Updated August 1, 2012, 2:28 pm
On Aug. 2, 1923, the 29th president of the United States, Warren G. Harding, died in San Francisco. Calvin Coolidge took the oath of office as President of the United States.
On Aug. 2, 1924, James Baldwin, the American essayist, novelist and playwright whose work explored racial issues, was born. Following his death on Dec. 1, 1987, his obituary appeared in The Times.
Go to obituary » | Other birthdays »
On This Date
By The Associated Press
216 During the Second Punic War, Carthaginian forces led by Hannibal defeated the Roman army in the Battle of Cannae. 1776 Members of the Continental Congress began signing the Declaration of Independence. 1876 Frontiersman “Wild Bill” Hickok was shot and killed while playing poker at a saloon in Deadwood in present-day South Dakota. 1923 President Warren G. Harding died of a heart attack in San Francisco at age 57. 1934 German President Paul von Hindenburg died, paving the way for Adolf Hitler’s complete takeover. 1939 Albert Einstein signed a letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt urging creation of an atomic weapons research program. 1943 PT-109, a Navy patrol torpedo boat commanded by Lt. John F. Kennedy, sank after being sheared in two by a Japanese destroyer off the Solomon Islands. Kennedy was credited with saving members of the crew. 1945 President Harry S. Truman, Soviet leader Josef Stalin and British Prime Minister Clement Attlee concluded the Potsdam conference. 1964 The Pentagon reported the first of two attacks on U.S. destroyers by North Vietnamese torpedo boats in the Gulf of Tonkin. 1985 A Delta Air Lines jumbo jet crashed while attempting to land at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, killing 137 people. 2000 Republicans nominated Texas Gov. George W. Bush for president and Dick Cheney for vice president at the party’s convention in Philadelphia. 2007 Mattel recalled nearly a million Chinese-made toys from its Fisher-Price division that were found to have excessive amounts of lead. 2011 The Senate passed, and President Barack Obama signed, legislation to avoid an unprecedented national default. Current Birthdays
By The Associated Press
Actress Mary-Louise Parker (“Weeds”) turns 48 years old today.
AP Photo/Dan Steinberg
Actor Sam Worthington (“Avatar”) turns 36 years old today.
AP Photo/Dan Steinberg
1922 Paul Laxalt, Former U.S. senator, R-Nevada, turns 90 1932 Peter O’Toole, Actor, turns 80 1937 Garth Hudson, Rock musician (The Band), turns 75 1939 Wes Craven, Director, turns 73 1939 John Snow, Former treasury secretary, turns 73 1945 Joanna Cassidy, Actress, turns 67 1953 Butch Patrick, Actor (“The Munsters”), turns 59 1957 Mojo Nixon, Singer, turns 55 1959 Victoria Jackson, Actress (“Saturday Night Live”), turns 53 1959 Apollonia, Actress (“Purple Rain”), turns 53 1962 Cynthia Stevenson, Actress, turns 50 1966 Tim Wakefield, Baseball player, turns 46 1970 Kevin Smith, Writer, director, turns 42 1977 Edward Furlong, Actor, turns 35 1992 Hallie Eisenberg, Actress, turns 20
Historic Birthdays
James Baldwin 8/2/1924 – 12/1/1987 American essayist, novelist and playwright.Go to obituary »
49 John Manners Granby 8/2/1721 – 10/18/1770
English army officer; hero of the Seven Years’ War70 Pierre-Charles L’Enfant 8/2/1754 – 6/14/1825
French-born American engineer, architect and city planner65 Elisha Gray 8/2/1835 – 1/21/1901
American inventor88 Charles Francis Adams 8/2/1866 – 6/11/1954
American lawyer, businessman and government official32 Ernest Dowson 8/2/1867 – 2/23/1900
British poet80 John French Sloan 8/2/1871 – 9/7/1951
American painter, etcher and lithographer84 Romulo Gallegos 8/2/1884 – 4/4/1969
Venezuelan novelist and president (1948)88 Myrna Loy 8/2/1905 – 12/14/1993
American motion-picture actress64 John Dexter 8/2/1925 – 3/23/1990
English stage director of opera and drama
