Today in History: August 8, Nixon announces his resignation

Today’s Highlight in History:

On Aug. 8, 1974, President Richard Nixon, facing damaging new revelations in the Watergate scandal, announced he would resign the following day.

On this date:

In 1814, during the War of 1812, peace talks between the United States and Britain began in Ghent, Belgium.

In 1815, Napoleon Bonaparte set sail for St. Helena to spend the remainder of his days in exile.

In 1861, biologist William Bateson, founder of the science of genetics, was born in Whitby, Yorkshire, England.

In 1911, President William Howard Taft signed a measure raising the number of U.S. representatives from 391 to 433, effective with the next Congress, with a proviso to add two more when New Mexico and Arizona became states.

In 1942, during World War II, six Nazi saboteurs who were captured after landing in the U.S. were executed in Washington, D.C.; two others who cooperated with authorities were spared.

In 1945, President Harry S. Truman signed the U.S. instrument of ratification for the United Nations Charter. The Soviet Union declared war against Japan during World War II.

In 1953, the United States and South Korea initialed a mutual security pact.

In 1963, Britain’s “Great Train Robbery” took place as thieves made off with 2.6 million pounds in banknotes.

In 1973, Vice President Spiro T. Agnew branded as “damned lies” reports he had taken kickbacks from government contracts in Maryland, and vowed not to resign — which he ended up doing.

In 1994, Israel and Jordan opened the first road link between the once-warring countries.

In 2000, the wreckage of the Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley, which sank in 1864 after attacking the Union ship Housatonic, was recovered off the South Carolina coast and returned to port.

In 2009, Sonia Sotomayor was sworn in as the U.S. Supreme Court’s first Hispanic and third female justice.

Ten years ago: The U.S. sharply escalated its drone war in Yemen, with military officials in the Arab country reporting three strikes that left a dozen dead. Actor Karen Black, 74, who was featured in such counterculture favorites as “Easy Rider,” Five Easy Pieces” and “Nashville,” died in Los Angeles. Opera singer Regina Resnik, 90, died in New York.

Five years ago: The United States announced that it would impose new sanctions on Russia for illegally using a chemical weapon in an attempt to kill a former spy and his daughter in Britain. Australian golfer Jarrod Lyle died at the age of 36 after a long battle with cancer. A Montana coroner said the death of “Superman” actor Margot Kidder had been ruled a suicide from a drug and alcohol overdose.

One year ago: Former President Donald Trump said the FBI conducted a search of his Mar-a-Lago estate as the Justice Department investigated the discovery of boxes of records containing classified information that were taken to Mar-a-Lago after Trump’s presidency ended. The white father and son convicted of murder in Ahmaud Arbery’s fatal shooting after they chased the 25-year-old Black man through a Georgia neighborhood were sentenced to life in prison for committing a federal hate crime. The killing in February 2020 had become part of a larger national reckoning over racial injustice. Olivia Newton-John, the Grammy-winning superstar who reigned on pop, country, adult contemporary and dance charts with such hits as “Physical” and “You’re the One That I Want,” died at age 73.

Today’s Birthdays: Actor Nita Talbot is 93. Actor Dustin Hoffman is 86. Actor Connie Stevens is 85. Country singer Phil Balsley (The Statler Brothers) is 84. Actor Larry Wilcox is 76. Actor Keith Carradine is 74. Movie director Martin Brest is 72. Radio-TV personality Robin Quivers is 71. U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is 70. Percussionist Anton Fig is 70. Actor Donny Most is 70. Rock musician Dennis Drew (10,000 Maniacs) is 66. TV personality Deborah Norville is 65. Rock musician The Edge (U2) is 62. Rock musician Rikki Rockett (Poison) is 62. Rapper Kool Moe Dee is 61. Middle distance runner Suzy Favor Hamilton is 55. Rock singer Scott Stapp is 50. Country singer Mark Wills is 50. Actor Kohl Sudduth is 49. Rock musician Tom Linton (Jimmy Eat World) is 48. Singer JC Chasez (‘N Sync) is 47. Actor Tawny Cypress is 47. R&B singer Drew Lachey (lah-SHAY’) (98 Degrees) is 47. R&B singer Marsha Ambrosius is 46. Actor Lindsay Sloane is 46. Actor Countess Vaughn is 45. Actor Michael Urie is 43. Tennis player Roger Federer is 42. Actor Meagan Good is 42. Actor Jackie Cruz (TV: “Orange is the New Black”) is 39. Britain’s Princess Beatrice of York is 35. Actor Ken Baumann is 34. New York Yankees first baseman Anthony Rizzo is 34. Pop singer Shawn Mendes is 25.