Events in History
- Aug 4 German Wilhelm Herz becomes first to ride motorcycle at 200mph (210mph/338kph) at the Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah
- Aug 4 Indonesia says it will not pay debts to the Netherlands
- Aug 7 British government sends 3 aircraft carriers to Egypt
- Aug 7 Dynamite transport explodes in Colombia; about 1200 die
- Aug 8 Fire & explosion kill 263 miners at Marcinelle, Belgium
- Aug 9 1st state-wide state-supported educational TV network, Alabama
- Aug 9 South African women demonstrate against pass laws
- Aug 10 23rd NFL Chicago All-Star Game: Cleveland 26, All-Stars 0 (75,000)
- Aug 11 1st flight 4-motor Cessna 620
- Aug 16 Adlai E Stevenson nominated as US Democratic presidential candidate
- Aug 17 Federal Constitutional Court bans the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) in West Germany
- Aug 17 One of the largest demonstrations in South Africa's history, 20,000 women marched to Pretoria's Union Buildings to present petition against carrying of passes by women to the Prime Minister
- Aug 20 Republicans convene at Cow Palace
Presidential Convention
Aug 22 US President Eisenhower and VP Richard Nixon renominated by Republican convention in San Francisco
- Aug 24 1st non-stop transcontinental helicopter flight arrived Washington, D.C.
- Aug 27 Curt Robert of Columbus (Intl League) hits 4 HRs in 7 inning game
- Aug 29 French government routes troops to Cyprus near Suez crisis
- Aug 30 Lake Pontchartrain Causeway opens in Louisiana, longest continuous bridge in the world
- Aug 30 USSR performs nuclear test (atmospheric tests)
- Aug 30 White mob prevents enrollment of blacks at Mansfield High School, Texas
Birthdays in History
- Aug 1 Doug Burgum, American businessman (Great Plains Software) and politician, Governor of North Dakota (2016-), born in Arthur, North Dakota
- Aug 1 Tom Leykis, American radio personality (The Tom Leykis Show), born in The Bronx, New York
- Aug 2 Fulvio Melia, Italian-American physicist, astrophysicist and author, born in Gorizia, Italy
- Aug 3 Abhisit Vejjajiva, 27th Prime Minister of Thailand (2008-11), born in Wallsend, Northumberland, England
- Aug 7 Kent Rominger, American astronaut (STS 73, 80, 85), born in Del Norte, California
- Aug 11 Pierre-Louis Lions, French mathematician
- Aug 21 Jon Tester, American politician (Senator-D-Montana 2007-), born in Havre, Montana
- Aug 23 Andreas Floer, German mathematician (Floer homology), born in Duisburg, Germany (d. 1991)
- Aug 23 David Wolf, American astronaut (STS 58, sk: 89/91), born in Indianapolis, Indiana
- Aug 23 Valgerd Svarstad Haugland, Norwegian politician, born in Kvam, Norway
- Aug 24 John Culberson, American attorney and politician (Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Texas), born in Houston, Texas
- Aug 26 Maneka Gandhi, Indian politician and activist, wife of Sanjay Gandhi, born in Delhi, India
- Aug 31 Masashi Tashiro, Japanese television performer
Tsai Ing-wen (66 years old)
Aug 31 Taiwanese politician, academic and 7th President of the Republic of China (Democratic Progressive Party: 2016-), born in Taipei, Taiwan
Weddings in History
- Aug 14 Writer Iris Murdoch (37) marries academic John Bayley (31)
Deaths in History
Jackson Pollock (1912-1956)
Aug 11 American expressionist painter (Lavender Mist), dies at 44 in a car accident in East Hampton
Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956)
Aug 14 German poet and playwright (Mother Courage), dies of a heart attack at 58
- Aug 14 Konstantin von Neurath, German politician and convicted Nazi war criminal (Foreign Minister 1932-38), dies at 83
- Aug 15 Constantine Freiherr von Neurath, German foreign minister, dies at 83
- Aug 25 Alfred Kinsey, American entomologist and sexologist (Kinsey Report), dies from a heart ailment and pneumonia at 62
- Aug 26 Alfred Wagenknecht, German-born American activist, dies at 75
Authors
Civil Rights Activists
Inventors
Kings
Revolutionaries
Scientists