Today In History - August 4

1181 A Supernova seen in the consellation Cassiopia
1578 Battle of Alcazarquivir
1693 Dom Perignon invents champagne (somewhat accidentally)
1753 George Washington becomes a Master Mason
1777 Retired British cavalry officer Philip Astley starts the first circus
1790 The US Coast Guard is founded as the "Revenue Cutter Service"
1830 Plans for the city of Chicago are laid out
1892 Sunday school teacher Lizzie Borden is arrested
1914 Germany declares war on Belgium and Britain declares war on Germany
1916 The US agrees to buy the Virgin Islands from Denmark for $25 million
1925 The US marines leave Nicaragua after a 13-year occupation
1927 The Peace Bridge between US and Canada is opened
1944 Anne Frank is arrested by the Nazis
1948 A five day southern filibuster succeeds in maintaining the poll tax
1953 Black families move into Trumbull Park housing project in Chicago
1956 The first motorcycle ridden at over 200 mph: Wilhelm Herz
1964 Civil rights workers Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman, and James Chaney are found buried in an earthen dam in Mississippi
1970 Singer Jim Morrison is arrested for drunkenness
1971 The US launches its first satellite into lunar orbit from a manned spacecraft
1974 The Crawford-Butler Act allows Puerto Ricans to elect their own governor
1977 President Carter establishes the Department of Energy
1981 Colonel Oliver North is assigned to White House duty
1984 Carl Lewis wins a gold medal in 100-meter dash at the Summer Olympics
1987 The Federal Communication Commission votes 4-0 to rescind fairness doctrine for broadcasters
1988 Congress votes $20,000 to each Japanese-American who was interned in WW II
1988 Hertz car rental will pay out $23 million in consumer fraud case
1990 The European community proposes a boycott of Iraq
1996 The 26th Olympic Summer games close in Atlanta, Georgia

1755 Nicolas-Jacque Conte
1823 Oliver Perry Morton
1839 Walter Pater
1859 Knut Hamsun
1870 Sir Harry Lauder
1897 Joseph Calleia
1901 Louis Armstrong
1900 Arturo Umberto Illia
1900 Elizabeth (Britain's Queen Mother)
1909 Glenn Cunningham
1910 William Howard Schuman
1912 David Raksin
1913 Wesley Addy
1915 Irving Fields
1920 Helen Thomas
1934 Dallas Green
1939 Frankie Ford
1943 Michael J. McCulley
1943 Rodney Stuart Pattison
1943 Tina Cole
1944 Richard Belzer
1945 Fred Hansen
1946 Maureen Cox Starkey
1952 Bobby Buntrock
1952 Kristoffer Tabori
1955 Andrew M. Allen
1955 Charles D "Sam" Gemar
1955 Billy Bob Thornton
1960 Robbin Crosby
1962 Roger Clemens
1965 Crystal Chappell