| 1588 | The English soundly defeated the Spanish Armada in the Battle of Gravelines. |
| 1754 | The first international boxing match was held in Harlston, England. Jack Slack, the champion from Great Britain, knocked out the French challenger, Jean Petit. The bout lasted only 25 minutes. |
| 1773 | The first schoolhouse to be located west of the Allegheny Mountains was built in Schoenbrunn, OH. |
| 1914 | Transcontinental telephone service began with the first phone conversation between New York and San Francisco. |
| 1957 | The International Atomic Energy Agency was established. |
| 1957 | Jack Paar made his debut as host of NBC's ''Tonight'' show. |
| 1958 | President Eisenhower signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act, which created NASA. |
| 1967 | Fire swept the USS Forrestal in the Gulf of Tonkin, killing 134 servicemen. |
| 1968 | Pope Paul VI reaffirmed the Roman Catholic Church's stance against artificial methods of birth control. |
| 1975 | President Ford became the first U.S. president to visit the site of the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz in Poland as he paid tribute to the camp's victims. |
| 1981 | Britain's Prince Charles married Lady Diana Spencer at St. Paul's Cathedral in London. |
| 1993 | The Israeli Supreme Court acquitted retired Ohio autoworker John Demjanjuk of being Nazi death camp guard ''Ivan the Terrible,'' and threw out his death sentence. |
| 1996 | Carl Lewis won his ninth Olympic gold medal by winning the long jump competition at the 1996 games. Lewis tied swimmer Mark Spitz for most golds by an American athlete. Lewis also won the same track event in four straight Olympics. |
| 1997 | Minamata Bay in Japan - once a worldwide symbol of industrial pollution - was declared free of mercury 40 years after contaminated food fish were blamed for deaths and birth defects. |
| 1998 | Pres. Clinton reached an agreement with Kenneth Starr to provide closed-circuit videotaped testimony at the White House on Aug. 17 about whether he tried to cover up a sexual relationship with Monica Lewinsky. |
| 1999 | A day trader, apparently upset over stock losses, opened fire in two Atlanta brokerage offices, killing nine people and wounding 13 before shooting himself to death; authorities say Mark O. Barton also killed his wife and two children. |
| 1999 | A federal judge ordered Pres. Clinton to pay $90,000 to the lawyers of Paula Jones in compensation for extra work due his false testimony. |
| 2003 | President Bush refused to release a congressional report on possible links between Saudi Arabian officials and the Sept. 11 hijackers, saying disclosure "would help the enemy" by revealing intelligence sources and methods. |
| 2003 | Boston's Bill Mueller became the first player in major league history to hit grand slams from both sides of the plate in a game and connected for three homers in a 14-7 win at Texas. |
| 2004 | John Kerry gave his acceptance speech as the Democratic presidential nominee before 15,000 supporters in Boston’s FleetCenter: "I’m John Kerry, and I’m reporting for duty." |
