1860
Aug 8, Queen of Sandwich Islands (Hawaii) arrived in NYC.

1890
Aug 8, Daughters of American Revolution (DAR) organized. [see Oct 11]

1950
Aug 8, Florence Chadwick (1918-1995) swam the English Channel from France to Dover in 13 hours and 23 minutes. A year later she swam the reverse in 16:22.

1969
Aug 8, Actress Sharon Tate (26) and four other people were brutally murdered in her Beverly Hills home; cult leader Charles Manson and a group of his disciples were later convicted of the crime. The best writing on the Manson murders was by Joan Didion in "The White Album."


1975
Aug 8, Julian "Cannonball" Adderley (b.1928), sax player, died of a stroke.


1997
Aug 8, US Sec. of State Madeleine Albright announced that the bulk of US aid to Cambodia would be suspended.

1998
Aug 8, In Iran the first daily newspaper dedicated to women’s issues, the daily Zan, was launched by Faezeh Hashemi. She was the daughter of former Pres. Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.



1999
Aug 8, In Guyana Pres. Janet Jagan (78) announced that she was resigning due to ill health and that Bharat Jagdeo (35), her finance minister, would succeed her.

2001
Aug 8, Maureen Reagan (b.1941), daughter of former Pres. Ronald Reagan, died of malignant melanoma. She authored the 1989 autobiography "First Father, First Daughter."


2009
Aug 8, Sonia Sotomayor was sworn-in as the first Hispanic on the US Supreme Court.


2009
Aug 8, In South Africa US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and South African President Jacob Zuma pledged to cement closer ties between their new administrations.


2011
Aug 8, In Guatemala former first lady Sandra Torres’ bid to succeed her ex-husband came to an end when the constitutional court ruled her ineligible to run because of her relationship to the president.


2013
Aug 8, In southern California Judith Oakes, the accountant at Rialto Unified school district, was arrested on suspicion of grand theft, embezzlement and burglary. Video surveillance showed her stuffing cash from student lunch money into her bra.