On Aug. 2, 1923, the 29th president of the United States, Warren G. Harding, died in San Francisco. Calvin Coolidge took the oath of office as President of the United States. ***

On Aug. 2, 1924, James Baldwin, the American essayist, novelist and playwright whose work explored racial issues, was born.


1776 Members of the Continental Congress began attaching their signatures to the Declaration of Independence.


1876 Frontiersman "Wild Bill" Hickok was shot and killed while playing poker at a saloon in Deadwood, S.D.


1907 Baseball Hall of Famer Walter Johnson made his major league debut with the Washington Senators.


1921 Opera singer Enrico Caruso died in Naples, Italy.


1921 A jury in Chicago acquitted several former members of the Chicago White Sox and two others of conspiring to defraud the public by throwing the World Series.


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


1939 Albert Einstein signed a letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt urging creation of an atomic weapons research program.


1943 A Navy patrol torpedo boat, PT-109, commanded by Lt. John F. Kennedy, sank after being sheared in two by a Japanese destroyer off the Solomon Islands. Kennedy was credited with saving members of the crew.****


1945 President Harry S. Truman, Soviet leader Josef Stalin and British Prime Minister Clement Attlee concluded the Potsdam conference.


1964 The Pentagon reported the first of two attacks on U.S. destroyers by North Vietnamese torpedo boats in the Gulf of Tonkin.


1979 New York Yankees catcher Thurman Munson died in the crash of his private plane in Canton, Ohio.


1985 A Delta Air Lines jumbo jet crashed while attempting to land at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, killing 137 people.


1990 Iraq invaded Kuwait, seizing control of the oil-rich emirate.


1997 Author William S. Burroughs died at age 83.


2000 Republicans nominated Texas Gov. George W. Bush for president and Dick Cheney for vice president at the party's convention in Philadelphia.


2003 Liberian President Charles Taylor agreed to cede power.

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Thoughts/comments on any of the above?

*** a relative of my own Grandpa--one of the worst presidents ever--prob poisoned by his wife, so the rumor goes.


**** JFK probably asleep on duty, according to Navy scuttlebutt of the time.

Interesting, Ren! Hope you can keep it up!!

OK, what did Harding die of? I'm sure some poor teacher tried to tell me, but I was too busy worrying about recess.

:)
SMW

Tho Harding lived a sedentary lifestyle and enjoyed fatty foods, smoking, and excessive drinking, his death still came as a shock to many.

Most doctors of the time thought he died of a heart attack; a few said a stroke.

There's even some bizarre theories that he was either a victim of unintentional homicide, or that he even commited suicide.

Florence Harding, his wife, was considered a jealous battleax by many. She'd had it with his multiple affairs and general incompetence. ...one of the reasons many thought she'd murdered him.

Here's more from the Crime Library (and I still go there often despite the fact I've been kicked off their message board:))

http://www.crimelibrary.com/terrorists_spies/assassins/warren_harding/6.html

Tho Harding lived a sedentary lifestyle and enjoyed fatty foods, smoking, and excessive drinking, his death still came as a shock to many.

Most doctors of the time thought he died of a heart attack; a few said a stroke.

There's even some bizarre theories that he was either a victim of unintentional homicide, or that he even commited suicide.

Florence Harding, his wife, was considered a jealous battleax by many. She'd had it with his multiple affairs and general incompetence. ...one of the reasons many thought she'd murdered him.

Here's more from the Crime Library (and I still go there often despite the fact I've been kicked off their message board:))

http://www.crimelibrary.com/terrorists_spies/assassins/warren_harding/6.html
Fascinating stuff, Ren! I especially like this part...

Mrs. Harding had endured far more than Nan Britton during her marriage to Warren. A conservative number of mistresses would be five, all of whom had been bought off by Daugherty, Ned McLean, or Jesse Smith. The number of one-night stands must have been formidable. Harding, in his sexual exploits, makes John Kennedy and Bill Clinton look like Dominican friars.

You got kicked off that board, eh?

Hell, they'd probably burn me at the stake.

Thx for posting that link. I knew there was some questions about how he died, but had no idea it was that juicy.

:)
SMW

Mrs. Harding had endured far more than Nan Britton during her marriage to Warren. A conservative number of mistresses would be five, all of whom had been bought off by Daugherty, Ned McLean, or Jesse Smith. The number of one-night stands must have been formidable. Harding, in his sexual exploits, makes John Kennedy and Bill Clinton look like Dominican friars.
Not a good Baptist and Republican like Warren!? What's really goin' on?