Browse Historical Events by Day: What Happened on August 2nd?

Most of the 55 members of the Continental Congress signed the parchment copy of the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia. More

James I. Waddell, Commander of the CSS Shenandoah learns the war is over from the bark Barracouta. More

President Warren G. Harding died suddenly in San Francisco while on a Western speaking tour. He was succeeded the next day by Calvin Coolidge.

Adolf Hitler becomes absolute dictator of Germany under the title of Fuhrer, or “Leader after German President Paul von Hindenburg death. More

Albert Einstein writes a letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt regarding the possibility of atomic weapons. Six years later, on August 6, 1945, the first Atomic Bomb, developed by the U.S., was dropped on the Japanese port of Hiroshima.

The Potsdam Conference, held in Potsdam, Germany between the "Big Three: Britain, The Soviet Union and the United States comes to an end without resolution on key issues. The conference was held to negotiate the terms for the end of World War II. Even though the Allies remained committed to fighting a joint war in the Pacific, mutual distrust stemming from differing views of what a postwar world should look, like led to disagreements on several key issues between the Soviet Union and the West, set the stage for the Cold War. More

The Gulf of Tonkin incident occurs, leading to increased U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. August 7, 1964 - Following an attack on two U.S. destroyers the U.S. Congress approved the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, granting President Lyndon B. Johnson authority "to take all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against the forces of the United States and to prevent further aggression."

Delta Air Lines Flight 191 crashes at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. The National Transportation Safety Board's (NTSB) determined that the cause of the Lockheed L-1011 TriStar airplane crash was wind-shear associated with an intense thunderstorm downdraft that occurred at the north end of the airport along runway 17. Today we know this intense, localized downburst as a microburst, a weather phenomenon that was not well understood at the time of the accident. Of the 163 persons aboard, 134 passengers and crewmembers were killed at the scene in addition to one person hit on the ground. Two passengers died more than 30 days after the accident as a result of their injuries. More

Iraq invades Kuwait, leading to the Gulf War and international intervention to liberate Kuwait from Iraqi occupation as President George H.W. Bush orders Operation Desert Shield on August 7, 1990, which was in turn followed by the international coalition against Iraq launched as Operation Desert Storm in January 1991. More