CARLATA BRADLEY

Last U.S. combat troops leave Vietnam on this day in 1972.

It was on this day in 1944 during World War 11.

Lieutenant Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. perished in one of the first American 
fatalities associated with a pilotless aircraft, which we usually know today
as a drone or unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). The older brother of future
president, John F. Kennedy, was taking part in an extraordinary secret war
being waged across the English Channel with new generations of exotic
weapons.

Joseph Patrick Kennedy Jr. (July 25, 1915 – August 12, 1944)

New Jersey Governor Jim McGreevey resigned on this day in 2004,
declaring he’s gay.

James Edward McGreevey turned 61 on August 6th.

The Russian nuclear submarine Kursk sank and its 118-man
crew died during naval exercises in the Barents Sea on this
day in 2000.

Following salvage operations, analysts concluded that 23 sailors in the
sixth through ninth compartments had survived the two explosions. They
took refuge in the small ninth compartment and survived more than six
hours. When the oxygen ran low, crew members attempted to replace a
volatile potassium superoxide chemical oxygen cartridge when it contacted
oily sea water that had seeped into the compartment. A resulting explosion
killed several crew members and triggered a flash fire that consumed the
remaining oxygen, suffocating the remaining survivors.

Russian President Vladimir Putin lays flowers at the monument to the sailors who died in the Kursk disaster. 

(History) – On this day in 1973, “American Graffiti,” a nostalgic coming-of-
age tale set  in 1962 on the streets and steeped in the car-centric culture of suburban California, was released in theaters across the U.S. The movie 
went  on to become a sleeper hit.   

“American Graffiti” was the second full-length feature film directed by George Lucas (below) who would later become best known for the blockbuster hit
“Star Wars” (1977) and its sequels.

CAMILLE BOHANNON

On this day in 1984, President Ronald Reagan was preparing for his weekly radio broadcast when, during testing of the microphone, the President said of the Soviet Union, "My fellow Americans, I am
pleased to tell you that I just signed legislation that would outlaw
Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes."

In Bloomington, MN, the Mall of America opened on this day in 1992. It
was the largest shopping mall in the United States.

CAMILLE BOHANNON

It was on this day in 1977.

David Richard Berkowitz (Richard David Falco) turned 65 June 1st.

It was on this day in 1969.

FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: Patricia Krenwinkel, Susan Atkins, and Leslie
Van Houten walking to court where a Los Angeles jury found them,
along with Charles,  Manson, guilty of first-degree murder and conspiracy for the Tate-LaBianca killings.

Cult leader Charles Manson (center).

Franklin D. Roosevelt was stricken with polio on this day in 1921. He
was left permanently paralyzed from the waist down and avoided 
being seen using his wheelchair in public, but his disability was
well known and became a major part of his image.

Roosevelt (second from left) supporting himself on crutches in 1924.

In 1933, President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt (39) is 
pictured in his leg braces with wife Eleanor to his
right. In 1938, he founded the National Foundation
for Infantile Paralysis, leading to the development
of polio vaccines.

The Smithsonian Institution was chartered by the U.S. Congress on
this day in 1846. The "Nation’s Attic" was made possible by $500,000 given by scientist Joseph Smithson.

On this day in 1988, President Reagan signed a measure providing $20,000 payments to Japanese-Americans who were interned by the
U.S. government during World War II.

The first prisoners arrive in March of 1942 at the Japanese evacuee community established in Owens Valley in Manzanar, Calif.

CAMILLE BOHANNON

On this day in 1945, the U.S. dropped an atomic bomb on Nagasaki. It came three days after the bombing of Hiroshima. An estimated 74,000
people were killed. Japan surrendered August 14.

On this day in 1974, President Richard Nixon formally resigned and
Gerald R. Ford (below) took his place, becoming the 38th president
of the United States.

President and Mrs. Nixon left the White House after his resignation.

It was on this day in 1969.

From left: Charles Manson and his cult family.

Charles Milles Manson (Maddox)
(November 12, 1934 – November 19, 2017)

"Walden" was published by Henry David Thoreau on this
day in 1854.

Henry David Thoreau 
(July 12, 1817 – May 6, 1862)

Jerome John Garcia  (August 1, 1942 – August 9, 1995)

As one of its founders, Jerry Garcia performed with the Grateful Dead
for their entire thirty-year career (1965–1995). He was well known for
his distinctive guitar playing and was ranked 13th in Rolling Stone‘s
"100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time". Garcia was staying in a drug
rehabilitation facility when he died of a heart attack at the age of 
53.