TIME TRAVELING, AUGUST 4 1735 Freedom of the press is established with the acquittal of John Peter Zenger, a writer for the “New York Weekly Journal” who has been charged with seditious libel by the royal governor of New York. The jury rules that the truth is not libelous. 1753 At age 21, George Washington becomes a Master Mason. 1790 The Revenue Cutter Service is formed. This U.S. naval task force is the beginning of the U.S. Coast Guard. 1892 Andrew and Abby Borden, elderly residents of Fall River, Mass., are found bludgeoned to death in their home. Since their daughter Lizzie is the only other person besides the housekeeper who is present when the bodies are found, suspicion soon falls on her. A jury, however, eventually finds her not guilty of the crime. 1914 As Britain declares war on Germany in World War I, President Woodrow Wilson formally proclaims the neutrality of the United States, a position that a vast majority of Americans favors. 1922 The death of Alexander Graham Bell two days earlier is recognized by AT&T and the Bell Systems by shutting down all of its switchboards and switching stations. The shutdown affects 13 million phones. 1936 American Jesse Owens wins gold in the long jump at the Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany, the second of four gold medals Owens will win in Berlin, as the black athlete from the U.S. firmly dispels German Fuhrer Adolf Hitler’s notion of the superiority of an Aryan “master race.” Hitler leaves the stadium. 1944 Nazi Gestapo raid a warehouse in Amsterdam and arrest 15-year-old diarist Anne Frank and her family, along with another Jewish family, who had taken shelter there in 1942 out of fear of deportation to a Nazi concentration camp. Anne perishes in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in early March 1945, but her diary survives the war and in 1947 is published by her father, Otto, the only one of the 10 arrested in the Amsterdam raid to survive the Nazi camps. 1958 Billboard Magazine introduces its Hot 100 chart. The first number one song is Ricky Nelsons Poor Little Fool. 1964 The remains of three civil rights workers whose disappearance on June 21 garners national attention are found buried in an earthen dam near Philadelphia, Miss. Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman, and James Chaney were members of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) whose disappearance leads to a massive FBI investigation that is code-named MIBURN, for “Mississippi Burning.” Nineteen men are eventually indicated for the murders, and seven are found guilty and sentenced to prison terms ranging from three to 10 years. 1966 A ban of the broadcast of any and all Beatles records on most U.S. radio stations goes into effect after band member John Lennon states that the band is now more popular than Jesus Christ. 1972 Arthur Bremer is found guilty of shooting and seriously wounding presidential candidate George Wallace, the governor of Alabama. Bremer is sentenced to 63 years in prison. 1977 President Jimmy Carter signs the measure that establishes the Department of Energy. 1987 A new 22-cent U.S. stamp honoring noted author William Faulkner goes on sale in Oxford, Miss. Faulkner had been fired as postmaster of that same post office in 1924. 1997 Teamsters begin a 15-day strike against UPS (United Parcel Service). The strikers eventually win an increase in full-time positions and defeat a proposed reorganization of the companys pension plan.
Posted on: Mon, 04 Aug 2014 05:05:00 +0000
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