Samudra

1788 - New York ratifies the United States Constitution and is admitted as the 11th state of the United States.

1945 - Britain, China and the United States issued the Potsdam Declaration threatening Japan with "prompt and utter destruction" if it did not surrender unconditionally at the end of World War Two.

brownboi4eva

This Day In History | Cold War

July 26

1947 Truman signs the National Security Act

President Harry S. Truman signs the National Security Act, which becomes one of the most important pieces of Cold War legislation. The act established much of the bureaucratic framework for foreign policymaking for the next 40-plus years of the Cold War.

By July 1947, the Cold War was in full swing. The United States and the Soviet Union, once allies during World War II, now faced off as ideological enemies. In the preceding months, the administration of President Truman had argued for, and secured, military and economic aid to Greece and Turkey to assist in their struggles against communist insurgents. In addition, the Marshall Plan, which called for billions of dollars in U.S. aid to help rebuild war-torn Western Europe and strengthen it against possible communist aggression, had also taken shape. As the magnitude of the Cold War increased, however, so too did the need for a more efficient and manageable foreign policymaking bureaucracy in the United States. The National Security Act was the solution.

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What doesnt kill me, Just makes me stronger :cool:

brownboi4eva

FBI FOUNDED:
July 26, 1908

On July 26, 1908, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is born when U.S. Attorney General Charles Bonaparte orders a group of newly hired federal investigators to report to Chief Examiner Stanley W. Finch of the Department of Justice. One year later, the Office of the Chief Examiner was renamed the Bureau of Investigation, and in 1935 it became the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

THL

President Truman signs the National Security Act of 1947, which totally reorganizes the U.S. armed forces. The act establishes three separate services -- Army, Navy, and Air Force (the Air Force had previously been a branch of the Army) -- to be administered by secretaries appointed by the president. It also creates the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), to gather information on foreign powers, and the National Security Council, to advise the president; and transforms the Department of War into the Department of Defense.


http://news.fen.com/article/0,1120,1-7322,00.html

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"To dream of the person you would like to be is to waste the person you are."-Sholem Asch

"I always turn to the sports page first, which records people's accomplishments. The front page has nothing but man's failures."-Earl Warren

"I didn't intend for this to take on a political tone. I'm just here for the drugs."-Nancy Reagan, when asked a political question at a "Just Say No" rally

"He no play-a da game, he no make-a da rules."-Earl Butz, on the Pope's attitude toward birth control

bigross86

China wasn't there at the Potsdam conference. It was the Big Three, UK, US, USSR

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You're a naughty girl, go to my room!

THL

Today in:

1996 - A pipe bomb exploded in an Atlanta park during the Olympic Games

1837 - US Mint opens in Charlotte, NC

1844 - Fire destroys US Mint in Charlotte, NC

1944 - 1st British fighter jet used in combat (Gloster Meteor)

1976 - 8.2 Tangshan earthquake kills an estimated 240,000 in China

Parihaka

1945: US drops atomic bomb on Hiroshima
The first atomic bomb has been dropped by a United States aircraft on the Japanese city of Hiroshima.
President Harry S Truman, announcing the news from the cruiser, Augusta, in the mid-Atlantic, said the device contained 20,000 tons of TNT and was more than 2,000 times more powerful than the largest bomb used to date.

An accurate assessment of the damage caused has so far been impossible due to a huge cloud of impenetrable dust covering the target. Hiroshima is one of the chief supply depots for the Japanese army.

The bomb was dropped from an American B-29 Superfortress, known as Enola Gay, at 0815 local time. The plane's crew say they saw a column of smoke rising and intense fires springing up.


The President said the atomic bomb heralded the "harnessing of the basic power of the universe". It also marked a victory over the Germans in the race to be first to develop a weapon using atomic energy.

President Truman went on to warn the Japanese the Allies would completely destroy their capacity to make war.

The Potsdam declaration issued 10 days ago, which called for the unconditional surrender of Japan, was a last chance for the country to avoid utter destruction, the President said.

"If they do not now accept our terms they may expect a rain of ruin from the air the like of which has never been seen on Earth. Behind this air attack will follow by sea and land forces in such number and power as they have not yet seen, but with fighting skill of which they are already aware."

The British Prime Minister Clement Attlee, who has replaced Winston Churchill at Number 10, read out a statement prepared by his predecessor to MPs in the Commons.

It said the atomic project had such great potential the government felt it was right to pursue the research and to pool information with atomic scientists in the US.

As Britain was considered within easy reach of Germany and its bombers, the decision was made to set up the bomb-making plants in the US.

The statement continued: "By God's mercy, Britain and American science outpaced all German efforts. These were on a considerable scale, but far behind. The possession of these powers by the Germans at any time might have altered the result of the war."

Mr Churchill's statement said considerable efforts had been made to disrupt German progress - including attacks on plants making constituent parts of the bomb.

He ended: "We must indeed pray that these awful agencies will be made to conduce peace among the nations and that instead of wreaking measureless havoc upon the entire globe they become a perennial fountain of world prosperity."

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In the realm of spirit, seek clarity; in the material world, seek utility.
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz

Parihaka

1974: President Nixon to resign from office
Richard Nixon has announced he is stepping down as president of the United States - the first man ever to do so.
He has announced his departure in the face of an imminent impeachment trial - and possible removal from office - over the Watergate affair.

The president broke the news of his resignation in a television broadcast from the White House on Thursday at 2100 local time. It will take effect from noon tomorrow.

Mr Nixon, 61, said initially he had believed it was his duty to complete his term of office despite the Watergate charges.

"In the past days, however, it has become evident that I no longer have a strong enough political base in the Congress to justify continuing that effort," he said.

"As president I must put the interests of America first."

Successor

Mr Nixon has been charged by the House Judiciary Committee with "high crimes and misdemeanours".

The charges stem from a 1972 break-in at the offices of the Democratic National Committee in the Watergate complex.

The break-in, during that year's election campaign, was traced to members of a Nixon-support group, the Committee to Re-elect the President (CREEP).

Tape recordings have shown the president subsequently tried to influence the police investigation into the crime.

Mr Nixon is leaving office with more than two years of his second term left to run.

In his address Mr Nixon said he would be succeeded by US vice-president Gerald Ford.

Mr Ford will be sworn in as the 38th president of the United States tomorrow.

Confed999

August 7, 1998 - U.S. embassy bombings: Bombing of the United States embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Nairobi, Kenya kills 224 people and injures over 4,500.

August 7, 2004 - Red Adair passed on

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No man is free until all men are free - John Hossack
I agree completely with this Administration’s goal of a regime change in Iraq-John Kerry
even if that enforcement is mostly at the hands of the United States, a right we retain even if the Security Council fails to act-John Kerry
He may even miscalculate and slide these weapons off to terrorist groups to invite them to be a surrogate to use them against the United States. It’s the miscalculation that poses the greatest threat-John Kerry

magic-spaceship

Not every man is man enough to have John Wayne portray him

FlyingCaddy

1985 - Japan Airlines Flight 123, a Boeing 747 jumbo jet, crashes into Mount Ogura in Gunma Prefecture Japan killing 520 in the world's worst single-plane air disaster. Four people miraculously survive.

Parihaka

To all my cac-handed, dexter sinister, southpaw lefty brethren out there, happy International Left Handed Day

Confed999

August 12

1997 - The popular, controversial animated series South Park debuts on Comedy Central.

1860 - Annie Oakley, sharpshooter, born

1926 - Fidel Castro, dictator of Cuba, born

1946 - H. G. Wells, English writer, passed on

Confed999

August 14

1945 - Japan accepts the Allied terms of surrender in World War II and the Emperor records the Imperial Rescript on Surrender. Happy VJ day! It's also National "Code Talkers" Day!

1851 - Doc Holliday, American gambler and gunfighter, born

Parihaka

President of the United States Bill Clinton has admitted having an inappropriate relationship with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky.
In a televised address Mr Clinton told the American people that he took full responsibility for his actions.

He said: "Indeed I did have a relationship with Ms Lewinsky that was not appropriate. In fact, it was wrong."

Aides close to the president now hope the confession will bring an end to the investigation into Mr Clinton's affairs, brought by independent prosecutor Kenneth Starr.

Mr Starr's four-year inquiry began as an investigation into land deals by Hillary and Bill Clinton when he was governor of Arkansas.

It moved onto his personal life when Mr Starr began to investigate allegations that Mr Clinton had had sexual relations with Monica Lewinsky and then lied about it under oath in a sexual harassment case brought by Paula Jones in 1994.

'I misled the people'

The president's confession follows months of denial. On 26 January this year, Mr Clinton categorically denied having sexual relations with Miss Lewinsky.

Appearing serious and contrite, Mr Clinton told the American people: "I misled people, including my wife. I deeply regret that.

He concluded: "This matter is between me, the two people I love most - my wife and my daughter - and our God."

He said he had not come clean earlier because he was embarrassed but he denied he had asked anyone to lie about the relationship.

He also criticised Mr Starr and the investigation, which so far has cost £25m.

On 6 August this year Ms Lewinsky told the jury that she had an 18-month sexual relationship with the President and that the pair had discussed ways of concealing the relationship.

She also presented one of her dresses as evidence, stating it had been stained with Mr Clinton's semen during one of their sexual encounters.

If it is proved that he lied he faces possible impeachment hearings on Capitol Hill.