North Vietnam's president, Ho Chi Minh response to President Nixon's letter is received at the White House three days before Ho Chi Minh death in Hanoi from a heart attack on September 2, 1969 at the age of 79. More
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What Happened in August?
President Richard Nixon announces in a Television address on August 15, 1971, that he was unilaterally suspending the dollar's direct convertibility to gold, effectively ending the Bretton Woods system and moving the U.S. toward a fiat currency system. The official confirmation of devaluation came later with the December 1971 Smithsonian Agreement.
French high-wire artist Philippe Petit walks between the Twin Towers at 1,350 feet above ground with no net. More
Richard M Nixon announces in a national television address delivered from the Oval Office on the evening of August 8, 1974, that he he will resign the presidency the following day, August 9, 1974, due to the Watergate scandal.
The following morning, August 9, Nixon submitted a signed letter of resignation to Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, becoming the only U.S. President ever to resign. Gerald Ford became president on August 9, 1974, after Richard Nixon resigned from office and taking the oath of office in the East Room of the White House. becoming the 38th U.S. President. More
The Equal Educational Opportunities Act (EEOC) is signed by President Richard Nixon and becomes a US federal law. The EEOC Act of 1974 prohibits discrimination against faculty, staff, and students, including racial segregation of students, and requires school districts to take action to overcome barriers to students' equal participation.
It is one of a number of laws affecting educational institutions including the Rehabilitation Act (1973), the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).
A 707 passenger flight chartered by the national airline of Morocco, Royal Air Maroc, flying in heavy fog crashed into a mountain on approach to Agadir Inezgane, Airport in Morocco. All 188 passengers and crew on board were killed. The cause of the crash was determined to be pilot error. More
The term "Global Warming" is used for the first time in a science publication. The article by geochemist Wallace Broecker of Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory: "Climatic Change: Are We on the Brink of a Pronounced Global Warming?" More
By Bruce Gilbert - , CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/...
Viking 1 launches on its way to Mars. it became the first U.S. mission to land a spacecraft safely on the surface of Mars and return images of the surface. More
1980, August 14-15
The Solidarity movement in Poland, led by Lech Walesa, signs the Gdansk Agreement with the communist government, marking a significant milestone in the fight for workers' rights. Solidarity opposed Communist rule and was outlawed the following year.
Seven years later, the re-legalization of Solidarity occurred and the government agreed to hold partially free parliamentary elections. Solidarity candidates scored stunning victories, paving the way for the downfall of Communism there. More
The Solidarity movement in Poland is officially recognized by the government after a wave of strikes and protests, marking a significant step in the fight for workers' rights and democracy, leading to its participation in negotiations that eventually ended Communist rule in Poland in 1989. More
Image Source European Solidarity Centre, CC BY-SA 3.0 PL , via Wikimedia Commons
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President Reagan signs the Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981 (ERTA), the 185-page that fulfilled his campaign promise to cut taxes. The act helped accelerate economic growth but it is blamed for being a major contributor to the growth of Income inequality in the U.S. which is now at heights not seen for a century. More
Filipino opposition leader Benigno "Ninoy" S. Aquino, Jr., was assassinated at the Manila airport while leaving his plane. Public outcry ultimately led to the collapse of the government of Ferdinand E. Marcos and the inauguration as president of Corazon C. Aquino, widow of the slain man.
Delta Air Lines Flight 191, Lockheed L-1011 TriStar airplane, crashes at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport during a landing approach. on August 2, 1985. The cause of the accident was determined to be an intense, localized downburst (microburst), a weather phenomenon not well understood at the time.
Of the 163 persons aboard, 136 were killed in addition to one person hit on the ground. Two passengers died more than 30 days after the accident as a result of their injuries. More
Japan Air Lines Flight 123 flight from Tokyo to Osaka, Japan crashes in the area of Mount Takamagahara, 62 miles from Tokyo. The Boeing 747 suffered a severe structural failure and decompression 12 minutes into the flight and crashed 32 minutes later after flying under minimal control for that time. 520 people died in the accident. All four survivors were seriously injured. The root cause of the explosive decompression was attributed to an improperly executed repair to the airplane's aft pressure bulkhead that was completed several years prior to the accident. The crash of Flight 123 is the deadliest single-aircraft accident in aviation history. More
A volcanic eruption under Lake Nyos in Cameroon caused deadly fumes which killed more than 1,500 persons. More
A DC-9 Super 82 on Northwest Flight 255 crashes minutes aftertakeoff at Detroit Metropolitan Airport in Michigan. The flight was headed to California with a Phoenix stopover. A four-year-old girl was the sole survivor of the accident,156 people died. The crash was caused by pilot error. More
A McDonnell Douglas MD-82, operating as Northwest Airlines Flight 255, crashed shortly after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, about 8:46 pm EDT. resulting in the deaths of 156 people; 148 of the 149 passengers, along with two people on the ground and all six crew members. The sole survivor was a 4-year-old girl named Cecelia Cichan, who sustained serious injuries.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) determined that the probable cause of the accident was the flight deck crew's failure to set flaps and slats for takeoff. A contributing factor was a lack of power to the aircraft's central aural warning system, which prevented the takeoff warning system from providing an audio alert to the crew of the improper takeoff configuration. More
The Ray Brothers’ family home in Arcadia, Florida burns down. It was almost certainly a case of arson fueled by fear and ignorance. The three boys- Ricky, Robert and Randy- were born with hemophilia and were 10, 9 and 8 at the time. They had been diagnosed positive with HIV in 1986 and were not allowed to attend school following their positive test results.
Their home was burned to the ground a week after a court ruled the following year that they had every legal right to attend. The Ricky Ray Hemophilia Relief Fund Program act was enacted by the Health and Human Services Department on November 23, 2001 More
A ceasefire in the Iran-Iraq War takes affect on August 20, 1988 ending eight years of conflict and marking the end of one of the longest and deadliest wars of the 20th century. The cease fire agreement was brokered by the United Nations (UN) under Security Council Resolution 598.
Iraq invades Kuwait on August 2, 1990 and five days later, on August 7, 1990 U.S. President George H.W. Bush orders Operation Desert Shield, the US operational name for the US buildup of forces and Saudi Arabia's defense which lasted until January, 16 1991 in preparation to liberate Kuwait from Iraqi occupation.
It consisted of a buildup of approximately 670,000 coalition troops from 28 countries, but it did not include offensive combat actions against Iraq. The second phase, operation Desert Storm was launched on January 17, 1991 by the international coalition against Iraq.