On Aug. 1, 1779 Francis Scott Key, the American lawyer better known as the author of “The Star-Spangled Banner,” was born in Frederick (now Carroll) County, Md.
In 1790 the first U.S. census was completed, showing a population of nearly 4 million people.
In 1914 Germany declared war on Russia at the onset of World War I.
In 1936 the Olympic Games opened in Berlin with a ceremony presided over by Adolf Hitler.
In 1942 Grateful Dead co-founder, songwriter and lead guitarist Jerry Garcia was born in San Francisco.
In 1944 an uprising broke out in Warsaw against Nazi occupation, a revolt that lasted two months before collapsing.
In 1966 25-year-old Charles Joseph Whitman shot and killed 15 people at the University of Texas before he was gunned down by police.
In 1981 music video channel MTV debuted.
In 1994 Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley confirmed they had been secretly married eleven weeks earlier.
In 2005 Saudi Arabia’s ruler, King Fahd, died; Crown Prince Abdullah, the king’s half brother, became the country’s new monarch.
