August 8 is the 221st day of the year. There are 145 days remaining until the end of the year.
Sneak Some Zucchini onto Your Neighbor’s Porch Day – now that’s nasty!
National Dollar Day
National Frozen Custard Day Frozen custard is a cold dessert similar to ice cream, but made with eggs in addition to cream and sugar. It is usually kept at a warmer temperature compared to ice cream, and typically has a denser consistency.
1844 – After the killing of Joseph Smith on June 27, Bringham Young was chosen to lead the Mormons.
Per Wikipedia: Joseph Smith, the founder and leader of the Latter Day Saint movement, and his brother, Hyrum Smith, were killed by a mob in Carthage, Illinois, United States on June 27, 1844. The brothers had been in jail awaiting trial when an armed mob of about 200 men stormed the facility, their faces painted black with wet gunpowder. Hyrum was killed first, having been shot in the face. As he fell, Hyrum shouted, “I’m a dead man, Joseph!” After emptying the pistol with which he tried to defend himself, Smith was then shot several times while trying to escape from a second-story window and fell from that window as he died.
On August 8, 1863, following his defeat in the Battle of Gettysburg, General Robert E. Lee sent a letter of resignation to Confederate President Jefferson Davis (which was refused upon receipt). Davis wrote, “To ask me to substitute you by someone… more fit to command, or who would possess more of the confidence of the army… is to demand an impossibility.”
Public Law 62-5, passed in 1911, set the number of representatives in the United States House of Representatives at 435. The law would come into effect in 1913.
Battle of Amiens: – On August 8, 1918, the Allies launched a series of offensive operations against German positions on the Western Front during World War I with a punishing attack at Amiens, on the Somme River in northwestern France.
1950 – Whataburger opened its first restaurant in Corpus Christi, TX.
1966 – Michael DeBakey became the first surgeon to install an artificial heart pump in a patient.
1974 – President Richard Nixon, in a nationwide television address, announced his resignation from the office of the President of the United States, effective noon the next day. Following his resignation, the Nixons flew to their home La Casa Pacifica in San Clemente, California.
On this day in 1988, the Chicago Cubs hosted the first night game in the history of Wrigley Field.