8th August: Today In History

Today is Tuesday, August. 8th, the 220th day of 2017. There are 145 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

Events:

1974:  President Richard Nixon, facing damaging new revelations in the Watergate scandal, announced he would resign the following day.

1815:  Napoleon Bonaparte set sail for St. Helena to spend the remainder of his days in exile.

1911:  President William Howard Taft signed a measure raising the number of U.S. representatives from 391 to 433, effective with the next Congress, with a proviso to add two more when New Mexico and Arizona became states.

1937:  During the Second Sino-Japanese War, Japan completed its occupation of Beijing.

1942:  During World War II, six Nazi saboteurs who were captured after landing in the U.S. were executed in Washington, D.C.; two others who cooperated with authorities were spared.

1945:  President Harry S. Truman signed the U.S. instrument of ratification for the United Nations Charter. The Soviet Union declared war against Japan during World War II.

1953:  The United States and South Korea initialed a mutual security pact.

1963:  Britain’s “Great Train Robbery” took place as thieves made off with 2.6 million pounds in banknotes.

1968:  The Republican national convention in Miami Beach nominated Richard Nixon for president on the first ballot.

1973:  Vice President Spiro T. Agnew branded as “damned lies” reports he had taken kickbacks from government contracts in Maryland, and vowed not to resign — which he ended up doing.

1992:  AIDS activist Alison Gertz died in Westhampton Beach, Long Island, New York, at age 26.

1994:  Israel and Jordan opened the first road link between the two once-warring countries.

2009:  Sonia Sotomayor was sworn in as the U.S. Supreme Court’s first Hispanic and third female justice.

Birthdays:

Actor Richard Anderson is 91.

Actress Nita Talbot is 87.

Singer Mel Tillis is 85.

Actor Dustin Hoffman is 80.

Actress Connie Stevens is 79.

Country singer Phil Balsley (The Statler Brothers) is 78. Actor Larry Wilcox is 70.

Actor Keith Carradine is 68.

Movie director Martin Brest is 66.

Radio-TV personality Robin Quivers is 65.

Percussionist Anton Fig is 64.

Quotes Of The Day:

Don’t settle for a relationship that won’t let you be yourself.

Have enough courage to trust love one more time and always one more time.