On August 24, 1814, during the War of 1812 between the United
States and England, British troops entered Washington, D.C.
and burned the White House in retaliation for the American
attack on the city of York in Ontario, Canada, in June 1813.

When the British arrived at the White House, they found that
President James Madison and his first lady Dolley (below) 
had already fled to safety in Maryland.

Soldiers reportedly sat down to eat a meal made of leftover
food from the White House scullery using White House
dishes and silver before ransacking the presidential 
mansion and setting it ablaze.


 

On August 17, 1998, President Bill Clinton became the first
sitting president to testify before the Office of Independent
Counsel as the subject of a grand-jury investigation.

The testimony came after a four-year investigation into
Clinton and his wife Hillary’s alleged involvement in several
scandals, including accusations of sexual harassment,
potentially illegal real-estate deals and suspected “cronyism”
involved in the firing of White House travel-agency personnel.

The independent prosecutor, Kenneth Starr, then uncovered
an affair between Clinton and a White House intern named
Monica Lewinsky.

When questioned about the affair, Clinton denied it, which
led Starr to charge the president with perjury and obstruction
of justice, which in turn prompted his testimony on August 17.

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President Franklin D. Roosevelt (above) signed into law the Social Security  Act on August 14, 1935. Press photographers snapped
pictures as FDR, flanked by ranking members of Congress, signed
into law the historic act, which guaranteed an income for the unemployed  and retirees. FDR commended Congress for what he considered to be a “patriotic” act.   

        
         

         
SANDY KOZEL

Newly declassified photo of the Bomb.

On August 6, 1945, the United States became the first and only
nation to use atomic weaponry during wartime when a B-29
bomber, dubbed the “Enola Gay,” 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.