The second youngest signer of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Lynch Jr., was born on August 5, 1749, in Georgetown, South Carolina.
Though he and fellow signer Edward Rutledge were both 26 years old and hailed from South Carolina, Lynch was three months older—making Rutledge the youngest by a narrow margin.
Image via Wikimedia Commons, public domain in the US
On August 5, 1861, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Revenue Act into law, authorizing the first federal income tax in U.S. history. The timing was no accident: just weeks after the Union’s defeat at Bull Run, Congress scrambled to fund a war that was proving longer, bloodier, and costlier than expected.
The Act imposed a 3% tax on incomes over $800—but included no enforcement mechanism, no collection infrastructure, and little clarity on constitutional authority. Lincoln had privately questioned whether he could even tax Southern ports slipping from federal control. Treasury officials, desperate for funds, were offering 12% interest on government bonds and still failing to sell them.
Crafted by Senator William Pitt Fessenden during a special wartime session, the Revenue Act was more symbolic than functional—a fiscal gesture born of panic, not planning. Its failure to generate revenue exposed the limits of improvisation and forced Congress to revisit the problem in 1862, creating a more robust system and the Internal Revenue Bureau.
August 5 marks not just the signing of a law, but the beginning of a fraught experiment: how to tax a divided nation, fund a war without precedent, and expand federal power under the shadow of constitutional doubt.
Image via Wikimedia Commons, public domain in the US
On August 5, 1930, President Herbert Hoover publicly announced his selection of General Douglas MacArthur as the next Chief of Staff of the United States Army. At a press conference, Hoover praised MacArthur’s brilliance and noted that he was the only major general with sufficient time before mandatory retirement to serve a full four-year term.
Yet MacArthur did not immediately assume the post. General Charles P. Summerall remained in office until his scheduled retirement, and MacArthur—then commanding U.S. forces in the Philippines—was on temporary duty in China. The formal transition took place on November 21, 1930, nearly four months after Hoover’s announcement.
The delay reflected military protocol, succession planning, and MacArthur’s far-flung assignments. But Hoover’s announcement signaled his intent to elevate a younger, reform-minded officer to lead the Army through a decade of economic turmoil and rising global tensions.
The image above, taken in 1957 on Governors Island, New York, shows former President Herbert Hoover and retired General Douglas MacArthur walking side by side—decades after their wartime service and political collaboration. Their formal attire and quiet camaraderie reflect a continued mutual respect shaped by duty, ambition, and the burdens of leadership.
Image via Alamy
On August 5, 1864, the Battle of Mobile Bay, Alabama was fought. US naval vessels commanded by Rear Adm. David Farragut, shown aboard his flagship USS Hartford, sailed past three forts and a minefield to capture the Confederate ironclad CSS Tennessee and successfully blockade lower Mobile Bay.
Image via Wikimedia Commons, public domain in the US
American astronaut Neil Alden Armstrong, the first person to walk on the moon, was born on August 5, 1930 in Wapakoneta, Ohio.
Image: Neil standing next to the X-15 in 1960 by NASA via Wikimedia Commons, public domain
Although the Oregon Treaty—dividing the Oregon Country between the United States and Great Britain at the 49th parallel—was signed in June 1846, securing American claims to what would become Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and parts of Montana and Wyoming,
this image shows the signature page and President James K. Polk’s proclamation, issued on August 5, 1846, formally announcing the treaty’s ratification and implementation.
Image via Wikimedia Commons, public domain
“If civilization-the great society of today-is to continue, then the problem becomes one of making the huge superstructure of economics and politics function for the essential purposes of life and at the same time of maintaining a sound and creative community life at the basis.”
a quote by American historian and women’s suffrage activist Mary Ritter Beard who was born on August 5, 1876 in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Image via Wikimedia Commons, public domain
On August 5, 1923, Henry Sullivan set out from the beach of Dover to be the first American to swim across the English Channel.
The next day he accomplished his goal when he arrived on the coast of France. It was his seventh attempt.
Image: Henry F. Sullivan in The Boston Globe of Boston, Massachusetts on the 7th of August 1923 via Wikimedia Commons, public domain
Maureen McCormick who played the role of Marcia Brady on The Brady Bunch was born on August 5, 1956, in Los Angeles, California.
Image c. 1970s via Wikimedia Commons, public domain
Driver Craig Breedlove set a world land speed record of 407.45 mph on August 5, 1963. His vehicle, the Spirit of America, was powered by a General Electric J47 turbojet engine. That same year, The Beach Boys referenced the Bonneville Salt Flats in their song “Spirit of America” and sang about “a jet without wings.”
Image via Wikimedia Commons, CC-BY-SA 2.5 Generic
The first traffic light in the world was installed in Cleveland, Ohio on August 5, 1914.
Image via Unsplash, no known restrictions
On August 5, 1922, a seventeen-year-old named Eva Fridell won a Washington D.C. bathing beach beauty contest and receives her prize, a silver loving cup trophy.
Image via Library of Congress, no known restrictions
August 5, 1953 – the film version of the James Jones novel From Here to Eternity is released. The film, made with the cooperation of the US military, was set in Hawaii just prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor and is credited with reviving the career of Frank Sinatra.
Image via Wikimedia Commons, public domain in the US
On August 5, 1971, American Airlines introduced the DC-10 with a round-trip commercial flight between Los Angeles and Chicago.
Production of the DC-10 continued until 1989 while use of the DC-10 for passenger service ended in 2014.
Image of a DC-10 at LaGuardia in 1987 via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0
Harry Houdini when he was about 16 years old in 1890.
36 years later on August 5, 1926, Houdini would spend just over an hour and a half in an enclosed container that was sunk in a swimming pool before escaping.
Image via Wikimedia Commons, public domain
Haymarket Square in Boston, Massachusetts on August 5, 1897
via Wikimedia Commons, public domain
Born August 5, 1929 Don Matheson was a decorated Korean War veteran then an officer with the Detroit PD. It was law enforcement’s loss when Don turned to acting. He appeared in some of the more imaginative TV series of the ’60s – Lost in Space, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea and here on Land of the Giants (left.)
Image by ABC Television via Wikimedia Commons, no known copyright, public domain in the US.
Image of the Statue of Liberty, Bedloe’s Island, 1908
On August 5, 1884, the cornerstone of the Statue of Liberty was laid.
Image via Wikimedia Commons, public domain
A photograph from a postcard of Jesse Owens at the start of his 200 meter gold medal run on August 5 at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin.
Image via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0
