United States Historical Events is a daily guide to the important events that shaped America to what it is today. This is a compilation of significant events for the month of August including the birth and death of famous Americans as well as laws promulgated by authorities. The list is constantly updated to incorporate the most recent events.
United States Historical Events in August
| Day | Year | Event |
| 1 | 1790 | Completion of the first Census showing four million people lived in the United States. |
| 1 | 1876 | Colorado became the 38th State to be admitted to the Union. |
| 1 | 1946 | President Harry S. Truman signed into law the Atomic Energy Act of 1946 which provides that nuclear weapon development and nuclear power management would be under civilian, rather than military control, and established the United States Atomic Energy Commission for this purpose. |
| 1 | 1950 | The Guam Organic Act of 1950 was enacted re-designating the island of Guam as an unincorporated territory of the United States, establishing executive, legislative, and judicial branches, and transferring federal jurisdiction from the United States Navy to the United States Department of the Interior. |
| 1 | 1997 | The Boeing Company merged with McDonnell Douglas. |
| 2 | 1923 | Death: Warren Harding, the 29th US president, died in San Francisco, California at age 57. |
| 4 | 1961 | Birthday: Barack Obama, the 44th US president, was born in Honolulu, Hawaii. |
| 4 | 1949 | Formation of the National Basketball Association (NBA) upon the merger of rivals Basketball Association of America (BAA) and National Basketball League (NBL) |
| 4 | 1977 | President Jimmy Carter signed into law the Department of Energy Organization Act of 1977, which created the Department of Energy. |
| 6 | 1945 | The United States detonated the first atomic bomb over the city of Hiroshima, Japan. |
| 8 | 1729 | Establishment of Baltimore, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. |
| 9 | 1945 | The United States detonated the first atomic bomb over the city of Nagasaki, Japan. |
| 9 | 1974 | Richard Nixon resigned as president, the first to do so. |
| 9 | 2022 | The CHIPS and Science Act, a U.S. federal statute enacted to boost domestic research and manufacturing of semiconductors in the United States, was signed into law by President Joe Biden. |
| 10 | 1821 | Missouri became the 24th State to be admitted to the Union. |
| 10 | 1874 | Birthday: Herbert Hoover, the 31st US president, was born in West Branch, Iowa. |
| 14 | 1935 | President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act of 1935 into law that established, among others, the social security program, unemployment insurance and aid to families headed by single mothers. |
| 15 | 1790 | John Carroll was consecrated as the first Catholic bishop of the United States. |
| 19 | 1946 | Birthday: William “Bill” Clinton, the 42nd US president, was born in Arkansas, United States. |
| 20 | 1833 | Birthday: Benjamin Harrison, the 23rd US president, was born in North Bend, Ohio. |
| 21 | 1798 | Death: James Wilson, one of the founding fathers of the United States, the first law professor at the University of Pennsylvania and as a leading legal theorists in his time, he became one of the authors of the American Constitution. |
| 21 | 1959 | Hawaii became the 50th State to be admitted to the Union. |
| 22 | 1851 | Historic win by yacht America, owned by the New York Yacht Club, during a regatta held in the Isle of Wight in the United Kingdom. The trophy was soon renamed America’s Cup. |
| 25 | 2005 | Hurricane Katrina makes landfall at Hallandale Beach in Florida. It is considered as the costliest and one of the deadliest hurricanes in the history of the United States. |
| 27 | 1908 | Birthday: Lyndon Johnson, the 36th US president, was born in Stonewall, Texas. |
| 28 | 1859 | Oil was first pumped out in Titusville, Pennsylvania by a group of drillers led by Edwin Drake. |
| 28 | 1774 | Birth: Elizabeth Ann Bayley, a Catholic religious sister who became the first American to be to be canonized by the Catholic Church. |
| 30 | 1954 | President Dwight Eisenhower signed into law the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, amending the Atomic Energy Act of 1946, which provides for the development, regulation, and disposal of nuclear materials and facilities in the United States. |
| 30 | 1956 | The Lake Pontchartrain Causeway southbound bridge in southeastern Louisiana, United States was opened. |
RELATED: United States Historical Events in January, February, March, April, May, June, July, September, October, November, December
