From the Atlantic Missile Range in Cape Canaveral, Florida,
the U.S. unmanned spacecraft Explorer 6 was launched into
an orbit around the earth.

The photo, received in Hawaii, takes nearly 40 minutes to
transmit.

Released by NASA in September, the first photograph ever
taken of the earth by a U.S. satellite.

One of the first pictures of Earth transmitted.

SANDY KOZEL

On August 6, 1945, the United States became the first and only
nation to use atomic weaponry during wartime when it dropped
an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima.

Approximately 80,000 people are killed as a direct result of the
blast, and another 35,000 are injured. At least another 60,000
would be dead by the end of the year from the effects of the
fallout.

Though the dropping of the atomic bomb on Japan marked the
end of World War II, many historians argue that it also ignited
the Cold War.

In July 1956, DJ Dick Clark inherited WFIL-TV’s Bandstand
from scandal-tainted Bob Horn and revamped it.

On August 5, 1957, TV’s "American Bandstand" began
broadcasting nationally beaming images of clean-cut,
average teenagers dancing to 67 ABC affiliates across
the nation.

The show would become an iconic expression of American 
teen culture.

Dick Clark (November 30, 1929 – April 18, 2012)

Marilyn Monroe (June 1, 1926 – August 4, 1962)
(born Norma Jeane Mortenson)

Note: One of the last few photos of Marilyn Monroe taken
weeks before her death.

On August 5, 1962, movie actress Marilyn Monroe is found dead
in her home in Los Angeles. She was discovered lying nude on
her bed, face down, with a telephone receiver in one hand.

  
Alexander Hamilton (January 11, 1755 or 1757 – July 12, 1804)

On August 4, 1790, the first U.S. Congress authorized
the construction of 10 vessels to patrol U.S. ports from
Massachusetts to Georgia.

The United States Coast Guard took form in this small
fleet of “cutters”—fast-moving, speedy sailboats—
tasked with intercepting marine smugglers and the
collecting of tariffs on imported goods.

It’s the brainchild of Alexander Hamilton, the first U.S.
secretary of the treasury under President George
Washington.

Originally called the “Revenue Marine” and then the
“Revenue Cutter Service,” the Coast Guard was one
of Hamilton’s many bold ideas for funding the U.S.
federal government, which was mired in debt after
the costly Revolutionary War.