Edited daily
American history, reported as it happened
Made for the 250thOn this day › August 3
What happened on August 3 in American history
August 3 is the 215th day of the year (the 216th in leap years). Patriot Compass has published 7 stories from August 3 spanning 1923 to 1977. Among them: in 1923, a father administers the presidential oath by lamplight in a Vermont farmhouse; and in 1936, Owens takes 100-meter gold in Hitler's stadium, 10.3 seconds.
1923
A father administers the presidential oath by lamplight in a Vermont farmhouse
Word of Harding's death reaches Plymouth Notch after midnight, and there is no federal judge for miles.
1936
Owens takes 100-meter gold in Hitler's stadium, 10.3 seconds
The first of four gold medals, run in the stadium Hitler built to prove Aryan supremacy.
1948
Chambers names Hiss a communist under oath before Congress
A Time magazine editor tells the House Un-American Activities Committee that a former State Department official once ran with a Soviet spy ring.
1949Member story · 1776 Club
Two rival leagues sign off on a merger: the NBA is born
Seventeen teams, from Madison Square Garden to small-town armories, now play under one name.
1958Member story · 1776 Club
Nautilus slides under the North Pole, unseen and unstoppable
Ninety-six hours under the ice and 1,590 nautical miles later, the submarine surfaces northeast of Greenland.
1972Member story · 1776 Club
Senate locks in the ABM Treaty, capping missile defenses at two sites each
Nixon and Brezhnev signed in Moscow in May; the Senate makes it binding with a two-thirds vote in August.
1977Member story · 1776 Club
RadioShack's parent unveils a $399 computer; skeptics inside the company called it unsellable
Tandy built it for under $150,000 and ordered just 3,500 units.
Read the full August 3 edition →
← August 2 · Every date · August 4 →