America win independence from Great Britain in the Revolutionary War. read more...
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On the evening of Aug. 4, 1964, a nationwide television audience saw their “grim-faced” president, Lyndon B. Johnson, announce that North Vietnamese torpedo boats had attacked two U.S. destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin, off North Vietnam’s coast. This was the second such attack in three days; in response, Johnson ordered air strikes against North Vietnamese gunboats and their support facilities. He also requested a resolution from Congress that was quickly passed on Aug. read more...
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In an exciting two-mile rowing race on the waters of New Hampshire’s Lake Winnipesaukee on Aug. 3, 1852, Harvard’s Oneida won the first Harvard-Yale Boat Race, beginning a regatta rivalry that continues to this day. That 1852 race was the first intercollegiate athletic competition between American colleges. It was witnessed by a large crowd including General Franklin Pierce, who was elected the United States’ 14th president later that year. Pierce presented Harvard with the prized trophy: a pair of black walnut oars inscribed with silver. read more...
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Early in the morning of Aug. 2, 1964, the United States destroyer Maddox was conducting electronic surveillance of North Vietnamese military communications in the Gulf of Tonkin, off the coast of North Vietnam. The United States and North Vietnam were not yet at war, but something happened that morning—and may or may not have happened two days later—that led to direct U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. What is clear about Aug. 2 is that the Maddox engaged in a brief battle with three North Vietnamese patrol boats. read more...
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I understand that when writing a blog, it’s necessary to show a picture and say a few words about yourself, so that people don’t think a nameless, faceless committee or advisory board is running the show. Here I am, a real person. My name is Tony Pettinato, and I live in Deerfield, Mass. I did my undergraduate studies in English at Oberlin College, my graduate work in Journalism at UC Berkeley, and have been a reporter for six newspapers. For the past twelve years I have worked at NewsBank, the last six as a managing editor for the U.S. Congressional Serial Set project – NewsBank’s acclaimed effort to digitize and index twelve million pages of primary source documents – that gratified my life-long interest in American history. And that has led me to this blog!