This Day in History August 3

This Day in History
       August 3

1492
Italian explorer
Christopher Columbus
sets sail from Spain
with three ships in
search of a western sea
route to Asia

1846
The ill-fated Donner
Party finds a note
warning them that
the route they had
chosen to California
was nearly impassible

1914
In the early days
of World War I,
Germany declares
war on France just
two days after
declaring war on
Russia

1923
Vice President Calvin
Coolidge is sworn in
as president at 2:47
a.m., following the
death of Warren G.
Harding on August 2

1926
Iconic American singer Tony
Bennett is born Anthony
Dominick Benedetto in
Queens, New York—in 1962
he performs “I Left My
Heart in San Francisco” for
the first time, and it
becomes his signature
song—at 95, he is still
touring

1949
The Basketball
Association of America
(BAA) and National
Basketball League
(NBL) merge to form
the National Basketball
Association (NBA)

1958
The world’s first nuclear
submarine, the USS
Nautilus, sails to the
North Pole underneath
the Arctic ice cap

1963
With their popularity
skyrocketing, the
Beatles play the tiny
Cavern Club in their
hometown of
Liverpool, England, for
the last time—they
played 292 shows
there from 1961-63

1975
A Boeing 707 airliner
crashes in Morocco’s
Atlas Mountains, killing
all 188 people aboard—
the plane had been
chartered to transport
Moroccan workers home
from France for a holiday

1977
The 10th James Bond
movie, The Spy Who Loved
Me, is released in theaters
in the U.S.—the film
features the hit song
“Nobody Does It Better”
by Carly Simon and one of
the most memorable Bond
cars, a Lotus Esprit sports
car that does double duty
as a submarine

1985
Tears For Fears’ song
“Shout” hits #1 in
the U.S. for the first
of three weeks—it’s
the English synthpop
duo’s second chart-
topper, following
“Everybody Wants to
Rule the World”

1987
After years of delays, caused in
part by a car accident that forces
drummer Rick Allen to have his
arm amputated in 1984, English
hard rock band Def Leppard
releases its fourth studio album
Hysteria—it was one of most
popular albums when Mr. Seeley
was in 7th grade, featuring
several hit songs and reaching
#1 in the U.S. in July 1988

1991
American rock band
Pearl Jam plays the
club RKCNDY in
Seattle—the show is
filmed and used to
create the band’s first-
ever music video, for
the song “Alive”

1996
The Bayside Boys’
remix of the song
“Macarena” by Los
Del Rio reaches #1
on the U.S. pop
charts, where it
stays for 14 weeks

2019
22 people are killed in a
mass shooting at a
Walmart in El Paso,
Texas, by a man who
told authorities he
wanted to kill as many
Mexicans as possible

2021
After declining a $44.2-
million player option a few
days ago to become an
unrestricted free agent, NBA
veteran Chris Paul agreed to
a four-year deal worth up to
$120 million to remain with
the Phoenix Suns—Paul led
the Suns to the 2021 NBA
Finals in his first season with
the team

2021
The National Weather Service
has issued an excessive heat
warning for the Phoenix
metro area that begins this
morning and ends tomorrow
evening—trails on Camelback
Mountain and Piestewa Peak
will be closed during the
hottest hours both days

2021
Arizona gymnast Jade
Carey won a gold medal in
the floor exercise at the
Summer Olympics in
Tokyo, Japan, yesterday—
another Arizona gymnast,
MyKayla Skinner, won
silver in the vault on
Sunday

2021
Maricopa County supervisors
and Dominion Voting Systems
refused to produce additional
election material yesterday in
response to new subpoenas filed
by the Arizona State Senate on
July 26 in connection with its
Maricopa County election
audit—it is unlikely a judge
would force the supervisors and
the company to comply

2021
The mayor of Maui County has
called on Hawai’i officials to
postpone students’ return to
in-person learning among
rising COVID-19 cases
throughout the islands caused
by the Delta variant—
Governor David Ige says the
state’s students will return to
classrooms today as planned

2021
The Biden administration
plans to indefinitely extend a
Trump-era policy that allows
the government to swiftly
expel migrants encountered
at the U.S.-Mexico border—
former President Trump
instituted the policy at the
start of the pandemic, citing
coronavirus concerns