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On August 11, the first prisoners reach Alcatraz – JS
Today is Sunday, August 11, the 224th day of 2024. There are 142 days left in the year.
Today in history:
On August 11, 1934, the first federal prisoners arrived at Alcatraz Island, a former military prison, in San Francisco Bay; The island would house more than 1,500 prisoners over the next thirty years, including gangsters Al Capone and James ‘Whitey’ Bulger, before closing in 1963.
Also on this date:
In 1919, the German Weimar Constitution was signed by President Friedrich Ebert.
In 1929, Babe Ruth became the first baseball player to reach 500 career home runs with a homer at Cleveland’s League Park.
In 1949, President Harry S. Truman nominated General Omar N. Bradley as the first Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
In 1952, Hussein bin Talal was proclaimed King of Jordan, beginning a reign that lasted almost 47 years.
In 1956, abstract painter Jackson Pollock died at the age of 44 in a car accident on Long Island, New York.
In 1965, riots broke out in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles that claimed 34 lives and lasted six days.
In 1972, the last American ground combat troops left South Vietnam to return to the United States.
In 1973, at a house party in the Bronx, 18-year-old DJ Kool Herc began extending the musical pauses of the records he was playing and talking over the beat, marking the (unofficial) birth of hip-hop music.
In 1992, the Mall of America, the nation’s largest shopping and entertainment center, opened in Bloomington, Minnesota.
In 1997, President Bill Clinton used the historic line-item veto for the first time, rejecting three spending items and tax bills. (The U.S. Supreme Court later declared the veto unconstitutional.)
In 2012, more than 300 people were killed and over 3,000 injured after earthquakes near Tabriz, Iran.
In 2014, Oscar-winning actor and comedian Robin Williams died at the age of 63 in Tiburon, California.
Today’s Birthdays:
- Magazine columnist Marilyn Vos Savant is 78.
- Country singer John Conlee is 78.
- Computer scientist and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak is 74.
- Wrestler-actor Hulk Hogan is 71.
- Musician Joe Jackson is 70.
- Playwright David Henry Hwang is 67.
- Journalist/commentator David Brooks is 63.
- Actor Viola Davis is 59.
- Actor Embeth Davidtz is 59.
- Actor-host Joe Rogan is 57.
- Actor Anna Gunn is 56.
- Actor Sophie Okonedo (oh-koh-NAY’-doh) is 56.
- Rock guitarist Charlie Sexton is 56.
- Hip-hop artist Ali Shaheed Muhammad (A Tribe Called Quest) is 54.
- Actor Will Friedle is 48.
- Rock singer Ben Gibbard is 48.
- Actor Merritt Wever is 44.
- Actor Chris Hemsworth is 41.
- Rapper Asher Roth is 39.
- Political commentator Tomi Lahren is 32.
- Actor Alyson Stoner is 31.
Originally published:
