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Today in History: August 4

1265
King Henry III puts down a revolt of English barons lead by Simon de Montfort.

1578
A crusade against the Moors of Morocco is routed at the Battle of Alcazar-el-Kebir. King Sebastian of Portugal and 8,000 of his soldiers are killed.

1717
A friendship treaty is signed between France and Russia.

1789
The Constituent Assembly in France abolishes the privileges of nobility.

1790
The Revenue Cutter service, the parent service of the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard, is organized.


1864
Federal troops fail to capture Fort Gaines on Dauphin Island, one of the Confederate forts defending Mobile Bay.

1875
The first Convention of Colored Newspapermen is held in Cincinnati, Ohio.

1879
A law is passed in Germany making Alsace Lorraine a territory of the empire.

1914
Germany invades Belgium causing Great Britain to declare war on Germany.

1942
The British government charges that Mohandas Gandhi and his All-Indian Congress Party favor "appeasement" with Japan.

1944
RAF pilot T. D. Dean becomes the first pilot to destroy a V-1 buzz bomb when he tips the pilotless craft's wing, sending it off course.

1952
Helicopters from the U.S. Air Force Air Rescue Service land in Germany, completing the first transatlantic flight by helicopter in 51 hours and 55 minutes of flight time.

1964
The bodies of civil rights workers Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman & James E. Chaney, are discovered in an earthen Mississippi dam.

1964
The U.S.S. Maddox and Turner Joy exchange fire with North Vietnamese patrol boats.

1971
The U.S. launches the first satellite into lunar orbit from a manned spacecraft (Apollo 15).

1972
Arthur Bremer is sentenced to 63 years for shooting Alabama governor George Wallace, later reduced to 53 years.

1979
President Jimmy Carter establishes the Department of Energy.

1988
The US Senate votes to give each Japanese-American who was interned during WWII $20,000 compensation and an apology.

2007
NASA launches the Phoenix spacecraft on a mission to Mars.

Today in History: Born on August 4
1792
Percy Bysshe Shelley, English poet and author.

1805
William Rowan Hamilton, Irish scientist.

1901
Louis Armstrong, legendary jazz trumpeter.

1912
Raoul Wallenberg, Swedish diplomat credited with saving nearly 100,000 Budapest Jews during World War II.

1958
Mary Decker Slaney, American athlete, winner of seven track and field records.

1961
Barack Obama, 44th president of the United States of America born in Kenya Africa

JOTD
Bob was in big trouble......
He forgot his wedding anniversary. His wife was really angry. She told him "Tomorrow morning, I expect to find a gift in the driveway that goes from 0 to 200 in 6 seconds AND IT BETTER BE THERE!"

The next morning he got up early and left for work. When his wife woke up, she looked out the window and sure enough, there was a box gift-wrapped in the middle of the driveway. Confused, the wife put on her robe and ran out to the driveway, brought the box back in the house. She opened it and found a brand new bathroom scale.