This day in history

[August 08, 2009]  (AP)  Today is Saturday, Aug. 8, the 220th day of 2009. There are 145 days left in the year.

Today's highlight in history:

On Aug. 8, 1974, in the wake of damaging new revelations in the Watergate scandal, President Richard M. Nixon announced during a prime-time address that he would resign at noon the following day, and that Vice President Gerald R. Ford would succeed him.

On this date:

In 1815, Napoleon Bonaparte set sail for St. Helena to spend the remainder of his days in exile.

In 1876, Thomas A. Edison received a patent for his mimeograph.

In 1942, six convicted Nazi saboteurs who'd landed in the U.S. were executed in Washington, D.C.; two others were spared.

In 1945, President Harry S. Truman signed the United Nations Charter. The Soviet Union declared war against Japan during World War II.

In 1953, the United States and South Korea initialed a mutual security pact.

In 1963, Britain's "Great Train Robbery" took place as thieves made off with 2.6 million pounds in banknotes.

In 1968, the Republican national convention in Miami Beach, Fla., nominated Richard M. Nixon for president on the first ballot.

In 1973, Vice President Spiro T. Agnew branded as "damned lies" reports he had taken kickbacks from government contracts in Maryland, and vowed not to resign -- which he ended up doing.

In 1978, the U.S. launched Pioneer Venus 2, which carried scientific probes to study the atmosphere of Venus.

In 1994, Israel and Jordan opened the first road link between the two once-warring countries.

Ten years ago: Opening a new attack on the Republican tax-cut measure, President Bill Clinton warned the nation's governors at their meeting in St. Louis that the $792 billion package would trigger "huge cuts" in Medicare, farm programs and other spending critical to their voters.

Five years ago: Alan Keyes, the Republican two-time presidential hopeful, threw his hat into Illinois' U.S. Senate race. (He ended up losing in a landslide to Democrat Barack Obama.) Actress Fay Wray, the damsel held atop the Empire State Building by the giant ape in "King Kong," died in New York City at age 96.

One year ago: China opened the Summer Olympic Games with an extravaganza of fireworks and pageantry. A charter bus crashed near Sherman, Texas, killing 17 members of a Vietnamese-American Catholic group en route to Missouri. Former Democratic presidential candidate and vice-presidential nominee John Edwards admitted having an extramarital affair. Russia sent an armored column into the breakaway enclave of South Ossetia after Georgia launched an offensive to crush separatists there.

Today's birthdays: Producer Dino DeLaurentiis is 90. Actress Esther Williams is 88. Actor Richard Anderson is 83. Joan Mondale, wife of former Vice President Walter F. Mondale, is 79. Actress Nita Talbot is 79. Singer Mel Tillis is 77. Actor Dustin Hoffman is 72. Actress Connie Stevens is 71. Country singer Phil Balsley (The Statler Brothers) is 70. Actor Larry Wilcox is 62. Actor Keith Carradine is 60. R&B singer Airrion Love (The Stylistics) is 60. Country singer Jamie O'Hara is 59. Movie director Martin Brest is 58. Radio-TV personality Robin Quivers is 57. Actor Donny Most is 56. Rock musician Dennis Drew (10,000 Maniacs) is 52. TV personality Deborah Norville is 51. Actor-singer Harry Crosby is 51. Rock musician The Edge (U2) is 48. Rock musician Rikki Rockett (Poison) is 48. Rapper Kool Moe Dee is 47. Rock musician Ralph Rieckermann is 47. Middle distance runner Suzy Favor-Hamilton is 41. Rock singer Scott Stapp is 36. Country singer Mark Wills is 36. Actor Kohl Sudduth is 35. Rock musician Tom Linton (Jimmy Eat World) is 34. Singer JC Chasez ('N Sync) is 33. Actress Tawny Cypress is 33. R&B singer Drew Lachey (98 Degrees) is 33. R&B singer Marsha Ambrosius (Floetry) is 32. Actress Countess Vaughn is 31. Actor Michael Urie is 29. Tennis player Roger Federer is 28. Actress Meagan Good is 28. Britain's Princess Beatrice of York is 21. Actor Kenny Baumann (TV: "The Secret Life of the American Teenager") is 20.

Thought for today: "The time to relax is when you don't have time for it." -- Sydney J. Harris, American journalist (1917-1986)

[Associated Press]

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