On This Day

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August 1962 in History

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Events in History

  • Aug 1 Failed assassination on President Nkrumah of Ghana
  • Aug 3 29th Chicago College All-Star Game: Green Bay 42, All-Stars 20, 65,000 at Soldier Field

Event of Interest

Aug 4 Nelson Mandela captured by South African police

Anti-apartheid Activist and South African President Nelson Mandela
  • Aug 5 1st quasar located by radio
  • Aug 5 Nelson Mandela arrested for incitement and for illegally leaving South Africa
  • Aug 5 UN command forbids flights to Congo breakaway Katangese airports
  • Aug 6 Jamaica becomes independent after 300 years of British rule
  • Aug 7 USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
  • Aug 10 USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
  • Aug 11 Andrian G Nikolayev, becomes 3rd Russian in space aboard Vostok 3
  • Aug 11 Bolotnikov runs world record 10km (28:18.2)
  • Aug 12 1st time 2 people in space
  • Aug 12 Russia launches Vostok 4, Pavel Popovich, who lands safely Aug 15
  • Aug 14 French & Italian workers break through at Mont Blanc Vehicular Tunnel

Event of Interest

Aug 14 NASA civilian test pilot Joseph A. Walker takes X-15 to 60,000 m

Experimental Physicist, Astronaut and NASA Test Pilot Joseph A. Walker
  • Aug 14 US mail truck in Plymouth, Mass robbed of more than $1.5 million
  • Aug 15 Netherlands & Indonesia sign accord over New Guinea
  • Aug 15 Shady Grove Baptist Church burned in Leesburg, Georgia
  • Aug 17 East German border guards shot and kill Peter Fechter, 18, attempting to cross Berlin Wall into western sector
  • Aug 18 Peter, Paul & Mary release their first hit "If I Had a Hammer"
  • Aug 20 USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
  • Aug 21 Verne Gagne beats Mister M (doctor X) in Minn, to become NWA champ

Assassination Attempt

Aug 22 Failed assassination attempt on French President Charles de Gaulle

French President Charles de Gaulle
  • Aug 22 Savannah, world's 1st nuclear-powered ship, completes maiden voyage from Yorktown, Va, to Savannah, Ga
  • Aug 22 USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
  • Aug 24 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
  • Aug 25 USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
  • Aug 25 USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
  • Aug 27 Mariner 2 launched; first probe to fly by Venus
  • Aug 27 USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
  • Aug 28 55.9 cm rainfall at Hackberry, Louisiana (state record)
  • Aug 28 Dr Geza De Kaplany tortures his wife with acid to punish her for supposed infidelity
  • Aug 29 Some provisions of Kuwaiti constitution are suspended
  • Aug 29 US U-2 flight sees SAM launch pads in Cuba
  • Aug 30 Japan conducts a test of the NAMC YS-11, its first aircraft since the war and its only successful commercial aircraft from before or after the war
  • Aug 31 Trinidad & Tobago gain independence from Britain (National Day) with Eric Williams as first Prime Minister

Birthdays in History

  • Aug 1 Fred Moten, American cultural theorist, poet, and scholar, born in Las Vegas, Nevada
  • Aug 4 Lori Lightfoot, American lawyer and politician, 1st female African American Mayor of Chicago (2019-), born in Massillon, Ohio
  • Aug 9 Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, German politician, Leader of Christian Democratic Union (2018-), born in Völklingen, West Germany
  • Aug 9 Yinka Shonibare, British Nigerian artist (Nelson's Ship in a Bottle), born in London, England
  • Aug 12 Miss Cleo [Youree Dell Harris], American psychic (Psychic Readers Network), born in Los Angeles, California (d. 2016)
  • Aug 13 Lady Bunny [Jon Ingle], American drag queen, promoter and founder of the annual Wigstock event, born in Chattanooga, Tennessee
  • Aug 14 Mark Robert Isfeld, Canadian soldier and United Nations peacekeeper, born in Zweibrücken, Germany
  • Aug 15 Tom Colicchio, American chef (Gramercy Tavern), born in Elizabeth, New Jersey
  • Aug 18 Felipe Calderón, Mexican politician (President of Mexico, 2006–12), born in Morelia, Mexico
  • Aug 19 Michael Massimino, American astronaut (STS-109 Columbia, STS-125 Atlantis), born in Oceanside, New York
  • Aug 19 Tammy Bruce, American political commentator (Fox), born in Los Angeles, California
  • Aug 20 Steve Daines, American politician (Senator-R-Montana 2015-), born in Los Angeles, California
  • Aug 22 Marie Laurie Mahabir, North American Bodybuilding Champ (1985-87), born in Le Moule, Guadeloupe
  • Aug 23 Martin Cauchon, Canadian politician (Minister of Justice 2002-03), born in La Malbaie, Quebec, Canada
  • Aug 24 Mary Ellen Weber, American NASA astronaut (STS 70), born in Cleveland, Ohio
  • Aug 26 Tariq Ramadan, Islamic scholar, born in Geneva, Switzerland
  • Aug 30 Alexander Litvinenko, Russian KGB officer, born in Voronezh, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union (d. 2006)

Weddings in History

Colin Powell

Aug 25 Future US Army General and Secretary of State Colin Powell (25) weds American audiologist Alma Johnson (24) at the First Congregational Church in Birmingham, Alabama, until his death in 2021

Colin Powell

Deaths in History

  • Aug 1 Leon Kruczkowski, Polish author (Niemcy), dies at 62

Hermann Hesse (1877-1962)

Aug 9 German-Swiss novelist and poet (Steppenwolf, Nobel Prize for Literature 1946), dies at 85

Hermann Hesse
  • Aug 9 Lowell Stockman, American politician, U.S. House of Representatives from Oregon, dies at 61
  • Aug 15 Lei Feng, Chinese soldier (became a propaganda icon after his death), dies in an accident at 21
  • Aug 17 Peter Fechter, East German bricklayer who was shot trying to cross the Berlin Wall at 18
  • Aug 19 Kerstin Hesselgren, Swedish politician, 1st woman in Swedish parliament, dies at 90
  • Aug 23 Walter Anderson, German folklorist, dies at 76

Historical Figures

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