August 7: What Happened on This Day in History (High_school Level)?

(Page last edited 10/12/2017)

1. In 1782, George Washington created the Order of the Purple Heart "Badge for Military Merit" presented to soldiers for "any singularly meritorious action".
2. In 1789, the U.S. Congress established the War Department.
3. In 1820, potatoes were planted in Hawaii for the first time.
4. In 1909, the U.S. issues the first Lincoln penny.
5. In 1942, the U.S. landed at Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands of the Pacific, beginning their first offensive of WWII.
6. In 1947, the Kon-Tiki, a balsa wood raft captained by Norwegian anthropologist Thor Heyerdahl, completed a 4,300 mile journey from Peru to the Polynesian Islands near Tahiti to prove that prehistoric South Americans could have colonized there.
7. In 1964, Congress approves the Gulf of Tonkin resolution, giving President Lyndon B. Johnson broad powers in dealing with reported attacks by N. Vietnam on U.S. troops.
8. In 1974, a stuntman walked a tightrope that was strung between the Twin Towers of New York's World Trade Center.
9. In 1987, the first recorded swim from the United States to the Soviet Union across the freezing waters of the Bering Strait was completed by Lynne Cox.
10. In 1990, President George H. W. Bush ordered Operation Desert Shield to prepare American troops for the upcoming Operation Desert Storm.
11. Famous Birthdays: Ralph Bunche (civil rights activist), Mata Hari (WWI spy), Louis S. B. Leakey (archaeologist and anthropologist), Garrison Keillor (writer, humorist), B. J. Thomas (singer)

For famous birthdays and other daily events in history, visit our Daily Dose Activities.

Click Here for Yesterday in History: August 6

Click Here for Tomorrow in History: August 8

For more history resources on Internet 4 Classrooms, visit our Social Studies and History index. For Pre K-8th Grade Level History and Social Studies Resources, visit our Grade Level Index.