Today in History

Today in History Today is Monday, Aug. 2, the 214th day of 2021. There are 151 days left in the year. Today’s Highlight in History: On August 2, 1939, Albert Einstein signed a letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt urging creation of an atomic weapons research program. On this date: In 1610, during his fourth voyage to the Western Hemisphere, English explorer Henry Hudson sailed into what is now known as Hudson Bay. In 1776, members of the Second Continental Congress began attaching their signatures to the Declaration of Independence. In 1862, the Ambulance Corps for the Army of the Potomac was created at the order of Maj. Gen. George McClellan during the Civil War. In 1873, inventor Andrew S. Hallidie (HAH’-lih-day) successfully tested a cable car he had designed for the city of San Francisco. In 1921, a jury in Chicago acquitted several former members of the Chicago White Sox baseball team and two others of conspiring to defraud the public in the notorious ‘œBlack Sox’� scandal. Opera singer Enrico Caruso, 48, died in Naples, Italy. In 1922, Alexander Graham Bell, generally regarded as the inventor of the telephone, died in Nova Scotia, Canada, at age 75. In 1923, the 29th president of the United States, Warren G. Harding, died in San Francisco; Vice President Calvin Coolidge became president. In 1934, German President Paul von Hindenburg died, paving the way for Adolf Hitler’s complete takeover. In 1945, President Harry S. Truman, Soviet leader Josef Stalin and Britain’s new prime minister, Clement Attlee, concluded the Potsdam conference. In 1980, 85 people were killed when a bomb exploded at the train station in Bologna, Italy. In 1985, 137 people were killed when Delta Air Lines Flight 191, a Lockheed L-1011 Tristar, crashed while attempting to land at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. In 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait, seizing control of the oil-rich emirate. (The Iraqis were later driven out in Operation Desert Storm.) Ten years ago: The Senate passed, and President Barack Obama signed, legislation to avoid an unprecedented national default. New York Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira set a major league record when he homered from both sides of the plate for the 12th time in his career during a 6-0 win over the Chicago White Sox. Five years ago: President Barack Obama castigated Donald Trump as ‘œunfit’� and ‘œwoefully unprepared’� to serve in the White House, and challenged Republicans to withdraw their support for their party’s nominee, declaring ‘œthere has to come a point at which you say ‘˜enough.”� One year ago: Lord & Taylor, America’s oldest retailer, joined the list of retail companies seeking bankruptcy protection after faltering during the pandemic. Florida’s east coast was pounded by heavy rain from Tropical Storm Isaias, as state officials dealt with surging cases of the coronavirus. Closing out a test flight by Elon Musk’s SpaceX company, two NASA astronauts returned from the International Space Station with a retro-style splashdown, as their capsule parachuted safely into the Gulf of Mexico.