As we speak is Thursday, Aug. 7, the 219th day of 2025. There are 146 days left within the 12 months.
As we speak in historical past:
On Aug. 7, 1974, French highwire artist Philippe Petit carried out an unapproved tightrope stroll between the 2 towers of the World Commerce Heart in New York, over 1,300 toes above the bottom; the occasion was chronicled within the Academy Award-winning documentary “Man on Wire.”
Additionally on this date:
In 1789, the U.S. Division of Warfare was established by Congress.
In 1942, U.S. and different allied forces landed at Guadalcanal, marking the beginning of the primary main allied offensive within the Pacific throughout World Warfare II.
In 1960, Cote d’Ivoire gained independence from France.
In 1964, Congress handed the Gulf of Tonkin decision, giving President Lyndon B. Johnson broad powers in coping with reported North Vietnamese assaults on U.S. forces.
In 1971, the Apollo 15 moon mission ended efficiently as its command module splashed down within the Pacific Ocean.
In 1978, President Jimmy Carter declared the Love Canal environmental catastrophe in Niagara Falls, N.Y. a federal well being emergency; it might later high the preliminary listing of Superfund cleanup websites.
In 1989, a airplane carrying U.S. Rep. Mickey Leland, D-Texas, and 15 others disappeared over Ethiopia. (The wreckage of the airplane was discovered six days later; there have been no survivors.)
In 1990, President George H.W. Bush ordered U.S. troops and warplanes to Saudi Arabia to protect the oil-rich desert kingdom towards a attainable invasion by Iraq.
In 1998, terrorist bombs at U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania killed 224 individuals, together with 12 People.
In 2007, San Francisco’s Barry Bonds hit residence run No. 756 to interrupt Hank Aaron’s storied file with one out within the fifth inning of a sport towards the Washington Nationals, who received, 8-6.
In 2012, to keep away from a attainable dying penalty, Jared Lee Loughner agreed to spend the remainder of his life in jail, accepting that he went on a lethal capturing rampage at an Arizona political gathering in 2011 that left six individuals lifeless and 13 injured, together with U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords.
In 2015, Colorado theater shooter James Holmes was spared the dying penalty in favor of life in jail after a jury in Centennial didn’t agree on whether or not he ought to be executed for his assault on a packed film premiere that left 12 individuals lifeless.
As we speak’s Birthdays:
- Singer Lana Cantrell is 82.
- Former FBI Director Robert Mueller is 81.
- Actor John Glover is 81.
- Actor David Rasche is 81.
- Former diplomat, discuss present host and activist Alan Keyes is 75.
- Nation singer Rodney Crowell is 75.
- Actor Caroline Aaron is 73.
- Comic Alexei Sayle is 73.
- Actor Wayne Knight is 70.
- Rock singer Bruce Dickinson is 67.
- Actor David Duchovny is 65.
- Actor Delane Matthews is 64.
- Actor Harold Perrineau is 62.
- Jazz musician Marcus Roberts is 62.
- Nation singer Raul Malo is 60.
- Actor David Mann is 59.
- Actor Charlotte Lewis is 58.
- Actor Sydney Penny is 54.
- Actor Greg Serano is 53.
- Actor Michael Shannon is 51.
- Actor Charlize Theron is 50.
- Rock musician Barry Kerch is 49.
- Actor Eric Johnson is 46.
- Actor Randy Wayne is 44.
- Actor-writer Brit Marling is 43.
- NHL middle Sidney Crosby is 38.
- MLB All-Star Mike Trout is 34.
- Actor Liam James is 29.