A small town in Texas elected a dog named Duke as its mayor
The Great Pyrenees won the mayoral race in Cormorant, Minnesota (not Texas—this actually happened in Minnesota). Duke served three consecutive terms u...
August 7 in History
Significant events that happened on this day.
Historical Events
1998
1990
A judge in Wisconsin sentenced a man to apologize on the radio for stealing an inflatable dinosaur
The creative sentence required the thief to publicly apologize on air and explain his crime. The unusual punishment became a local sensation, proving...
1974
Philippe Petit walked on a tightrope between the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center
The French high-wire artist illegally rigged a cable between the towers and performed for 45 minutes at 1,350 feet above ground. He crossed eight time...
1964
The U.S. Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, escalating American involvement in Vietnam
MajorBased on disputed reports of North Vietnamese attacks on U.S. ships, Congress gave President Johnson broad war powers without a formal declaration. Th...
1960
Ivory Coast gained independence from France
After 60 years as a French colony, the West African nation became independent under President Félix Houphouët-Boigny. The peaceful transition made Ivo...
1959
The United States launched Explorer 6, which transmitted the first photograph of Earth from space
MajorThe satellite captured a crude but revolutionary image showing Earth's sunlit surface and cloud cover from 17,000 miles away. The grainy photograph ma...
1944
The IBM Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator (Harvard Mark I) was officially presented to Harvard University
This 51-foot-long, five-ton mechanical computer was the first automatic digital computer in the United States. It could perform three additions per se...
1942
The Battle of Guadalcanal began in the Pacific during World War II
MajorAmerican forces launched their first major offensive against Japan by landing on Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands. The brutal six-month campaign bec...
1928
The Okeechobee hurricane formed in the Atlantic Ocean
This Category 5 hurricane would go on to kill at least 2,500 people in Florida, making it the second-deadliest hurricane in U.S. history. The storm su...
1927
The Peace Bridge connecting the United States and Canada opened to traffic
Spanning the Niagara River between Buffalo, New York and Fort Erie, Ontario, the bridge was named to commemorate 100 years of peace between the two na...
1925
A group of Ku Klux Klan members marched through Washington D.C. in a parade of 40,000
MajorAt the height of the KKK's political influence in the 1920s, tens of thousands of robed members marched down Pennsylvania Avenue in a massive show of...
1888
Theophilus Van Kannel received a patent for the revolving door
Van Kannel's invention was motivated by his hatred of the social custom of holding doors open for women. His rotating door design eliminated the awkwa...
1782
George Washington created the Badge of Military Merit, which later became the Purple Heart
Washington established this decoration to honor soldiers wounded in battle, making it the first military award available to common soldiers. After fal...
1679
The brigantine Le Griffon became the first full-sized sailing ship to navigate the Great Lakes
Built by French explorer La Salle, the ship sailed from Lake Erie through the upper Great Lakes on her maiden voyage. Mysteriously, she vanished on he...