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On This Day, Aug. 5: South African leader Mandela begins 27-year-long imprisonment
1 of 7 | Nelson Mandela raises his fist to the crowd at the Washington Convention Center during his introduction June 26, 1990. The South African anti-apartheid activist was arrested on August 5, 1962, spending 27 years imprisoned. File Photo by Martin Jeong/UPI | License Photo
Aug. 5 (UPI) -- On this date in history:
In 1861, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln approved the first federal income tax. A wartime measure, it was rescinded in 1872.
In 1944, Polish underground forces freed hundreds of Jewish prisoners from the Gęsiowka Nazi work camp in an attempt to retake Warsaw from the Germans, a battle known as the Warsaw Uprising.
In 1949, an estimated 6,000 people were killed and about 20,000 injured in an earthquake that destroyed dozens of towns in Ecuador.
In 1957, Dick Clark's American Bandstand began airing nationally. Clark, who hosted the show for decades, as well as New Year's Rockin' Eve, died April 2012.
In 1962, police arrested South African anti-apartheid activist Nelson Mandela on charges he incited worker strikes and left the country without permission. The future president was released from prison 27 years later and won the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to end apartheid.
In 1962, Marilyn Monroe died of an overdose of barbiturates. She was 35.
UPI File Photo
In 1974, U.S. President Richard Nixon admitted ordering the Watergate investigation halted six days after the break-in. Nixon said he expected to be impeached.
In 1981, by executive order, U.S. President Ronald Reagan fired 11,359 air-traffic controllers on strike over failed negotiations to raise their pay and shorten their workweek.
In 1991, Iraq said it misled U.N. inspectors about secret biological weapons and also admitted extracting plutonium from fuel at a nuclear plant.
In 2003, U.S. Episcopal officials approved election of the church's first openly gay bishop, V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire.
In 2007, U.S. President George W. Bush signed into law a bill to allow government eavesdropping of telephone conversations and email of U.S. citizens without a warrant if there's "reasonable belief" that one party isn't in the United States.
In 2010, the U.S. Senate cleared the way for Solicitor General Elena Kagan to become the newest member of the Supreme Court when it voted 63-37 to confirm her nomination by President Barack Obama. She was sworn in two days later to succeed the retiring John Stevens.
File Photo by Roger L. Wollenberg/UPI
In 2012, a gunman police described as a white supremacist shot six people to death, injured four others, then killed himself at a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wis. The victims were one woman and five men, and ranged in age from 39 to 84. Police treated the shooting as a domestic terrorism incident.
In 2016, the Summer Olympics opening ceremony kicked off in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
In 2019, the Indian government announced plans to strip autonomy from the predominantly Muslim Kashmir region.
In 2024, Bangladesh's embattled prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, resigned and fled the country after protesters stormed her official residence in Dhaka amid a growing revolt that began over quotas for government jobs. Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus was named head of the interim government in her stead.
File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI
