August 7 in History

Historical Events on August 7

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.

1794 U.S. President George Washington invokes the Militia Acts of 1792 to suppress the Whiskey Rebellion in western Pennsylvania.

1940 World War II: Alsace-Lorraine is annexed by the Third Reich.

1942 World War II: 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.

1946 The government of the Soviet Union presented a note to its Turkish counterparts which refuted the latter's sovereignty over the Turkish Straits, thus beginning the Turkish Straits crisis.

1964 Vietnam War: The U.S. Congress passes the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution giving U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson broad war powers to deal with North Vietnamese attacks on American forces.

1978 U.S. President Jimmy Carter declares a federal emergency at Love Canal due to toxic waste that had been disposed of negligently.

1990 First American soldiers arrive in Saudi Arabia as part of the Gulf War.

2008 The start of the Russo-Georgian War over the territory of South Ossetia.

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Famous Birthdays on August 7

1928 James Randi

1954 Jonathan Pollard

1966 Jimmy Wales

1987 Sidney Crosby

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Famous Deaths on August 7

1106 Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor

1938 Konstantin Stanislavski

1941 Rabindranath Tagore

2005 Peter Jennings

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