Early in the morning of August 9, 1969, members of Charles
Manson’s cult killed five people in movie director Roman
Polanski’s Beverly Hills, California, home, including
Polanski’s pregnant wife, actor Sharon Tate.

The savage crimes shocked the nation and turned Charles
Manson into a criminal icon.

Roman Polanski

Manson has been the subject of numerous movies and books,
including the best-seller Helter Skelter (the title is a reference
to a Beatles’ song of the same name, through which Manson
believed the group was sending secret messages to start a
race war). Manson died in prison in 2017 at age 83.

The rising mushroom cloud over Nagasaki, a few minutes
after the nuclear bomb was detonated.

On August 9, 1945, a second atomic bomb was dropped on
Japan by the United States, this time at Nagasaki, resulting
in Japan’s unconditional surrender.

The devastation wrought at Hiroshima three days earlier was
not sufficient to convince the Japanese War Council to accept
the Potsdam Conference’s demand for unconditional surrender.

In accordance with his statement of resignation the previous
evening, Richard M. Nixon officially ended his term as the 37th
president of the United States at noon on August 9, 1974.

Before departing with his family in a helicopter from the White
House lawn, he smiled farewell and enigmatically raised his
arms in a victory or peace salute.