August 26
With America in the depths of the Great Depression, the Comptroller of the Currency announces a temporary halt on foreclosures of first mortgages. – 1932.
The first televised Major League Baseball game is broadcast on station W2XBS, the station that was to become WNBC-TV. Announcer Red Barber called the game between the Cincinnati Reds and the Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn, N. Y.. Only approximately 400 residents of the New York area owned televisons at the time. – 1939.
August 27
The most powerful volcanic eruption in recorded history occurs on Krakatau, called Krakatoa, a small, uninhabited volcanic island west of Sumatra in Indonesia. Heard 3,000 miles away, the explosions throw five cubic miles of earth 50 miles into the air, create 120-foot tsunamis, and kill 36,000 humans. Fine dust from the explosion drifted around the earth and caused spectacular sunsets and forms an atmospheric veil that lowered temperatures worldwide by several degrees. – 1883.
U.S. president Harry Truman orders the U.S. Army to seize all of the Nation’s railroads to prevent a general strike. The railroads were not returned to their owners until two years later. – 1950.
August 28
More than 23,000 Hungarian Jews are murdered by the Gestapo in German-occupied Ukraine. – 1941.
The march for jobs and freedom, the Martin Luther King, Jr. “I Have A Dream” speech march, is held in Washington, D.C. with 250,000 participating. – 1963.
At the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, tens of thousands of Vietnam War protesters battle police in the streets, while the Democratic Party falls apart over an internal disagreement concerning its stance on Vietnam. – 1968.
August 29
Atahuallpa, the 13th and last emperor of the Incas, dies by strangulation at the hands of Francisco Pizarro’s Spanish conquistadors. The execution of Atahuallpa, the last free reigning emperor, marked the end of 300 years of Inca civilization. – 1533.
At a remote test site at Semipalatinsk in Kazakhstan, the USSR successfully detonates its first atomic bomb, code name “First Lightning.” – 1949.
Hurricane Katrina makes landfall near New Orleans, La., as a Category 4 hurricane. It is believed that the hurricane caused more than 1,300 deaths and up to $150 billion in damages along the coasts of Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana. – 2005.
August 30
Cleopatra, queen of Egypt and lover of both Julius Caesar and Mark Antony, takes her life following the defeat of her forces against Octavian, the future first emperor of Rome. – 30 B.C.E..
After speaking at a factory in Moscow, Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin is shot twice by a member of the Social Revolutionary Party. Lenin was seriously wounded, but survived the attack. – 1918.
U.S. president Franklin Roosevelt’s Wealth Tax Act increases taxes on rich citizens and big business and lowers taxes for small businesses. – 1935.
A 24-hour-a-day hot line between Moscow and Washington goes into effect. The hot line was supposed to help speed communication between the governments of the United States and the Soviet Union and help prevent the possibility of an accidental war. – 1963.
Thurgood Marshall becomes the first African American to be confirmed as a U.S. Supreme Court justice. He remained on the Supreme Court for 24 years before retiring for health reasons. He left a legacy of upholding the rights of the individual as guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. – 1967.
August 31
More than 325,000 unionists gather in Washington, D.C. for a Solidarity Day march and rally for work-place fairness and health care reform. – 1991.
September 1
At 4:45 a.m., 1.5 million German troops invade Poland all along its 1,750-mile border with German-controlled territory. Simultaneously, the German Luftwaffe bombs Polish airfields, and German warships and U-boats attack Polish naval forces. – 1939.
Muammar al-Gaddafi, a 27-year-old Libyan army captain, leads a successful military coup against King Idris I of Libya. Idris was deposed and Gaddafi was named chairman of Libya’s new governing body, the Revolutionary Command Council. – 1969.
The federal minimum wage is increased to $5.15 per hour. – 1997.