In an evening televised address on August 8, 1974, President
Richard M. Nixon announced his intention to become the
first president in American history to resign.

With impeachment proceedings underway against him for his involvement in the Watergate affair, Nixon was finally bowing
to pressure from the public and Congress to leave the White
House. 

“By taking this action,” he said in a solemn address from the
Oval Office, “I hope that I will have hastened the start of the
process of healing which is so desperately needed in America.”

Join us in honoring those who have been awarded the Purple Heart.         

 
In 1782, General George Washington created The Purple
Heart, then known as the “Badge for Military Merit.”

          
        

Then Navy Commander John F. Kennedy was
the only future President presented the
purple heart while recovering from back
surgery in 1944. 

Kennedy was injured while rescuing three  
members his crew when their PT-109 was
struck by a Japanese destroyer near the
Solomon Islands in 1943.

SANDY KOZEL

Harry S. Truman
(May 8, 1884 – December 26, 1972)

Devastated: Hardly any buildings in Hiroshima were left
standing after the massive atomic bomb blast.

President Reagan with US Attorney General William French Smith making a statement to the press regarding the air
traffic controllers strike from the Rose Garden. White
House Photo/Ronald Reagan Library

On August 5, 1981, President Ronald Reagan began firing
11,359 air-traffic controllers striking in violation of his order
for them to return to work. The executive action, regarded
as extreme by many, significantly slowed air travel for
months.

 
CAMILLE BOHANNON

Tony Bennett (Anthony Dominick Benedetto)
(August 3, 1926 – July 21, 2023)

Singer Tony Bennet received many accolades,
including 20 Grammy Awards, a Lifetime
Achievement Award, and two Primetime
Emmy Awards. Bennett was named an NEA
Jazz Master and a Kennedy Center Honoree
and founded the Frank Sinatra School of the
Arts in Astoria, Queens, New York. He sold
more than 50 million records worldwide and
earned a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.