August 9
1790 - The Columbia returned to Boston Harbor after a three-year voyage. It was the first ship to carry the American flag around the world.
1831 - The first steam locomotive began its first trip between Schenectady and Albany, NY.
1842 - The U.S. and Canada signed the Webster-Ashburton Treaty, which solved a border dispute.
1848 - Martin Van Buren was nominated for president by the Free-Soil Party in Buffalo, NY.
1854 - "Walden" was published by Henry David Thoreau.
1859 - The escalator was patented by Nathan Ames.
1892 - Thomas Edison received a patent for a two-way telegraph.
1893 - "Gut Holz" was published. It was America's first bowling magazine.
1910 - A.J. Fisher received a patent for the electric washing machine.
1930 - Betty Boop had her beginning in "Dizzy Dishes" created by Max Fleischer.
1936 - Jesse Owens won his fourth gold medal at the Berlin Olympics. He was the first American to win four medals in one Olympics.
1942 - Mohandas K. Gandhi was arrested Britain. He was not released until 1944.
1942 - CBS radio debuted "Our Secret Weapon."
1944 - The Forest Service and Wartime Advertising Council created "Smokey the Bear."
1945 - The U.S. dropped an atomic bomb on Nagasaki. The bombing came three days after the bombing of Hiroshima. About 74,000 people were killed. Japan surrendered August 14.
1945 - The first network television broadcast occurred in Washington, DC. The program announced the bombing of Nagasaki, Japan.
1956 - The first statewide, state-supported educational television network went on the air in Alabama.
1965 - Singapore proclaimed its independence from the Malaysian Federation.
1973 - The U.S. Senate committee investigating the Watergate affair filed suit against President Richard Nixon.
1974 - U.S. PresidentRichard Nixon formally resigned. Gerald R. Ford took his place, and became the 38th president of the U.S.
1975 - The New Orleans Superdome as officially opened when the Saints played the Houston Oilers in exhibition football. The new Superdome cost $163 million to build.
1981 - Major league baseball teams resumed play at the conclusion of the first mid-season players’ strike.
1984 - Daley Thompson, of Britain, won his second successive Olympic decathlon.
1985 - Arthur J. Walker, a retired Navy officer, was found guilty of seven counts of spying for the Soviet Union.
1988 - Wayne Gretzky (Edmonton Oilers) was traded. The trade was at Gretzky's request. He was sent to the Los Angeles Kings.
1996 - Boris Yeltsin was sworn in as president of Russia for the second time.
1999 - Russian President Boris Yeltsin fired Prime Minister Sergei Stepashin and his entire cabinet for the fourth time in 17 months.
2001 - U.S. President George W. Bush announced he would support federal funding for limited medical research on embryonic stem cells.
2004 - Donald Duck received the 2,257th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
2004 - Trump Hotel and Casion Resorts announced plans to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
