What Happened On
World's Longest Hot Dog
August 4, 2006
A hot dog measuring 197 ft (60 meters) in a bun measuring 198 ft (60.3 meters) was made by the Shizuoka Meat Producers of Shizuoka, Japan and the All-Japan Bread Association.
This record was broken in 2011 by a hot dog measuring 669 ft (203.8 meters) and weighing approximately 260 lb (120 kg).
Can you believe it? A 197-foot hot dog - and the bun is still too long!
Mississippi Burning
August 4, 1964
Three civil rights workers (two white, one black) are found murdered in Mississippi. The film Mississippi Burning (1988) is loosely based on these murders and ensuing FBI investigation. In 2005, preacher and Ku Klux Klan (KKK) organizer, Edgar Ray Killen was found guilty of recruiting the mob that committed these crimes. The three had been working to register African American voters in Mississippi. They were returning from talking to a Mississippi church that had been burned when they were pulled over for speeding and escorted to jail. While in jail, the KKK organized a group, including law enforcement officers, that followed them when they were released. They were then abducted and killed. When the state of Mississippi refused to prosecute, the federal courts stepped in. Seven were convicted and received minor sentences for their actions. Killen was convicted 41 years later and received 60 years prison time, dying in prison 13 years later.
Anne Frank Found by Nazis
August 4, 1944
Anne Frank and seven other Jews are found by the Nazis and taken to concentration camps. Her diary described their previous 756 days of hiding. Anne died in a Nazi concentration camp. Her father Otto Frank was the only member of her family to survive the Holocaust.
Photo Credit: Anthony Giorgio
Photo Credit: Anthony Giorgio
U.S. Purchases Virgin Islands
August 4, 1916
The U.S. signs the treaty to purchase the Danish Virgin Islands from Denmark for $25,000,000 in gold. The following year, it was ratified and the U.S. took possession.
The U.S. Virgin Islands are the only place in the U.S. where traffic drives on the left.
Lizzie, her home, father, and stepmother murdered
Lizzie, her home, father, and stepmother murdered
Lizzie Borden Murders
August 4, 1892
Lizzie Borden's father and stepmother are axed to death in their home. Lizzie was tried and acquitted of the crime. No one else was ever charged.
"Lizzie Borden took an axe
And gave her mother forty whacks.
When she saw what she had done,
She gave her father forty-one."
Revenue Cutter Service
August 4, 1790
The Revenue cutter service is founded, later becoming the U.S. Coast Guard (1915).
Dom Pierre Pérignon
Dom Pierre Pérignon
Champagne Invented
August 4, 1693
Dom Pérignon is generally credited with inventing sparkling champagne wine on this date. However, he actually just improved the process. He was originally tasked with the job of removing the bubbles, since they had a tendency to cause the bottles to burst. This could create a hazardous and costly chain reaction when other bottles broke due to the shock caused by the initial breakage.
Rodney King Beating
August 4, 1993
Los Angeles police officers Stacey Koon and Laurence Powell are sentenced to 2½ years in prison for their part in the 1992 videotaped beating of Rodney King.
U.S. Department of Energy
August 4, 1977
U.S. Department of Energy is established.
Jesse Owens
August 4, 1936
The black American track star Jesse Owens upsets Adolf Hitler's theory of Aryan superiority by winning his second gold medal in the 1936 Summer Olympics held in NAZI Germany and known as "Hitler's Games". He won this gold medal for the long jump and go on to win a total of four gold medals.
Shortly before the Olympics, the founder of what would become the Adidas shoe company persuaded Owens to wear a pair of his company's shoes. This was the first sponsorship for a male African American athlete.
World War I
August 4, 1914
U.S. President Woodrow Wilson proclaims the neutrality of the U.S. in World War I. The majority of the American people initially wanted to stay out the war, but after Germany sank a number of American merchant ships, sentiment changed and in 1917 the U.S. entered the war.
The Saturday Evening Post
August 4, 1821
The first Issue of The Saturday Evening Post is published. In 1898, its owner falsely claimed it was a continuation of Benjamin Franklin's Pennsylvania Gazette which was published from 1728-1815.
Birthdays
Barack Obama (Barack Hussein Obama II)
Born August 4, 1961
American politician. 44th U.S. President (2009-17) and U.S. Senator (2005-08, Illinois), Illinois Senator (1997-2004). First African-American U.S. President. He graduated from Harvard Law School, where he was the first African-American president of the Harvard Law Review (1990).
Bobby Buntrock
Born August 4, 1952 d. 1974
American actor. TV: Hazel (1961-66, Harold "Sport" Baxter the son). He died at 21 years old in a car accident. The bridge he was driving over was under construction and he drove into a hole between the lanes. The doors of his vehicle were trapped by the sides of the hole and he was unable to escape and drowned.
A widespread rumor started that his mother had died in a car accident on the same bridge, but this was not true. She had died several years earlier of a heart attack in their home.
Helen Kane (Helen Schroeder)
Born August 4, 1904 d. 1966
American actress, singer. Max Fleischer based his cartoon character Betty Boop on her and Clara Bow. Kane developed her "Boop-boop-a-doop" scat singing style after seeing black child performer Baby Esther (Esther Jones) singing scat style at the Cotton Club in Harlem. Baby Esther was about nine years old at the time.
Broadway: Good Boy (1929, giving her famous squeaky-voiced "Boop-boop-a-doop" rendition of I Wanna Be Loved by You).
Clara Peller
Born August 4, 1902 d. 1987
American actress, TV personality. The "Where's the beef?" lady for the 1984 Wendy's commercials. Wendy's sales jumped 31% during the ad campaign. Peller was paid actor-scale wages of $317.40 per day for the first commercial. It is reported that she was paid about $500,000 for the series of commercials that followed.
Peller became an overnight sensation and went on to appear on TV talk shows, Saturday Night Live, and even served as a guest time-keeper for the Battle Royale at WrestleMania 2.
After she did a commercial for Prego spaghetti sauce in which she wondered, "Where's the beef?" and exclaimed, "I found it! I really found it", Wendy's terminated her contract stating, she was only allowed to find the beef at Wendy's.
Louis Armstrong
Born August 4, 1901 d. 1971
American Hall of Fame jazz musician. Known as "Satchmo," he is considered the first and greatest solo jazz musician.
Armstrong wore the Star of David his entire adult life in honor of the Jewish family who took him in at the age of seven and lent him the money to buy his first cornet.
Elizabeth (Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon)
Born August 4, 1900 d. 2002
Queen of England (1936-52), The Queen Mother. Widow of King George VI, and mother of Queen Elizabeth II. In 1923 she married the Duke of York, the second son of King George V and Queen Mary. In 1936, when King George's eldest son Edward VIII abdicated in order to marry the American divorcée Wallis Warfield Simpson, Elizabeth and her husband became king and queen.
During World War II, her indomitable spirit provided moral support to the British public prompting Adolf Hitler to call her as "the most dangerous woman in Europe."
First escalator, at Coney Island, NY
First escalator, at Coney Island, NY
Escalator Inventor
Jesse Wilford Reno
Born August 4, 1861 d. 1947
American inventor. He patented the first working escalator (1892). The idea for his "inclined elevator" was originally part of his proposal to build an underground New York City subway. The subway proposal was rejected, but the inclined elevator caught on. It included a rubber-coated moving handrail and a comb of projected fingers on the ends to help prevent feet from getting caught in the mechanism. The first one was demonstrated at Coney Island, New York, and transported some 75,000 people during its two-week stay there. It was then moved to the Manhattan entrance of the Brooklyn Bridge.
Inventor of the Pencil
Nicolas-Jacques Conté
Born August 4, 1755 d. 1805
French painter. He invented the modern pencil. He developed the process of combining powdered graphite with clay and pressing it between two wooden halves.
See also: The discovery of the rubber eraser.
Jeff Gordon
Born August 4, 1971
American race car driver, four-time champion of the NASCAR Winston/NEXTEL Cup (1995, 1997, 1998, and 2001) Series.
Roger Clemens
Born August 4, 1962
American baseball pitcher, winner of seven Cy Young Awards (two more than any other pitcher).
Billy Bob Thornton (William Robert Thornton)
Born August 4, 1955
American Oscar-winning screenwriter, actor. Film: One False Move (1992) and Sling Blade (1996, which he wrote, directed, and starred in).
Wesley Addy
Born August 4, 1913 d. 1996
American actor. TV: Loving (Cabot Alden).
First African-American Admitted to the Bar
Macon Bolling Allen (Allen Macon Bolling)
Born August 4, 1816 d. 1894
American lawyer. First African-American admitted to the bar (1844), opened the first African-American law office, and was the first African American Justice of the Peace.
Percy Bysshe Shelley
Born August 4, 1792 d. 1822
English poet. He is considered one of the more influential philosophical poets in the English language. He was married to Mary Shelley, creator of Frankenstein.
Urban VII
Born August 4, 1521 d. 1590
Italian religious leader, 228th Pope (Sept. 1590). He died 12 days after being elected pope.
Deaths
Jeanne Calment at age 20 and 121
Jeanne Calment at age 20 and 121
Oldest Human - Lived to 122 Years Old
Jeanne Louise Calment
Died August 4, 1997 b. 1875
French centenarian. Credited for the longest confirmed human lifespan. She lived for 122 years and 164 days and is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records. Some researchers claim that she actually died in 1934 and her daughter Yvonne faked her own death and assumed her identity. But, there is little evidence to support this.
Performed First Successful Heart Surgery
Daniel Hale Williams
Died August 4, 1931 b. 1856
African-American physician. Daniel Hale Williams performed what is considered the first successful heart surgery. He sutured the heart of a stabbing victim (1897). The operation was performed at Chicago's Provident Hospital, which Williams founded in 1891 as the first non-segregated hospital in the United States.
Williams' hospital also had an associated nursing school for African Americans. In 1913, Williams was elected as the only African-American charter member of the American College of Surgeons.
James Brady
Died August 4, 2014 b. 1940
U.S. President Ronald Reagan's White House press secretary (1981-86). In 1981, he was shot by John Hinckley, Jr. who was trying to assassinate Reagan to impress Jodie Foster. The gun control law known as the Brady Bill was passed as a result of this shooting.
Victor Mature
Died August 4, 1999 b. 1913
American actor, starring in many Biblical epics. He was billed as "A beautiful hunk of man." Film: One Million B.C. (1940, Tumak the caveman), Samson and Delilah (1949, Samson) and After the Fox. Quote: "Actually, I am a golfer. That is my real occupation. I never was an actor; ask anybody, particularly the critics." (1966).
J. Howard Marshall (Jeremiah Howard Marshall II)
Died August 4, 1995 b. 1905
American oil billionaire. At age 89, he married 26-year-old Playmate of the Year Anna Nicole Smith.
Edgar Douglas Adrian
Died August 4, 1977 b. 1889
1st Baron of Cambridge, English physiologist. He shared the 1932 Nobel Prize in medicine with Sir Charles Scott Sherrington for their work on the function of neurons.
Pearl White
Died August 4, 1938 b. 1889
American actress, starred in the movie serials The Perils of Pauline (1914-24). She was the most popular actress of her day.
Daniel Wesson
Died August 4, 1906 b. 1825
American gun-maker, co-founder of Smith & Wesson (1857).
Walther Flemming
Died August 4, 1905 b. 1843
German anatomist. He was the first to systematically observe and describe the behavior of chromosomes in the cell nucleus during normal cell division. He also coined the term mitosis (1882, the process of cell division).
Hans Christian Andersen
Died August 4, 1875 b. 1805
Danish poet, novelist. Writings: The Little Mermaid, The Princess and the Pea, The Ugly Duckling, The Red Shoes, and The Emperor's New Clothes.
William Floyd
Died August 4, 1821 b. 1734
American politician, signer of the Declaration of Independence.
Henry I
Died August 4, 1060 b. 1008
King of France (1031-60).