August 14 is:
National Creamsicle Day
From Asimov, Isaac. Isaac Asimov’s Book of Facts. New York, Bell Publishing Company, 1981:
The father of Frederick the Great (Frederick Wilhelm I, King of Prussia; born Aug 14, 1688; died May 31, 1740.) had a famous private guard company = the Potsdam Grenadiers. He would bribe, buy, or even kidnap tall men, close to seven feet in height, to get them for the Grenadiers; he made the giant men marry giant women so he could “raise” his own giants.
Frederick Wilhelm I was about 5 ft 3 in tall himself.
According to historian Jerome Blum, he (Frederick Wilhelm I) was “Uncontrollably violent in temper, vulgar in speech and manner, scornful of education and culture, and so deeply pious that he considered theaters “temples of Satan.”…He made a fetish of cleanliness, washing and grooming himself many times each day.”
Birthday of Hans Christian Oersted (August 14, 1777), Danish physicist who proved that an electric current produces a magnetic field as it flows through a wire, furthering understanding of electromagnetism in 1819.
Birthday of John Galsworthy (August 14, 1867), English author who wrote “The Forsyte Saga”. Through his writings he campaigned for a variety of causes, including prison reform, women’s rights, animal welfare, and the opposition of censorship.
Rainey Bethea was hanged in Owensboro, Kentucky on August 14, 1936 in the last public execution in the United States. Bethea, who was a black man, confessed to the rape and murder of a 70-year-old white woman named Lischia Edwards. The crime came to nationwide attention because of one fact — the sheriff of Davies County was a woman. Florence Shoemaker Thompson had become sheriff after her husband, Everett Thompson, unexpectedly died of pneumonia. As sheriff of the county, it was her duty to hang Bethea. A former Louisville police officer, Arthur Hash, offered his services free of charge to perform the execution. Thompson quickly accepted the offer. She also accepted the help of G. Phil Hanna who had assisted in hangings previously. On the appointed day, Hanna placed the noose and signaled Hash to release the trap. Hanna, however, was intoxicated and did not respond. A deputy released the trap, Bethea was hanged. Media attention was high because of the sheriff being female so publicity was widespread. Afterwards, all executions in the U. S. were performed in private.
V-J Day, or Victory Over Japan Day, commemorating the surrender of Japan and the end of fighting in World War II in 1945.
August 14/15, 1947: the new mainly Islamic state of Pakistan was created.
Widescale power blackout in the northeast United States and Canada on August 14, 2003.