On August 11, 1942, in the midst of World War II’s escalating technological arms race, Austrian-born actress Hedy Lamarr and American avant-garde composer George Antheil were awarded U.S. Patent No. 2,292,387 for an invention few in the entertainment world—or the military establishment—could have anticipated.…
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On August 10, 1954, in the small upstate town of Massena, New York, political leaders, engineers, and dignitaries gathered for an event that had been more than half a century in the making: the groundbreaking of the Saint Lawrence Seaway. Beneath a bright summer…
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In one of the most brutal crimes in modern American history, followers of cult leader Charles Manson carried out a murderous rampage at a Benedict Canyon estate, leaving five people dead — among them the eight-months-pregnant actress Sharon Tate, wife of film director Roman…
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On a quiet London morning in August 1969, a Scottish photographer named Iain Macmillan climbed a stepladder in the middle of the street while a police officer held up traffic. For just ten minutes, he had the full cooperation of four of the most…
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On August 7, 1782, as the American Revolutionary War drew toward its uncertain conclusion, General George Washington issued a general order from his Newburgh, New York headquarters that would lay the foundation for one of the most enduring military honors in United States history:…
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On August 6, 1960, the revolutionary government of Cuba, led by Fidel Castro, took a dramatic step that would deepen the rift between the island nation and the United States. In a sweeping decree, Castro’s regime nationalized all American and other foreign-owned property in…
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On the morning of August 6, 1945, a single American B-29 bomber—Enola Gay—emblazoned with the name of the pilot’s mother, took off from the island of Tinian in the western Pacific. Its mission, cloaked in secrecy and unprecedented in history, was to bring a…
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On August 5, 1981, President Ronald Reagan took decisive action that would become one of the most consequential labor decisions in American history. With the stroke of a pen and the full force of executive leadership, Reagan fired 11,359 air traffic controllers who had…
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On August 4, 1914, the contours of what would become the First World War changed dramatically as three pivotal nations made their positions unmistakably clear. In response to Germany’s invasion of neutral Belgium, both Belgium and the British Empire formally declared war on the…
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On August 3, 1949, a meeting in New York City changed the course of American sports history. Officials from the Basketball Association of America (BAA) and the National Basketball League (NBL), two rival professional basketball circuits, agreed to a merger that would create the…
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