August 04
1735
Printer John Peter Zenger, defended by Andrew Hamilton, was acquitted of libel in a case that helped foster freedom of the press.
1884
Thomas Stevens became the first person to bicycle across the United States. He later bicycled around the world.
1892
Lizzie Borden’s father and stepmother were killed with an axe in Fall River, Mass.
1914
Germany invaded Belgium and, in response, Britain declared war on Germany.
1916
Denmark ceded the Danish West Indies, including the Danish Virgin Islands, to the United States for $25 million.
1944
Anne Frank and her family were found hiding in Amsterdam by Nazis.
1964
The bodies of three civil-rights workers were found in an earthen dam, six weeks into a federal investigation backed by President Johnson
1977
President Carter signed a congressional act that established the Department of Energy.
Birthdays
Louis Armstrong
1901–1971, American jazz trumpet virtuoso, singer, and bandleader, born in New Orleans.
Percy Bysshe Shelley
poet (1792)
Russell Sage
financier (1815)
Raoul Wallenberg
diplomat (1912)
Robert Hayden
poet (1913)
Helen Thomas
correspondent (1920)
Billy Bob Thornton
actor, screenwriter (1955)
Barack Obama
U.S. president (1961)
Roger Clemens
baseball player (1962)