History for August 4

History for August 4 - On-This-Day.com
Percy Bysshe Shelley 1792 - Poet, Louis Armstrong 1901 - Musician, singer, Raoul Wallenberg 1912 - Sweedish humanitarian during World War II


Billy Bob Thornton 1955 - Actor, Barack Hussein Obama 1961 - 44th President of the United States, Dennis Lehane 1965 - Author


1735 - Freedom of the press was established with an acquittal of John Peter Zenger. The writer of the New York Weekly Journal had been charged with seditious libel by the royal governor of New York. The jury said that "the truth is not libelous."


1790 - The Revenue Cutter Service was formed. This U.S. naval task force was the beginning of the U.S. Coast Guard.