Updated August 2, 2012, 2:28 pm
On Aug. 3, 1958, the nuclear-powered submarine Nautilus became the first vessel to cross the North Pole underwater.
On Aug. 3, 1900, Ernie Pyle, the famous World War II American war correspondent, was born. Following his death on April 18, 1945, his obituary appeared in The Times.
Go to obituary » | Other birthdays »
On This Date
By The Associated Press
1778 The opera house La Scala opened in Milan, Italy, with a performance of Antonio Salieri’s “Europa riconosciuta.” 1914 At the outbreak of World War I, British Foreign Secretary Edward Grey remarked: “The lamps are going out all over Europe; we shall not see them lit again in our lifetime.” 1914 Germany declared war on France. 1923 Calvin Coolidge was sworn in as the 30th president of the United States, one day after President Warren G. Harding died of a heart attack. 1943 Gen. George S. Patton slapped a private at an army hospital in Sicily, accusing him of cowardice. 1948 Whittaker Chambers, a former Communist, publicly accused former State Department official Alger Hiss of having been part of a Communist underground, a charge Hiss denied. 1949 The National Basketball Association was formed. 1981 U.S. air traffic controllers went on strike, despite a warning from President Ronald Reagan that they would be fired. 1987 The Iran-Contra congressional hearings ended with none of the 29 witnesses tying President Ronald Reagan directly to the diversion of arms-sales profits to Nicaraguan rebels. 1994 Stephen G. Breyer was sworn in as a Supreme Court justice. 2011 Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak denied all charges against him as he went on trial for alleged corruption and complicity in the deaths of protesters who’d helped drive him from power. Current Birthdays
By The Associated Press
Singer Tony Bennett turns 86 years old today.
AP Photo/Evan Agostini
Actor Martin Sheen (“The West Wing”) turns 72 years old today.
AP Photo/Dan Steinberg
1920 P.D. James, Author, turns 92 1925 Marv Levy, Hall of Fame football coach, turns 87 1941 Martha Stewart, Lifestyle guru, turns 71 1950 John Landis, Director, turns 62 1951 Marcel Dionne, Hockey Hall of Famer, turns 61 1951 Jay North, Actor (“Dennis the Menace”), turns 61 1953 Randy Scruggs, Country musician, turns 59 1959 John C. McGinley, Actor (“Scrubs”), turns 53 1963 James Hetfield, Rock musician (Metallica), turns 49 1963 Isaiah Washington, Actor, turns 49 1977 Tom Brady, Football player, turns 35 1979 Evangeline Lilly, Actress (“Lost”), turns 33 1983 Mamie Gummer, Actress, turns 29 1984 Whitney Duncan, Country singer (“Nashville Star”), turns 28
Historic Birthdays
Ernie Pyle 8/3/1900 – 4/18/1945 American journalist and World War II correspondent.Go to obituary »
63 Sir Joseph Paxton 8/3/1801 – 6/8/1865
English landscape gardener and hothouse designer85 Hamilton Fish 8/3/1808 – 9/6/1893
American secretary of state (1869-77)49 Elisha Graves Otis 8/3/1811 – 4/8/1861
American inventor40 Henry Cuyler Bunner 8/3/1855 – 5/11/1896
English poet80 Stanley Baldwin 8/3/1867 – 12/14/1947
British Conservative; three times prime minister (1923-1937)27 Rupert Brooke 8/3/1887 – 4/23/1915
English poet, novelist and editor89 Maggie Kuhn 8/3/1905 – 4/22/1995
American activist; formed the Gray Panthers87 Alexandre Trauner 8/3/1906 – 12/5/1993
Hungarian-born French art film director88 Ernesto Geisel 8/3/1908 – 9/12/1996
Brazilian army general and vice-president (1974- 1979)
