AUGUST 1
Louisiana History
1978 - It is announced that Paul Dietzel is returning to LSU as its athletic director. He had been the youngest football coach at LSU on February 15, 1955, and within three years, he led the Fighting Tigers to the national championship. Dietzel abruptly announced that he was leaving for a similar position at West Point in 1961.
American History
1789 - U.S. Customs begins enforcing the Tariff Act.
World History
1498 - Christopher Columbus lands on Isla Santa (Venezuela).
1774 - Priestly discovers oxygen.
1793 - France becomes the first country to use the metric system
AUGUST 2
Louisiana History
1963 - Congressman Gillis Long, cousin to Huey and Earl Long, tossed his hat into what was to be one of the more hotly contested gubernatorial races in Louisiana History. Both Public Service Commissioner John McKeithen and New Orleans Mayor DeLesseps Morrison were considered the front runners to succeed outgoing Governor Jimmie Davis. McKeithen defeated Morrison in that year's general election, denying Long the first of his many attempts to become governor.
1967 - The New Orleans Saints first pre-season game (they lose to L.A. Rams 16-77).
American History
1909 - The first Lincoln head pennies are minted.
1939 - The Hatch Act forbids political activity by federal workers.
World History
1492 - Jews are expelled from Spain by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella.
AUGUST 3
Louisiana History
1918 - Louisiana ratifies the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which prohibited the manufacture and distribution of alcoholic beverages.
1963 - Bill Dodd announces his candidacy for the position of superintendent of education.
American History
1678 - Robert LaSalle builds the first ship in America, the Griffon.
1882 - Congress passes the first law restricting immigration.
World History
1914 - Belgium refuses to allow free crossing for the German army.
AUGUST 4
Louisiana History
1788 - Pierre Francois de Rigaud, Marquis de Vaudreuil (French Colonial Governor 1743-1753) dies in Paris, France.
1812 - The first General Assembly of the newly created state of Louisiana approves legislation accepting an offer by the United States Congress to incorporate West Florida as part of Louisiana. This followed several uprisings between 1803 and 1812 by the inhabitants of Spanish controlled West Florida who wished to become citizens of the new American territory.
American History
1862 - The U.S. government collects its first income tax.
1914 - The U.S. declares its neutrality during WWI.
1988 - Congress votes to give $20,000 to each Japanese-American interned during WWII
AUGUST 5
Louisiana History
1862 - Confederate forces under General Breckenridge fight the indecisive Battle of Baton Rouge against Federal troops led by General Williams.
1972 - The Louisiana Superdome opens. Being the brainchild of Governor John McKeithen, he had to convince many critics that the facility would bring an economic boom not only to New Orleans but to the entire state as well.
American History
1861 - The U.S. Army abolishes flogging.
1986 - The U.S. Senate votes for the SDI Project (Star Wars).
World History
1890 - British and French accord is reached to divide African colonization.
1972 - Ugandan President Idi Amin throws out all 80,000 Asians.
AUGUST 6
Louisiana History
1727 - The Ursuline nuns arrive in New Orleans and takes up residence in Bienville's former house. They immediately opened a convent school where they gave instruction to Indian and black women, and white girls.
1905 - Ralph Waldo Emerson Jones (academic) is born in Lake Charles. Throughout his 51 years at Grambling, he taught a variety of subjects and coached the baseball team. He was the author of the university's alma mater and was the driving force behind the creation of the famous Grambling University Marching Tigers Band.
American History
1965 - LBJ signs the Voting Rights Act for African-Americans.
World History
1675 - Russian Tsar Aleksei forbids foreign haircuts.
1806 - The Holy Roman Empire ends.
1962 - Jamaica gains its independence after 300 years of British rule.
AUGUST 7
Louisiana History
1804 - The Kemper brothers, Sam and Nathan, launch an invasion of West Florida in 1804.
1890 - An anti-lottery Democratic Convention meets in Baton Rouge. Called the anti-lottery league, 959 delegates from all but six parishes convened that day to hear passionate anti-lottery speeches by Edward D. White, Murphy J. Foster and others. The convention eventually approved a resolution calling upon the federal government to take steps to abolish lottery activities.
1927 - Edwin Edwards (Governor 1972-1980, 1984-1988 and 1992-96) is born in Marksville, Louisiana.
American History
1964 - The U.S. Congress passes the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution.
World History
1961 - Soviet Premier Khrushchev predicts that the Russian economy will surpass the U.S.
AUGUST 8
Louisiana History
1862 - General Braxton Bragg sends a letter to Breckinridge, ordering him to break off his attack of Baton Rouge. The city was to remain in the hands of the federals for the remainder of the war.
1882 - Oscar K. Allen (Governor 1932-1936) is born near Winnfield, Louisiana.
American History
1973 - Vice-President Spiro Agnew says that claims that he accepted kickbacks are "damn lies."
World History
1945 - The USSR organizes a communist government in North Korea.
1988 - Russian troops pull out of Afghanistan after 9 year war.
AUGUST 9
Louisiana History
1918 - Governor Ruffin G. Pleasant affixes his signature to Senate Concurrent Resolution No.1 by Delos R. Johnson ratifying the 18th amendment to the Unites States Constitution.
American History
1842 - American-Canadian border is established by the Weston-Ashburton Treaty.
1969 - The Manson family commits the Tate-LaBianca murders.
1972 - Rockwell receives NASA contract to build Space Shuttle.
World History
1378 - Cardinals declare Pope Urbanus VI lawless (anti-Christian/devil).
AUGUST 10
Louisiana History
1807 - Francois-Luis Hector, Baron de Carondelet et Noyelles (Spanish Colonial Governor 1791-1797) dies in Quito, Ecuador.
1856 - A disastrous hurricane and tidal wave kills more than 200 vacationers at Last Island. The tragedy is described in Lafcadio Hearn's novel, Chita.
1936 - The highest temperature ever recorded in the state was registered at 116 degrees.
American History
1827 - Race riots begin in Cincinnati (1000 slaves leave for Canada).
World History
1945 - Japan announces its willingness to surrender to the Allies providing that the status of Emperor Hirohito remains unchanged.
AUGUST 11
Louisiana History
1751 - Casa-Calvo (Spanish Ad Interim Governor 1799-1801) is born in Havana.
1868 - The Louisiana Lottery is established to become a major industry in the state. Faced with what it perceived to be the loss of million of dollars to the lotteries of such places as Havana, Kentucky and Madrid, the company was given a 25 year license to operate in the state. According to the act creating the lottery (Act 25 of 1868), the measure became law without the approval of the governor, who did not return the act to the State Legislature with this signature.
1971 - Construction begins on the Louisiana Superdome.
American History
1924 - Presidential candidates make the first film for bio-scoop news.
World History
1919 - The Weimar Republic begins in Germany.
AUGUST 12
Louisiana History
1906 - The first steps to create a law department at LSU is taken with the hiring of its first professor, Joseph I. Kelly. According to The Times Democrat in its August 12, 1906 edition, the proposed law department would consist of three professors and three special lecturers
American History
1676 - The first war between American colonists and Indians ends in New England.
1898 - Hawaii is formally annexed by the U.S.
World History
1099 - The Crusaders are victorious at Ascalon.
1492 - Christopher Columbus discovers the Canary Islands.
1812 - Dr. Joseph Lister is the first surgeon to use antiseptic during surgery.
AUGUST 13
Louisiana History
1850 - The New Orleans Bee announces its opposition to the thought of secession with the following: "There is a blustering class of politicians in the South who seek to compensate by the fullness of their lungs for the emptiness of their brains; who brawl about disunion...They think, or seem to think, that no man can be true to the South unless he is willing to break up the confederacy."
American History
1898 - George Dewey captures Manila during the Spanish-American War.
World History
1624 - Cardinal Richelieu is appointed Minister of France by King Louis XIII.
1937 - Japan attacks Shanghai.
1960 - The USSR withdraws its advisors from China.
AUGUST 14
Louisiana History
1935 - Huey Long was know to dabble in the politics of sister states, and The Shreveport Times reports that Huey Long was bowing out of the Mississippi gubernatorial race after the famous Theodore Bilbo warned him to "stay out of Mississippi." Long had campaigned for Paul Johnson against Bilbo, but after the statement, Huey Long took his sound truck and returned to Louisiana, and less than a month later, he was assassinated.
American History
1824 - General Lafayette returns to the U.S.
1848 - The Oregon Territory is created.
World History
1281 - Kublai Khan's invasion fleet disappears in a typhoon near Japan.
AUGUST 15
Louisiana History
1785 - The La Bergere arrives in New Orleans with Acadian refugees.
1974 - Clay Shaw dies, just five years after a jury found him innocent of all charges brought against him by then District Attorney Jim Garrison. He was a highly decorated soldier during WWII, a playwright of note and a successful New Orleans businessman who was the driving force behind the development of the International Trade Mart and the revitalization of the French Quarter. His civic connections earned him the International Order of Merit of the City of New Orleans in 1965.
1988 - The Republican National Convention meets in New Orleans and nominates George Bush and Dan Quayle for the presidency.
American History
1620 - The Mayflower sets sail from Southampton with 102 Pilgrims.
World History
1534 - Ignatius Loyola forms the Society of Jesus (Jesuits).
AUGUST 16
Louisiana History
1831 - New Orleans suffers great damage from floods as a result of a Gulf storm.
American History
1861 - President Lincoln prohibits the United States from trading with the Confederacy.
1863 - The Emancipation Proclamation is signed.
1969 - The Woodstock rock festival begins in New York.
World History
1961 - 250,000 West Berliners demonstrate against East Berlin.
AUGUST 17
Louisiana History
1769 - Count Alexander O'Reilly arrives in New Orleans with 2000 troops and the mission of re-establishing Spanish rule.
American History
1948 - Alger Hiss denies ever being a communist agent.
1960 - Francis Gary Powers U-2 spy trial opens in Moscow.
World History
1940 - Hitler orders the total blockade of Great Britain.
1961 - The building of the Berlin Wall begins.
AUGUST 18
Louisiana History
1967 - John McKeithen gives his State Address.
American History
1894 - Congress creates the Bureau of Immigration.
1958 - TV game show scandal investigations begin.
World History
1591 - The Governor of Roanoke Island returns to America from England to find that everyone in the colony had disappeared.
1961 - Construction of the Berlin Wall is completed.
AUGUST 19
Louisiana History
1917 - Elsie Elizabeth McLundie "Peggy" Bolton (Civic and Cultural Leader) is born in Chattanooga, Tennessee. She was the first woman and the first non-New Orleans resident to be named president of the State Museum Board. She founded the Alexandria Museum, served as a board member of the Old State Capitol Associates, and she was the founder and first president of the Historical Association of Central Louisiana. She was a member of the President's Council on Historic Preservation, original founder and board member of the Louisiana State Museum Board and served as president and chairman of the board for Kent Plantation House.
American History
1692 - Five women are executed for witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts.
World History
1821 - A liberal coup fails against French King Louis XVIII.
1960 - Sputnik 5 carries 2 monkeys and 3 mice into space (later recovered alive).
AUGUST 20
Louisiana History
1834 - Francis R. T. Nicholls (Governor 1877-1880 and 1888-1892) is born in Donaldsonville, Louisiana.
1972 - J. Bennett Johnson is elected to his first term in the U.S. Senate.
American History
1866 - President Johnson formally declares that the Civil War is over.
1974 - Gerald Ford becomes president upon President Nixon's resignation.
World History
1940 - Leon Trotsky, Russian revolutionary, is ice picked by Frank Jackson.
1980 - The UN Security Council condemns the Israeli declaration that all of Jerusalem will be its capital.
AUGUST 21
Louisiana History
1861 - Baton Rouge is evacuated before advancing federal troops.
1902 - Robert F. Kennon (Governor 1952-1956) is born near Minden, Louisiana.
American History
1680 - Pueblo Indians take control of Santa Fe from the Spanish.
1959 - Hawaii becomes the 50th state.
World History
1969 - The Warsaw Pact forces enters Czechoslovakia to end the reform movement.
AUGUST 22
Louisiana History
1700 - Sieur de Sauvole (French Colonial Governor 1699-1700) dies at Fort Maurepas, Louisiana Colony (Biloxi, Mississippi).
1701 - Bienville succeeds Sauvole as governor on the latter's death.
1810 - A delegation of leaders meets for a convention to draft a plan for the establishment of a working government for the Spanish controlled West Florida area, fearing it would become a battleground for interested foreign powers. Exactly a month later the second convention was held in Baton Rogue where a declaration of independence was adopted.
1951 - The discovery of a large sulfur deposit near the mouth of the Mississippi River was announced.
American History
1975 - An assassination attempt on President Gerald Ford occurs.
World History
1791 - Haitian slave revolt begins under the leadership of voodoo priest Boukman.
AUGUST 23
Louisiana History
1983 - The Louisiana School for Math, Science and Arts opens in Natchitoches on the campus of Northwestern State University. The school, one of the first institutions of its kind in the United States, is open to outstanding junior and senior high school students who excel in the areas of math, science and the arts.
American History
1784 - Eastern Tennessee settlers claim the area an independent state and name it Franklin- a year later the Continental Congress rejects it.
World History
1914 - Japan declares war on Germany.
1939 - The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact is signed- Eastern Europe is divided between Hitler and Stalin.
AUGUST 24
Louisiana History
1806 - James Harrison Dakin is born in New York. Being renown as one of the nation's foremost architects, his most notable creation is the Old State Capitol, but he also designed the Medical College of Louisiana, the Verandah Hotel, St. Patrick's Church, the State Arsenal, and he supervised the construction of the New Orleans Custom House.
957 - Lake Ponchartrain Causeway- the longest overwater highway bridge in the world, spanning nearly 24 miles, formally opens.
American History
1814 - British forces capture Washington, D.C. and burn down many landmarks.
1954 - President Eisenhower signs the Communist Control Act, prohibiting the Communist Party.
World History
1215 - Pope Innocent III declares the Magna Carta invalid.
AUGUST 25
Louisiana History
1718 - Hundreds of French colonists arrive in Louisiana- New Orleans founded.
1812 - The first General Assembly of the State of Louisiana passes an act giving East Baton Rouge Parish representation in the General Assembly following its creation from the old West Florida Republic. According to the act, the parish of East Baton Rouge shall constitute one other district for the election of a senator and two representatives.
American History
1952 - Puerto Rico becomes a U.S. Commonwealth.
World History
1212 - The Children's Crusade under Nicholas (age 10) reaches Genoa.
1940 - Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia are incorporated into the Soviet Union.
AUGUST 26
Louisiana History
1769 - The leading inhabitants of the province took the oath of allegiance to the Spanish king.
1895 - Earl Long (Governor 1939-1940, 1948-52 and 1956-1960) is born near Winnfield, Louisiana.
American History
1920 - The 19th Amendment is ratified, granting voting rights to women.
World History
1907 - Houdini escapes from chains underwater in an Aquatic Park in 57 seconds.
1945 - Japanese officials board the USS Missouri to receive instruction on Japan's surrender.
AUGUST 27
Louisiana History
1963 - Brooks Read interviews James Farmer while he is jailed in Donaldsonville.
American History
1928 - The Kellogg-Briand Pact is signed- 60 nations agree to outlaw war.
1984 - President Reagan announces the Teacher in Space project.
World History
1941 - The Shah of Iran abdicates the throne to his son.
1958 - The USSR launches Sputnik 3 with 2 dogs aboard.
AUGUST 28
Louisiana History
1874 - The shooting of a white citizen, J.B. Dickson, heightens tension among the citizenry and reports of several newspapers of the day speak of a pitched battle occurring that leads to a number of deaths. The incident has since become known as the Coushatta Massacre, and symbolized the state of affairs during Federal occupation of the Southern states in the aftermath of the Civil War.
American History
1565 - The oldest city in America, St. Augustine (Florida) is established
World History
1837 - Pharmacists John Lea and William Perrins manufacture Worcestershire Sauce.
1916 - Italy declares war on Germany in WWI.
AUGUST 29
Louisiana History
1874 - A Negro uprising at Coushatta is put down by the White League.
1880 - Paul Octave Hebert (Governor 1853-1856) dies in New Orleans.
1993 - Woody Dumas is elected mayor-president of Baton Rouge.
American History
1916 - Congress creates the U.S. Naval Reserve.
World History
1533 - Francisco Pizzaro orders the death of the last Incan King, Atahualpa.
1945 - The British liberate Hong Kong from Japan.
AUGUST 30
Louisiana History
1869 - Luther E. Hall (Governor 1912-1916) is born in Bastrop, Louisiana.
1893 - Huey Long (Governor 1928-1932) is born near Winnfield, Louisiana.
1918 - William Pitt Kellogg (Governor 1873-1876) dies in Washington, D.C. He was the last Republican to hold that office until the election of Dave Treen in 1980.
American History
1967 - Thurgood Marshall is approved by the Senate as the first black chief justice.
World History
1918 - Fanya Kaplan shoots Lenin during a speech.
1980 - The Polish government recognizes Solidarity.
AUGUST 31
Louisiana History
1812 - An act is passed that calls for the relocating of the seat of government to a "more convenient site." A few years later the seat of government was moved to Donaldsonville, but it did not remain there long before being returned to New Orleans.
1812- The General Assembly set the Secretary of State's salary at $2,000 per year. The amount was to be paid quarterly.
American History
1954 - The Census Bureau forms.
World History
1535 - Pope Paul II deposes and excommunicated King Henry VIII.
1947 - The Hungarian Communist Party wins the election.
SOURCES:
"Daily Almanac" by Michael J. Maggio
The Louisiana Governors ed. Joseph G. Dawson III
A Dictionary of Louisiana Biography ed. Glenn R. Conrad
Louisiana Almanac: 1997-98 Edition