History for August 2

History for August 2 - On-This-Day.com
James Baldwin 1924, Carroll O'Connor 1924, Peter O'Toole 1932
 

Wes Craven 1939, Victoria Jackson 1959 - Actress, comdian, Mary-Louise Parker 1964


1861 - The United States Congress passed the first income tax. The revenues were intended for the war effort against the South. The tax was never enacted.


1887 - Rowell Hodge patented barbed wire.


1892 - Charles A. Wheeler patented the first escalator.


1921 - Eight White Sox players were acquitted of throwing the 1919 World Series.


1939 - Albert Einstein signed a letter to President Roosevelt urging the U.S. to have an atomic weapons research program.


1939 - U.S. President Roosevelt signed the Hatch Act. The act prohibited civil service employees from taking an active part in political campaigns.


1945 - The Allied conference at Potsdam was concluded.


1990 - Iraq invaded the oil-rich country of Kuwait. Iraq claimed that Kuwait had driven down oil prices by exceeding production quotas set by OPEC.