Soviet hard-liners announced that President Mikhail Gorbachev had been removed from power on this day in 1991. Gorbachev returned to power two days later.
Adolf Hitler was approved for sole executive power in Germany as Fuehrer on this day in 1934.
Francis Gary Powers (far right) an American U-2 pilot, was convicted of espionage in Moscow on this day in 1960.
On this day in 1896, the Klondike gold rush was set off by George Carmack (above) discovering on Rabbit Creek in Alaska.
Robert Fulton’s "North River Steam Boat" (known as the "Clermont") began heading up New York’s Hudson River on its successful round- trip to Albany on this day in 1807.
It was on this day in 1987 Rudolf Walter Richard Hess(April 26, 1894 – August 17, 1987)
Actor Robert Anthony De Niro Jr. is 75 today.
Legendary actor Robert De Niro won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Jake LaMotta in the 1980 boxing film Raging Bull and an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Vito Corleone in the 1974 classic The Godfather Part II. His many other celebrated films include Taxi Driver (1976), Cape Fear (1991), and The Deer Hunter (1979).
On this day in 1974, President Richard Nixon announced that he would resign the following day.
The Great Train Robbery is the name given to a $45 million train robbery committed on this day in 1963 at Bridego Railway.
Arrests soon followed the robbery. Here three men are taken to a police van at Linslade Court House, Buckinghamshire, after being remanded in custody in late August 1963.
Gang member Bruce Reynolds, pictured here circa 1963 on the left with his wife Frances, Barbara Daly and brother-in- law John Daly. Daly was arrested but released due to lack of evidence.
Dustin Hoffman won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1980 for Kramer vs. Kramer, and in 1989 for Rain Man. He also played leading roles in the films Midnight Cowboy (1969) and Tootsie (1982). Hoffman had his breakthrough role as Benjamin Braddock in the 1967 classic film The Graduate.
On this day in 1944, Nazi police raided a house in Amsterdam and arrested eight people. Anne Frank, a teenager at the time, was one of the people arrested. Her diary (below) would be published after her death in 1945. The exact cause of her death was not determined, although in early 1945, a typhus epidemic spread through the labor camp where the Frank women were being held, killing 17,000 prisoners. Other diseases, including typhoid fever, were also rampant.
On this day in 1914, Britain declared war on Germany. The U.S. proclaimed its neutrality.
It was on this day in 1964.
The burned out station wagon that slain civil rights workers were driving in is seen June, 1964 in the Bogue Chitto swamp.
It was on this day in 1892.
Lizzie Andrew Borden (July 19, 1860 – June 1, 1927)
Andrew and Abby Borden (above) were axed to death in their home (above) in Fall River, MA. Sunday school teacher Lizzie Borden, Andrew Borden’s daughter from a previous marriage, was accused of the killings, but acquitted at trial.
Louis Daniel Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971)
Nicknamed Satchmo, Satch, and Pops, Louis Armstrong was an American trumpeter, composer, singer and occasional actor who was one of the most influential figures in jazz. His career spanned five decades, from the 1920s to the 1960s, and different eras in the history of jazz. In 2017, he was inducted into the Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame.
On this day in 1914, Germany declared war on Russia at the start of World War I.
‘A Berlin crowd listens as a German officer reads the Kaiser’s order for mobilization on 1st August 1914′.
Adolf Hitler (second from right) presided over the Olympic games as they opened in Berlin on this day in 1936.
African American Jesse Owens was the star of Berlin, becoming the first American in Olympic track and field history to win four gold medals at a single Games. He won the 100-yard dash, the long jump, 200-yard dash and the 4×100-yard relay.
In Warsaw, Poland, an uprising against Nazi occupation began on this day in 1944. The revolt continued until October 2 when Polish forces surrendered.
German Troops set fire to a village in Poland.
Herman Melville (August 1, 1819 – September 28, 1891)
Melville was an American novelist, short story writer, and poet of the American Renaissance period. His best known works include Typee (1846), a romantic account of his experiences in Polynesian life, and his whaling novel Moby-Dick (1851).
MTV made its debut at 12:01am on this day in 1981. The first video to be shown was "Video Killed the Radio Star" by the Buggles.
"Ladies and gentlemen, rock and roll". Those were the words TV audiences heard on August 1, 1981 when a brand new channel called Music Television launched.
