Today is Sunday, Aug. 9, the 221st day of 2026. There are 144 days left in the year.

Today in History

On Aug. 9, 1945, three days after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Japan, a U.S. B-29 Superfortress dropped an atomic device over Nagasaki; the bombing and subsequent radiation poisoning killed an estimated 74,000 people.

Also on this date: In 1173, construction began on the campanile of Pisa Cathedral — better known as the Leaning Tower of Pisa. In 1854, Henry David Thoreau’s “Walden,” which described Thoreau’s experiences while living near Walden Pond in Massachusetts, was first published.

In 1936, Jesse Owens won his fourth gold medal at the Berlin Olympics as the United States took first place in the 400-meter relay. In 1969, actor Sharon Tate and four other people were found killed at Tate’s Los Angeles home; cult leader Charles Manson and a group of his followers were later convicted of the crime.

In 1974, Gerald Ford took the oath of office to become U.S. president after Richard Nixon’s resignation; in a speech afterward, Ford declared that “our long national nightmare is over.” In 1988, President Ronald Reagan nominated Lauro Cavazos to be secretary of education; Cavazos became the first Hispanic to serve in the Cabinet.

In 2014, Michael Brown Jr., a Black 18-year-old, was shot to death by a police officer following an altercation in Ferguson, Missouri; Brown’s death led to sometimes-violent protests in Ferguson and other U.S. cities, helping fuel a national “Black Lives Matter” movement.

In 2024, a passenger plane crashed in a gated residential community in Brazil’s Sao Paulo state, killing all 61 people aboard. The twin-engine plane operated by Voepass was en route to Sao Paulo’s international airport at the time.

In 2025, Jen Pawol broke Major League Baseball’s gender barrier as the first female umpire to work a regular-season game; Pawol worked both games of a doubleheader between the Atlanta Braves and Miami Marlins.

Original reporting: Texarkana Gazette — read the source article.