On August 2nd:
1776 – Delegates to the Continental Congress begin signing the United States Declaration of Independence.
1790 – The first US Census is conducted
1918 – Japan announces that it is deploying troops to Siberia in the aftermath of World War I.
1934 – Gleichschaltung: Adolf Hitler becomes Führer of Germany.
1937 – The Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 is passed in America, essentially rendering marijuana and all its by-products illegal.
1943 – World War II: PT-109 rammed by the Japanese destroyer Amagiri and sinks. Lt. John F. Kennedy, future U.S. President, saves all but two of his crew.
1964 – Vietnam War: Gulf of Tonkin Incident – North Vietnamese gunboats allegedly fires on U.S. destroyers, USS Maddox and the USS Turner Joy.
1990 – Iraq invades Kuwait, eventually leading to conflict with coalition forces in the Gulf War.