Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., holds a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, August 7, 1986. Supporters of William H. Rehnquist's nomination to be chief justice disclosed records that showed a home Biden lived in for three years had a deed barring ownership to blacks, similar to a deed from Rehnquist's' home. (AP Photo/Lana Harris)

Today is Sunday, Aug. 2, the 215th day of 2020. There are 151 days left in the year.

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Today’s Highlight in History

On August 2, 1776, members of the Second Continental Congress began attaching their signatures to the Declaration of Independence.

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Democratic presidential candidate Walter Mondale stands with Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY), campaign co-chairman, outside the Mondale home in North Oaks, Minn., Aug. 6, 1984, before meeting with several other congressman. (AP Photo/Barry Thumma)

On this date

In 1610, during his fourth voyage to the Western Hemisphere, English explorer Henry Hudson sailed into what is now known as Hudson Bay.

In 1862, the Ambulance Corps for the Army of the Potomac was created at the order of Maj. Gen. George McClellan during the Civil War.

In 1922, Alexander Graham Bell, generally regarded as the inventor of the telephone, died in Nova Scotia, Canada, at age 75.

In 1923, the 29th president of the United States, Warren G. Harding, died in San Francisco; Vice President Calvin Coolidge became president.

Britain's Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, waves to well-wishers from the balcony of Clarence House, in London, on Aug. 4, 1989, during celebrations marking her 89th birthday. Hundreds of children were allowed through crowd barriers to present the Queen Mother with flowers and birthday greetings. (AP Photo/White)

In 1934, German President Paul von Hindenburg died, paving the way for Adolf Hitler’s complete takeover.

In 1939, Albert Einstein signed a letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt urging creation of an atomic weapons research program. President Roosevelt signed the Hatch Act, which prohibited civil service employees from taking an active part in political campaigns.

In 1945, President Harry S. Truman, Soviet leader Josef Stalin and Britain’s new prime minister, Clement Attlee, concluded the Potsdam conference.

In 1980, 85 people were killed when a bomb exploded at the train station in Bologna, Italy.

In 1985, 137 people were killed when Delta Air Lines Flight 191, a Lockheed L-1011 Tristar, crashed while attempting to land at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.

Pope Paul VI reaching out to caress altar boys during a visit he paid to the tiny village of Frattocchie half way between his summer residence and Rome on Aug. 2, 1978. (Ap Photo)

In 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait, seizing control of the oil-rich emirate. (The Iraqis were later driven out in Operation Desert Storm.)

In 2014, Dr. Kent Brantly, the first Ebola victim to be brought to the United States from Africa, was safely escorted into a specialized isolation unit at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, where he recovered from the disease.

In 2016, President Barack Obama castigated Donald Trump as “unfit” and “woefully unprepared” to serve in the White House, and challenged Republicans to withdraw their support for their party’s nominee, declaring “there has to come a point at which you say ‘enough.'”

Ten years ago: President Barack Obama, addressing the Disabled American Veterans in Atlanta, said the U.S. would leave Iraq “as promised and on schedule,” portraying the end of America’s combat role in the 7-year war as a personal promise kept. Actor Lindsay Lohan was released from a Los Angeles jail after serving 14 days of a 90-day sentence for violating her probation in a 2007 drug case. The Washington Post Co. announced that billionaire Sidney Harman would buy Newsweek for $1 and assume the magazine’s debts.

Five years ago: The International Olympic Committee said it would order testing for disease-causing viruses in the sewage-polluted waters where athletes would be competing in the 2016 Rio Games, days after an Associated Press investigation revealed high counts of viruses directly linked to human waste in the waters. Inbee Park of South Korea rallied to win the Women’s British Open to become the seventh woman to win four different major championships.

One year ago: President Donald Trump’s pick for national intelligence director. Texas Rep. John Ratcliffe, withdrew from consideration amid questions about his experience and qualifications. An administrative judge recommended firing a New York City police officer over the 2014 chokehold death of a Black man, Eric Garner. (The officer, Daniel Pantaleo, was fired.) R&B singer R. Kelly pleaded not guilty in New York to federal charges of abusing women and girls who attended his concerts; he was then returned to Chicago, where he’d been in custody in a separate case accusing him of engaging in child pornography. The United States officially withdrew from a landmark arms control agreement, the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces treaty with Russia, and the Trump administration announced plans to test a new missile.

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AUGUST 3

On August 3, 1993, the Senate voted 96-to-three to confirm Supreme Court nominee Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

In 1807, former Vice President Aaron Burr went on trial before a federal court in Richmond, Virginia, charged with treason. (He was acquitted less than a month later.)

In 1936, Jesse Owens of the United States won the first of his four gold medals at the Berlin Olympics as he took the 100-meter sprint.

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AUGUST 4

On August 4, 1944, 15-year-old diarist Anne Frank was arrested with her sister, parents and four others by the Gestapo after hiding for two years inside a building in Amsterdam. (Anne and her sister, Margot, died at the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.)

In 1792, English romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley was born at Field Place near Horsham, England.

In 1916, the United States reached agreement with Denmark to purchase the Danish Virgin Islands for $25 million.

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AUGUST 5

On August 5, 1974, the White House released transcripts of subpoenaed tape recordings showing that President Richard Nixon and his chief of staff, H.R. Haldeman, had discussed a plan in June 1972 to use the CIA to thwart the FBI’s Watergate investigation; revelation of the tape sparked Nixon’s resignation.

In 1914, what’s believed to be the first electric traffic light system was installed in Cleveland, Ohio, at the intersection of East 105th Street and Euclid Avenue.

In 1962, movie star Marilyn Monroe, 36, was found dead in her Los Angeles home; her death was ruled a probable suicide from “acute barbiturate poisoning.” South African anti-apartheid activist Nelson Mandela was arrested on charges of leaving the country without a passport and inciting workers to strike; it was the beginning of 27 years of imprisonment.

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AUGUST 6

On August 6, 1945, during World War II, the U.S. B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay dropped an atomic bomb code-named “Little Boy” on Hiroshima, Japan, resulting in an estimated 140,000 deaths. (Three days later, the United States exploded a nuclear device over Nagasaki; five days after that, Imperial Japan surrendered.)

In 1911, actor-comedian Lucille Ball was born in Jamestown, New York.

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AUGUST 7

On August 7, 1964, Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin resolution, giving President Lyndon B. Johnson broad powers in dealing with reported North Vietnamese attacks on U.S. forces.

In 1782, Gen. George Washington created the Order of the Purple Heart, a decoration to recognize merit in enlisted men and noncommissioned officers.

In 1789, the U.S. Department of War was established by Congress.

In 1957, Oliver Hardy, who starred for decades in popular film comedies with partner Stan Laurel, died in North Hollywood, California, at age 65.

In 1989, a plane carrying U.S. Rep. Mickey Leland, D-Texas, and 14 others disappeared over Ethiopia. (The wreckage of the plane was found six days later; there were no survivors.)

In 1990, President George H.W. Bush ordered U.S. troops and warplanes to Saudi Arabia to guard the oil-rich desert kingdom against a possible invasion by Iraq.

In 2000, Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore selected Connecticut Sen. Joseph Lieberman as his running mate; Lieberman became the first Jewish candidate on a major party’s presidential ticket.

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