Events in History
- Aug 1 38 government leaders signs Helsinki accord
- Aug 1 41st Chicago Charities College All-Star Game: Pittsburgh 21, All-Stars 14 (54,103)
- Aug 1 Helsinki Pact guaranteeing boundaries, rights signed by 35 nations
- Aug 1 CSCE Final Act creates the Conference for Security and Co-operation in Europe
- Aug 2 104°F (40°C) at Providence, Rhode Island (state record)
- Aug 2 107°F (42°C) at Chester/New Bedford, Massachusetts (state record)
- Aug 3 500 drown when 2 river boats collide and sink in China's West River
- Aug 3 Louisiana Superdome is dedicated
- Aug 3 Poland and West Germany reach accord about returning ethnic Germans
- Aug 8 As a result of rainfall from Typhoon Nina, the Banqiao Dam in China fails, causing the collapse of almost 6 million buildings and 229,000 deaths
- Aug 10 David Frost purchases exclusive rights to interview Nixon
- Aug 11 Expos' Jose Mangual struck out 5 times in a game
- Aug 11 US vetoes proposed admission of North & South Vietnam to UN
- Aug 13 Bayardo Bar attack: Provisional Irish Republican Army volunteers carry out a gun and bomb attack on a pub in Belfast frequented by Ulster Volunteer Force commanders; 4 Protestant civilians and 1 UVF member are killed
Coup d'état
Aug 14 -15] Pakistani military coup against Bangladeshi President Sheikh Mujibur Rahman

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman
- Aug 14 Norwegian King Olav V opens Longyearbyen Airport on Spitsbergen
- Aug 15 Bangladesh military coup under Khondakar Moustaque Ahmed
- Aug 15 Joanne Little acquitted of murder charges
- Aug 15 Miki Takeo makes the first official pilgrimage to Yasukuni Shrine by an incumbent prime minister on the anniversary of the end of World War II.
- Aug 20 Il-62 crashes south of Damascus, Syria, killing 126
- Aug 20 Viking 1 launched to orbit around Mars, soft landing
- Aug 21 3 truck pile up kills 10, injures 26 on French highway
- Aug 21 Rick & Paul Reuschel become 1st brothers to pitch a combined shut out
- Aug 21 US lightens trade embargo against Cuba
- Aug 23 Classical Way wins Championship Cup at Roosevelt Raceway
- Aug 23 Communists take over Laos
- Aug 23 Ethiopian junta under Mengistu Haile
- Aug 23 Philip Kapleau conducts 1st jukai ceremony in Poland
- Aug 23 USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
- Aug 24 Davey Lopes steals his 38th consecutive base, then thrown out stealing
- Aug 24 Papadopoulos, Pattakos and Makarezos sentenced to death in Athens
- Aug 24 Tampa Bay Rowdies beat Portland 2-0 for NASL cup
- Aug 29 Star in Cygnus goes nova becoming 4th brightest in sky
- Aug 30 KTW-AM in Seattle, Washington changes call letters to KYAC (now KKFX)
Birthdays in History
- Aug 6 Renate Götschl, Austrian alpine skier
- Aug 8 Jeremy Scott, American fashion designer (Moschino), born in Kansas City, Missouri
- Aug 19 Chynna Clugston, American comic book creator
- Aug 20 Marianne Garvey, American reporter
- Aug 20 Marcus Mastin, American author, born in Carthage, New York
- Aug 25 Jeremy Horn, American MMA Fighter
- Aug 27 Jonny Moseley, American skier
Deaths in History
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman
Aug 15 Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Founding father of Bangladesh, 1st and 4th President of Bangladesh (1971-72, 1975-76), assassinated in military coup by group of junior army officers at 55

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman
Haile Selassie
Aug 27 Haile Selassie [Ras Tafari Makonnen], Emperor of Ethiopia (1930-74), dies of suspected assassination by strangulation at 83

Haile Selassie
- Aug 28 Fritz Wotruba, Austrian sculptor (b. 1907)
Éamon de Valera
Aug 29 Éamon de Valera, Irish politician (President of Ireland (1937-48, 51-54, 57-59), dies at 92

Éamon de Valera