The first televised debate between presidential candidates Richard
M. Nixon and John F. Kennedy took place in Chicago, IL. on this day
in 1960.
John F. Kennedy Richard M. Nixon


The first televised debate between presidential candidates Richard
M. Nixon and John F. Kennedy took place in Chicago, IL. on this day
in 1960.
John F. Kennedy Richard M. Nixon


Horror author Stephen Edwin King is 72 today.
1980 1990
President Bill Clinton lies about his relationship with Monica
Lewinsky during his televised testimony before a grand jury.



On August 23, 1902, pioneering cookbook author Fannie Farmer, who
changed the way Americans prepare food by advocating the use of
standardized measurements in recipes, opened Miss Farmer’s School
of Cookery in Boston. In addition to teaching women about cooking,
Farmer later educated medical professionals about the importance
of proper nutrition for the sick.
Fannie Merritt Farmer (March 23, 1857 – January 16, 1915)
On August 1, 1966, after stabbing his mother and his wife to death
the night before, Charles Whitman,(above) a former Marine, took
rifles and other weapons to the observation deck atop the Main
Building tower at the University of Texas at Austin, then opened
fire indiscriminately on persons on the surrounding campus and
streets. Over the next 96 minutes he shot and killed 16 people
(including one unborn child) and injured 31 others; a final victim
died in 2001 from the lingering effects of his wounds. The incident
ended when a policeman and a civilian reached Whitman and shot
him dead. The attack was the deadliest mass shooting by a lone
gunman in U.S. history until it was surpassed 18 years later by the
San Ysidro McDonald’s massacre.
The University of Texas at Austin Tower, Austin, Texas.
The American space probe Ranger 7 transmitted pictures of the
moon’s surface on this day in 1964. It was the first space probe
of the United States to successfully transmit close images of
the lunar surface back to Earth. It was also the first completely
successful flight of the Ranger program.