Epic Idiot's what happened
On This Day

August 2

1993
Rocket explosion: A Titan IV rocket explodes two minutes after liftoff from a California Air Force base. The cost of the rocket and the satellites it was carrying was $2 billion.

1990
Gulf War: Iraqi president Saddam Hussein orders the invasion of Kuwait, claiming that Kuwait was threatening Iraq's economy by overproducing oil, and that Kuwait was historically part of Iraq. These actions were immediately condemned by the United Nations who demanded Iraq's immediate withdrawal from Kuwait.

1943
PT-109, commanded by Lt. John F. Kennedy, is rammed and sunk by a Japanese destroyer, during World War II.

1927
Pres. Coolidge announces "I do not choose to run for president in 1928."

1909
The Lincoln head penny is first issued. (Source: Famous First Facts)

1909
First airplane purchased by the U.S. government: A Wright biplane is purchased by the Army at a cost of $30,000.

1776
Signing of the Declaration of Independence: The members of the Continental Congress begin signing their names. The last signer, Thomas McKean, didn't add his name until 1781.

1984
Lisa Simpson, character on The Simpsons.

1963
Cynthia Stevenson, American actress. TV: Cheers (Norm's secretary) and Bob (Bob's daughter).

1959
Victoria Jackson, American comic, regular on Saturday Night Live.

1950
Lance Ito, American judge. He presided over the O.J. Simpson murder trial.

1932
Peter O'Toole, Irish actor. Film: Lawrence of Arabia (1962, title role).

1924     d. 2001
Carroll O'Connor, American Emmy-winning actor. TV: All in the Family (1971-79, Archie Bunker) and In the Heat of the Night (1988-94, Police Chief Bill Gillespie).

1905     d. 1993
Myrna Loy (Myrna Williams), American actress. Film: The Jazz Singer (1927, as a chorus girl) and The Thin Man (1934, Nora Charles).

1892     d. 1978
Jack Leonard Warner, American film executive, co-founder of Warner Bros. Pictures (1923).

1835     d. 1901
Elisha Gray, American inventor. He filed a patent for the telephone the same day as Alexander Graham Bell (1876). A long legal battle ensued which Bell ultimately won (1888). He also invented a teleautograph for transmitting handwriting.

1754     d. 1825
Pierre Charles L'Enfant, French-born American Revolutionary War officer, engineer. He designed the city of Washington D.C.

1997     b. 1914
William S. Burroughs, American author, Naked Lunch (1959).  He is credited with being the first to use "heavy metal" to describe something hip.

1976     b. 1890
Fritz Lang, Austrian-born film director. Film: Metropolis (1927), M (1931), and Fury (1936).

1956     b. 1847
Albert Woolson, American Civil War soldier, last surviving member of the Union Army. He served as a drummer (1865-66).

1936     b. 1872
Louis Bleriot, first person to fly an airplane across the English Channel (1909).

1924     b. 1844
Margaret Sidney (Harriet Lothrop), American children's author. Writings: Five Little Peppers and How They Grew (1881).

1923     b. 1865
Warren Gamaliel Harding, 29th U.S. President (1921-23). He died while in office, making Vice-President Calvin Coolidge president.

1922     b. 1847
Alexander Graham Bell, Scottish-born American inventor. He invented the telephone (1876) and the first successful phonograph record.

1921     b. 1873
Enrico Caruso, Italian tenor, known for his power and control in performances such as Rigoletto and Pagliacci.

1887     b. 1832
Joseph Hayne Rainey, American politician, first black member of the U.S. House of Representatives (1870-79).

1876     b. 1837
Wild Bill Hickok (James Butler Hickok), American frontiersman, U.S. marshall, and famous citizen of Deadwood, South Dakota. He was shot in the back during a poker game while holding two pair (aces and eights), since known as a "dead man's hand."

1859     b. 1796
Horace Mann, American educator, "Father of Public Education" in the U.S. He was elected to the Hall of Fame for Great Americans (1900).

1799     b. 1745
Jacques Étienne Montgolfier, French inventor. He and his brother invented the hot-air balloon (1782).

1788     b. 1727
Thomas Gainsborough, English artist. Paintings: Blue Boy (1779).

686     b. ????
John V, religious leader, 82nd Pope (685-686).

640     b. ????
Severinus, Italian religious leader, 71st Pope (May - Aug. 640).

257     b. ????
Saint Stephen I, Italian religious leader, 23rd Pope (254-257).

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