August 31

Richard Gere born (1949); Boxing legend Rocky Marciano dies (1969); Princess Diana dies in car crash in Paris (1997); 953 die in bridge stampede in Iraq (2005); Baseball great Tom Seaver dies (2020).

Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev

Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev^[f] (2 March 1931 – 30 August 2022) was a Russian and Soviet politician. The eighth and final leader of the Soviet Union, he was the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1985 until 1991. He was also the country's head of state from 1988 until 1991, serving as the chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet from 1988 to 1989, chairman of the Supreme Soviet from 1989 to 1990, and president of the Soviet Union from 1990 to 1991. Ideologically, Gorbachev initially adhered to Marxism–Leninism, but he moved towards social democracy by the early 1990s.

Gorbachev was born in Privolnoye, Stavropol Krai, to a poor peasant family of Russian and Ukrainian heritage. Growing up under the rule of Joseph Stalin, in his youth he operated combine harvesters on a collective farm before joining the Communist Party, which then governed the Soviet Union as a one-party state according to the prevailing interpretation of Marxist–Leninist doctrine. While studying at Moscow State University, he married fellow student Raisa Titarenko in 1953 prior to receiving his law degree in 1955. Moving to Stavropol, he worked for the Komsomol youth organization and, after Stalin's death, became a keen proponent of the de-Stalinization reforms of Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev. He was appointed the First Party Secretary of the Stavropol Regional Committee in 1970, in which position he oversaw construction of the Great Stavropol Canal. In 1978, he returned to Moscow to become a Secretary of the party's Central Committee, and in 1979 joined its governing Politburo. Within three years of the death of Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev, following the brief regimes of Yuri Andropov and Konstantin Chernenko, the Politburo elected Gorbachev as General Secretary, the de facto head of government, in 1985.

Although committed to preserving the Soviet state and to its socialist ideals, Gorbachev believed significant reform was necessary, particularly after the 1986 Chernobyl disaster. He withdrew from the Soviet–Afghan War and embarked on summits with United States president Ronald Reagan to limit nuclear weapons and end the Cold War. Domestically, his policy of glasnost ("openness") allowed for enhanced freedom of speech and press, while his perestroika ("restructuring") sought to decentralize economic decision-making to improve efficiency. His democratization measures and formation of the elected Congress of People's Deputies undermined the one-party state. Gorbachev declined to intervene militarily when various Eastern Bloc countries abandoned Marxist–Leninist governance in 1989–1990. Internally, growing nationalist sentiment threatened to break up the Soviet Union, leading Marxist–Leninist hardliners to launch the unsuccessful August Coup against Gorbachev in 1991. In the wake of this, the Soviet Union dissolved against Gorbachev's wishes and he resigned. After leaving office, he launched his Gorbachev Foundation, became a vocal critic of Russian presidents Boris Yeltsin and Vladimir Putin, and campaigned for Russia's social-democratic movement. Gorbachev died in 2022 after a period of "severe and prolonged illness".

Widely considered one of the most significant figures of the second half of the 20th century, Gorbachev remains the subject of controversy. The recipient of a wide range of awards, including the Nobel Peace Prize, he was widely praised for his pivotal role in ending the Cold War, introducing new political and economic freedoms in the Soviet Union, and tolerating both the fall of Marxist–Leninist administrations in eastern and central Europe and the reunification of Germany. Conversely, he is often derided in Russia and the other former Soviet states for accelerating the Soviet dissolution, an event which brought a decline in Russia's global influence and precipitated an economic collapse.

August 30

Baseball great Ted Williams born (1918); Warren Buffett born (1930); Thurgood Marshall becomes first Black Supreme Court justice (1967); Cameron Diaz born (1972); Guion Bluford becomes first Black person in space (1983).

August 29

"Casablanca" actress Ingrid Bergman born, dies (1915, 1982); Senator John McCain born (1936); Michael Jackson born (1958); Netflix is founded (1997); Hurricane Katrina makes landfall in Louisiana, kills more than 1,800 (2005).

August 27

Krakatoa volcano eruption, among the largest in recorded history, kills around 40,000 (1883); President Lyndon B. Johnson born (1908); "Guinness Book of World Records" first published (1955); Sociologist and civil rights activist W.E.B. Du Bois dies (1963); American vaudevillian Gracie Allen dies (1964).

August 26

Mother Teresa born (1910); 19th Amendment, granting US women right to vote, takes effect (1920); First televised Major League Baseball game (1939); NBA star James Harden born (1989); 13 US military personnel, more than 169 Afghans killed during suicide bombing at Kabul airport (2021).

August 25

Matthew Webb becomes first person to swim across English Channel (1875); Singer Aaliyah dies in plane crash (2001); Voyager 1 becomes first human-made object to enter interstellar space (2012); Astronaut Neil Armstrong dies (2012); Sen. John McCain dies (2018).

August 24

Mount Vesuvius erupts, killing up to 15,000 (79); Thomas Edison files patent for the Kinetoscope, an early motion-picture viewer (1891); Dave Chappelle born (1973); Windows 95 released (1995).

August 23

Actor River Phoenix born (1970); Salad Bowl strike begins; largest farmworker strike in US history (1970); Kobe Bryant born (1978); Twelve-time Olympic swimming medalist Natalie Coughlin born (1982); World Wide Web opens to the public (1991).

August 22

 International Red Cross founded (1864); American poet Dorothy Parker born (1893); Cadillac Motor Co. founded (1902); Althea Gibson is first African American to compete in a US national tennis tournament (1950); Black Panther Party founder Huey Newton is murdered (1989).

Anne Sullivan

Anne Sullivan is best remembered as Helen Keller’s teacher — the “miracle worker” who taught a deaf and blind girl to communicate, using creative and unorthodox but hugely successful methods. Under Sullivan’s tutelage, Keller became the first deaf and blind college graduate, and achieved international acclaim as an author, inspirational speaker, and disability rights advocate. For educators, Sullivan has long been a source of hope and inspiration.

Not one to follow the rules, Sullivan created her own teaching methods when working with Keller. She threw the idea of a hard and fast curriculum out the window, opting instead to go with what interested her student. She stimulated Keller’s thirst for knowledge with novel experiences, such as pouring water over Keller’s hand to teach not only the word but its meaning, by associating a feeling with the water that differentiated it from, say, a mug or glass. She remained devoted to Keller as her teacher through college, and when Sullivan’s own sight failed in the 1930s, Keller became her companion and helper.

Sullivan faced challenges of her own growing up. As a young child, she contracted trachoma, an eye disease that left her vision impaired. After her mother passed away, her father left Sullivan and her brother Jimmie at a poor house that was dirty and overcrowded. Her brother died within thre

e months, but against all odds Sullivan went on to attend Perkins School for the Blind in Watertown, Massachusetts, where she eventually graduated as class valedictorian.

Being a wallflower was not in Sullivan’s nature. Though she was reportedly a reluctant public speaker, she was a fiery-tempered and headstrong woman throughout her life, until her death in 1936 at age 70. 

August 20

First around-the-world telegram sent (1911); "Valley of the Dolls" author Jacqueline Susann is born (1918); Actress Amy Adams born (1974); NASA launches Viking 1 probe toward Mars (1975); Comedian Jerry Lewis dies (2017).

August 19

Fashion designer Coco Chanel born (1883); Indianapolis Motor Speedway, home of the Indianapolis 500, hosts first race (1909); Former President Bill Clinton born (1946); Comedian Groucho Marx dies (1977); Final US combat brigade leaves Iraq (2010).

August 18

Actress Shelley Winters born (1920); Baseball great Roberto Clemente born (1934); Hollywood legend Robert Redford born (1936); Nobel Peace Prize winner and former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan dies (2018).

August 17

Actress Mae West born (1893); Robert De Niro born (1943); "Animal Farm" published (1945); President Bill Clinton admits to improper relationship with Monica Lewinsky (1998); Michael Phelps becomes first person to win eight gold medals in single Olympics (2008).

August 16

Gold is discovered in Canada’s Yukon Territory, sparks Klondike gold rush (1896); Babe Ruth dies (1948); Sports Illustrated is first published (1954); Madonna born (1958); Elvis Presley dies (1977); Aretha Franklin dies (2018).

August 15

Napoleon Bonaparte is born (1769); Iconic chef and TV host Julia Child is born (1912); Panama Canal opens (1914); Woodstock music festival begins (1969); Civil rights activist Julian Bond dies (2015).

August 12

Egyptian queen Cleopatra dies by suicide (30 BCE, estimated); James Bond creator Ian Fleming dies (1964); IBM personal computer is released (1981); Largest ever Tyrannosaurus rex discovered (1990); Hollywood icon Lauren Bacall dies (2014).

August 11

Author and historian Alex Haley born (1921); Apple cofounder Steve Wozniak born (1950); Actress Viola Davis born (1965); Final US ground combat troops leave South Vietnam during Vietnam War (1972); Robin Williams dies by suicide (2014).

August 10

The Louvre opens in Paris (1793); Smithsonian Institution established (1846); Former President Herbert Hoover born (1874); Kylie Jenner born (1997); Jeffrey Epstein found dead in jail while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges (2019).

Rita Moreno

She is considered a living legend by many — including the Library of Congress, which bestowed its Living Legends award on her in 2000. The Puerto Rican actress, singer, and dancer is also the first Latina to win an EGOT — that is, an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony Award — and the list doesn’t end there. She has earned the Presidential Medal of Freedom, a Golden Globe, a Peabody Award, and a National Medal of Arts, as well as receiving the Kennedy Center Honor and induction into the California Hall of Fame.Moreno came to New York from Puerto Rico with her mother when she was a young child, and her talent was clear from the start. She began doing voice-over work at age 11 and landed her first role on Broadway at 13 as Angelina in Skydrift. Her story is an immigrant story, but unlike many starlets who came before her (including her idol, Rita Hayworth), she didn’t lean away from Latina roles or her identity as Puerto Rican.Instead, the triple threat broke barriers for Hispanic actresses in Hollywood, codifying her breakthrough when she became the first Latina to win an Academy Award, taking home Best Supporting Actress for her role as Anita in the 1961 film West Side Story (an adaptation of the 1957 Broadway musical). Remarkably, she did not appear in a movie for seven years after that, because all the roles she was offered were what she called “island girl” parts — objectified, uneducated women with little backstory or purpose beyond the sexual gratification of the leading men.When respectable Hollywood roles dried up, Moreno found success once again on the Broadway stage,  and in television. Her voice (“Hey, you guys!”) was as well known as her presence on The Electric Company, a show created by Jim Henson. She played roles that subverted expectations on HBO’s Oz (1997-2003) and the beloved 2017 reboot of Norman Lear’s 1970s sitcom One Day at a Time.But it’s not just her triumphant career that makes Moreno a legend. She overcame decades of racism, sexism, mental health struggles, and near-constant undermining of her talent due to her stunning looks and ethnicity. She developed an unwavering self-respect, exceptional savvy, and a strategic tack of waiting — waiting for the right part, the right person to help her, the right moment. 

August 9

The US drops atomic bomb on Nagasaki, killing 40,000+ (1945); Whitney Houston born (1963); Actress Sharon Tate, four others murdered by Manson Family (1969); Gerald Ford becomes US president as Richard Nixon resigns (1974); Musician Jerry Garcia dies (1995).

August 8

Thomas Edison patents the mimeograph (1876); RIP writer Shirley Jackson (1965); President Richard Nixon announces his resignation (1974); HBD Roger Federer (1981).

August 6

Actress Lucille Ball born (1911); Pop artist Andy Warhol born (1928); "Little Boy" atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, killing more than 70,000 (1945); HBD actress Michelle Yeoh (1962); Voting Rights Act signed (1965); Curiosity rover lands on Mars (2012).

August 5

Space pioneer Neil Armstrong born (1930); Marilyn Monroe found dead in her Los Angeles home (1962); The US, the UK, and the Soviet Union sign Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (1963); RIP Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison (2019).

August 4

Jazz legend Louis Armstrong born (1901); Anne Frank and family are captured after two years hiding from Nazis (1944); HBD former President Barack Obama (1961); HBD Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex (1981); Rwanda peace treaty signed (1993).

"Astronaut, military pilot and educator, Neil Armstrong made history on July 20, 1969, by becoming the first man to walk on the moon."

https://www.biography.com/astronaut/neil-armstrong?cmpid=email-bio-biography-2022-0803-08032022&om_rid=64a20f24338333901e4cb7afc40a3cfae56c6770df59fc13cf25a5ce36d78b01

"Malaysian actress Michelle Yeoh is best known for her martial-arts-infused roles in films like 'Tomorrow Never Dies,' 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon' and 'Everything Everywhere All at Once.'"

https://www.biography.com/actor/michelle-yeoh?cmpid=email-bio-biography-2022-0803-08032022&om_rid=64a20f24338333901e4cb7afc40a3cfae56c6770df59fc13cf25a5ce36d78b01

August 3

HBD singer Tony Bennett (1926); HBD Martha Stewart (1941); Rival basketball leagues merge to form the NBA (1949); HBD Tom Brady (1977); 23 killed and 23 injured in mass shooting in El Paso, Texas (2019).

Joanne Woodward

"In August 1952, a little-known 22-year-old actress named Joanne Woodward ducked into her agent's office to escape the brutal New York City heat."

https://www.biography.com/news/paul-newman-joanne-woodward-hollywood-golden-couple?cmpid=email-bio-biography-2022-0803-08032022&om_rid=64a20f24338333901e4cb7afc40a3cfae56c6770df59fc13cf25a5ce36d78b01

August 2

Declaration of Independence is signed (1776); American actress Myrna Loy born (1905); RIP Alexander Graham Bell (1922); Author and activist James Baldwin born (1924); Iraq invades Kuwait, leading to Gulf War (1990).

August 1

"Moby-Dick" author Herman Melville born (1819); RIP American frontierswoman Calamity Jane (1903); Sniper kills 14, wounds 31 at University of Texas (1966); MTV launches with "Video Killed the Radio Star" as first video (1981).