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Today in History: August 7
1782
General George Washington authorizes the award of the Purple Heart for soldiers wounded in combat.

1864
Union troops capture part of Confederate General Jubal Early's army at Moorefield, West Virginia.

1888
Theophilus Van Kannel of Philadelphia receives a patent for the revolving door.

1906
In North Carolina, a mob defies a court order and lynches three African Americans which becomes known as "The Lyerly Murders."

1916
Persia forms an alliance with Britain and Russia.

1922
The Irish Republican Army cuts the cable link between the United States and Europe at Waterville landing station.

1934
In Washington, the U.S. Court of Appeals rules that the government can neither confiscate nor ban James Joyce's novel Ulysses.

1936
The United States declares non-intervention in the Spanish Civil War.

1942
The U.S. 1st Marine Division under General A. A. Vandegrift lands on the islands of Guadalcanal and Tulagi in the Solomon islands. This is the first American amphibious landing of the war.

1944
German forces launch a major counter attack against U.S. forces near Mortain, France.


1964
Congress overwhelmingly passes the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, allowing the president to use unlimited military force to prevent attacks on U.S. forces.

1966
The United States loses seven planes over North Vietnam, the most in the war up to this point.

1971
Apollo 15 returns to Earth. The mission to the moon had marked the first use of the Lunar Roving Vehicle.

1973
A U.S. plane accidentally bombs a Cambodian village, killing 400 civilians.

1976
The US Viking 2 spacecraft goes into orbit around Mars.


1981
The Washington (D.C.) Star ceases publication after 128 years.

1984
Japan defeats the United States to win the Olympic Gold in baseball.

1987
Presidents of five Central American nations sign a peace accord in Guatemala.

1990
Operation Desert Shield begins as US troops deploy to Saudi Arabia to discourage Iraq's Saddam Hussein from invading that country as he had Kuwait.

2007
Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants breaks Hank Aaron's record with his 756th home run. Bonds' accomplishments were clouded by allegations of illegal steroid use and lying to a grand jury.

Today in History: Born on August 7
1876
Mata Hari, [Margaretha G. Macleod] who passed secrets to the Germans in World War I.

1903
Louis Leakey, anthropologist, archeologist and paleontologist; believed Africa was the cradle of mankind.

1904
Ralph Bunche, U.S. diplomat and the first African-American Nobel Prize winner.

1927
Edwin Edwards, governor of Louisiana.

1932
Abebe Bikila, barefoot runner from Ethiopia, winner of the 1960 Olympic marathon.


1942
Garrison Keillor, American humorist and writer, creator of the long-running PBS program A Prairie Home Companion.

1950
Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter ("Leaving Louisiana in the Broad Daylight," "Ain't Living Long Like This") and author (Chinaberry Sidewalks) Rodney Crowell.

1963
Patrick Kennedy, son of President and Mrs. John F. Kennedy; dies 39 hours later.

1966
Jimmy Donal "Jimbo" Wales, co-founder of Wikipedia.

1975
Charlize Theron, model and Academy Award-winning actress (Monster).

JOTD
After years of feeling disappointment about her breasts and never getting as many up-votes as her friend Angela on r/GoneWild, Julie decides she needs implants.

So she went to see Dr. Smith about enlarging her tiny breasts. Dr. Smith told her, "I'll do it, but there may be another way with no downtime in recovery! Every day after your shower rub your chest and say, "Scooby doobie doobies, I want bigger boobies."

She did this faithfully for several months and it worked! She grew terrific D-cup boobs! One morning she was running late, got on the bus and in a panic realised she had forgotten her morning ritual.

Frightened she might lose her lovely boobs if she didn't recite the little rhyme, she stood right there in the middle aisle of the bus closed her eyes and said, "Scooby doobie doobies, I want bigger boobies."

A guy sitting nearby looked at her, "By any chance, are you a patient of Dr. Smith's?" "Why, yes I am... How did you know?" He leaned closer, winked and whispered, "Hickory dickory dock..."