- Aug 1 "In the Summer House" opens at Beaumont Theater NYC for 25 performances
- Aug 1 "She Loves Me" closes at Criterion Theater NYC after 61 performances
Hall of Fame
Aug 1 14-time MLB All Star Reggie Jackson is inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY
- Aug 1 Walter Koenig, Chekov of Star Trek, suffers a heart attack
- Aug 1 England wins the women's cricket World Cup for the first time since the inaugural event in 1973 with a 67 run victory over New Zealand at Lord's
- Aug 2 NYC radio (WFAN) personality Don Imus' lung collapses
- Aug 2 Maryland investors led by Baltimore attorney Peter Angelos buy the Baltimore Orioles at auction in New York for $173m, nearly $50m more than ever paid for a baseball team
- Aug 2 Train crash in tunnel at Vega de Anzo Spain, 12 killed
- Aug 2 Shamrock Broadcasting, a Disney company, officially takes ownership of Cleveland's WMMS-FM/100.7 & WHK-AM/1420
- Aug 4 Angolan air force bombs Huambo
- Aug 4 Rwandian Hutus and Tutsis sign peace treaty in Arusha, Tanzania
- Aug 4 Tony Gwynn gets 6 hits in 11-10 win v Giants, 4th time this season the Padre has 5 or more hits; ties MLB record
- Aug 5 Republican Guard kills 64 civilians at Gninguilimin marketplace, in Chad
- Aug 6 Japan Hosokawa government begins
Catholic Encyclical
Aug 6 Pope John Paul II publishes encyclical Veritatis splendor
Historic Event
Aug 10 Ruth Bader Ginsburg sworn in as a US Supreme Court Justice
Music History
Aug 10 Columbia Records releases "River of Dreams", singer-songwriter Billy Joel's twelfth and final (unless he just changes his mind) studio album
- Aug 11 NY Islander Brian Mullen, 31, suffers a mild stroke
- Aug 11 Pope John Paul II visits Mexico
Sports History
Aug 11 Red Sox Roger Clemens pitches 2,000th strike out (Danny Tartabul-NY)
- Aug 12 Pope John Paul II begins visit of US
Sports History
Aug 13 Blue Jay Rickey Henderson pays Turner Ward $25,000 for his #24
- Aug 13 Hotel in Nakhon Ratchasima Thailand, collapses, 114 killed
- Aug 13 US Court of Appeals rules congress must save all E-Mail
- Aug 13 4th Athletics World Championships open at Stuttgart, Germany
- Aug 14 Nigerian presidential election
- Aug 14 Reggie Jackson Day - NY Yanks retire 13th # (#44)
- Aug 14 St Louis reliever Lee Smith is fastest to get 40 saves
- Aug 15 "Goodbye Girl" closes at Marquis Theater NYC after 188 performances
PGA Championship
Aug 15 75th PGA Championship Men's Golf, Inverness GC: Paul Azinger wins his first major title in a playoff with Greg Norman of Australia
- Aug 15 NYC radio (WFAN) personality Don Imus' lung collapses for 2nd time
Sports History
Aug 15 Nolan Ryan, 324th & final victory, Rangers 4, Indians 1
- Aug 15 Televangelist Robert Tilton announces he is divorcing Marte
- Aug 16 The Debian distribution first announced by Ian Murdock, a student at Purdue University (Murdock initially called his system the "Debian Linux Release")
- Aug 16 South Africa relinquishes sovereignty over Walvis Bay
- Aug 18 Historical Kapelbrug in Luzern Switzerland, destroyed by fire
- Aug 19 34th Walker Cup: US, 19-5
- Aug 19 Dow Jones hits record high of 3612.13
- Aug 19 George Tiller, abortion doctor, shot in his arms by Rachelle Shannon
- Aug 19 Mattel & Fisher Price toy companies merge
- Aug 19 Sally Gunnell runs women's world record 400m hurdles (52.74")
- Aug 19 26th San Diego Comic-Con International opens at Doubletree Hotel
- Aug 20 Colin Jackson runs world record 110m hurdles (12.91)
- Aug 20 Howard Stern is fired from WLUP-AM, Chicago
Historic Event
Aug 20 Mother Teresa hospitalized with malaria
- Aug 20 Oslo Peace Accords signed, after secret negotiations in Norway, followed by a public ceremony in Washington, D.C. the following month
- Aug 21 NASA loses contact with Mars Observer
- Aug 22 "In the Summer House" closes at Beaumont Theater NYC after 25 performances
- Aug 23 NY Dow Jones index reaches record high of 3,638.96 points
Baseball Record
Aug 23 Fred McGriff & David Justice are 6th to hit back-to-back HRs twice in same game
Appointment of Interest
Aug 26 Ernest Shonekan is appointed interim president of Nigeria by General Ibrahim Babangida
- Aug 27 Yak-40 crashes in Tadzjikistan, 79 killed/1 lives
- Aug 27 The Rainbow Bridge connecting Tokyo's Shibaura and the island of Odaiba is completed.
- Aug 28 Dam breaks in Qinghai West China, 223 killed
- Aug 28 Jakovlev-42 crashes in Tadzjikistan, 76 killed
- Aug 28 Long Beach California beats Panama for little league world championship
- Aug 28 Singapore vice-premier Teng Cheong elected president
Golf Major
Aug 29 Canadian Open Women's Golf (du Maurier Classic), London Hunt GC: Brandie Burton wins in a playoff from Betsy King
- Aug 29 93rd US Golf Amateur Championship won by John Harris
Television Debut
Aug 30 "Late Show with David Letterman" debuts on CBS, from the Ed Sullivan Theater in NYC; Bill Murray is his first guest, Billy Joel performs
Venice Film Festival
Aug 31 50th Venice Film Festival: "Short Cuts" directed by Robert Altman and "Three Colors: Blue" directed by Krzysztof Kieslowski jointly awarded Golden Lion
