August 8, 1903
Cripple Creek miners walk off the job
Led by the Western Federation of Miners and famed union man Big Bill Haywood, the miners in Cripple Creek, Colorado, walked off the job on August 8, 1903. The strike was called after the Mine Owner's Association refused the worker's demand for eight-hour days. However, the owner's had the last laugh: suspicions that the strikers has set off an explosion that killed several non-union miners gave the owner's the leverage to bust the strike and drive Haywood from Cripple Creek.
August 8, 1951
Customs forces fur labeling
In 1951, The United States Customs Agency moved to protect consumers from fraud by passing the Fur Labeling Act. The Act required manufacturers to included labels that identified the species of animal and whether paws or tails were used.
August 8, 1963
More than $7 million is stolen from a train
A gang of 15 men robs a Royal Mail train carrying about $7 million from Glasgow to London. The super-secret train had already picked up mail and cash from banks in Scotland and northern England by the time the thieves sprang into action near Cheddington. However, their getaway plan was not as meticulous as they thought, and most of the gang members were eventually caught.
By rigging a light to turn red on the railways, the thieves ensured that the engineer would stop the train. At this point, the masked and armed men ambushed the engineer and detached the back cars from the train. They then unloaded millions of dollars from the front cars into their getaway truck. The 75 postal workers who were riding in the rear cars did not even realize that there was a robbery in progress until the gang drove away. By this time, their attempts to call the police were thwarted because the thieves had already cut the phone lines in the area.
With a significant head start, the robbers made it to their planned hideout, Leatherslade Farm. However, after it was announced on the radio that law enforcement officials planned on searching an area including the farm, the gang panicked and fled.
Unfortunately for the robbers, the police beat them to the farm and found fingerprints everywhere. Scotland Yard officials tracked down 12 of the gang members, all of whom were found guilty. Eleven received sentences of 20 to 30 years; one received a three-year sentence.
Charles Wilson, one of the thieves, escaped and eluded authorities for nearly four years until his capture in Montreal, Canada. In 1965, Ronald Biggs, another culprit, escaped from prison and fled to Brazil. Although he was eventually found, he successfully fought extradition because he had fathered a son in his adopted country, which forbids deportation of parents. He then used his infamy to sell T-shirts to tourists in Brazil.
Years later, partly paralyzed and in failing health after at least two strokes, Biggs decided to turn himself in, hoping to receive the vital medical treatment that he could not afford in Brazil. On May 7, 2001, Biggs returned to prison. Most of the money from the robbery was never recovered.
August 8, 1968
Market feels LBJ's pain
On August 8, 1968 brought the news that U.S. President Lyndon Johnson had contracted a minor colon ailment. The report didn't sit so well with Wall Street, despite the doctors' assurances that the condition--diverticulosis--was not serious. LBJ apparently felt no discomfort and had in fact developed the minor illness in 1960. Still, investors engaged in "precautionary selling" and the DOW took a 6.55 point tumble to close the day at 870.37.
August 8, 1974
Nixon resigns
In an evening televised address, President Richard M. Nixon announces his intention to become the first president in American history to resign. With impeachment proceedings underway against him for his involvement in the Watergate affair, Nixon was finally bowing to pressure from the public and Congress to leave the White House. "By taking this action," he said in a solemn address from the Oval Office, "I hope that I will have hastened the start of the process of healing which is so desperately needed in America."
Just before noon the next day, Nixon officially ended his term as the 37th president of the United States. Before departing with his family in a helicopter from the White House lawn, he smiled farewell and enigmatically raised his arms in a victory or peace salute. The helicopter door was then closed, and the Nixon family began their journey home to San Clemente, California. Minutes later, Vice President Gerald R. Ford was sworn in as the 38th president of the United States in the East Room of the White House. After taking the oath of office, President Ford spoke to the nation in a television address, declaring, "My fellow Americans, our long national nightmare is over." He later pardoned Nixon for any crimes he may have committed while in office, explaining that he wanted to end the national divisions created by the Watergate scandal.
On June 17, 1972, five men, including a salaried security coordinator for President Nixon's reelection committee, were arrested for breaking into and illegally wiretapping the Democratic National Committee headquarters in the Washington, D.C., Watergate complex. Soon after, two other former White House aides were implicated in the break-in, but the Nixon administration denied any involvement. Later that year, reporters Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward of The Washington Post discovered a higher-echelon conspiracy surrounding the incident, and a political scandal of unprecedented magnitude erupted.
In May 1973, the Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, headed by Senator Sam Ervin of North Carolina, began televised proceedings on the rapidly escalating Watergate affair. One week later, Harvard law professor Archibald Cox was sworn in as special Watergate prosecutor. During the Senate hearings, former White House legal counsel John Dean testified that the Watergate break-in had been approved by former Attorney General John Mitchell with the knowledge of White House advisers John Ehrlichman and H.R. Haldeman, and that President Nixon had been aware of the cover-up. Meanwhile, Watergate prosecutor Cox and his staff began to uncover widespread evidence of political espionage by the Nixon reelection committee, illegal wiretapping of thousands of citizens by the administration, and contributions to the Republican Party in return for political favors.
In July, the existence of what were to be called the Watergate tapes--official recordings of White House conversations between Nixon and his staff--was revealed during the Senate hearings. Cox subpoenaed these tapes, and after three months of delay President Nixon agreed to send summaries of the recordings. Cox rejected the summaries, and Nixon fired him. His successor as special prosecutor, Leon Jaworski, leveled indictments against several high-ranking administration officials, including Mitchell and Dean, who were duly convicted.
Public confidence in the president rapidly waned, and by the end of July 1974 the House Judiciary Committee had adopted three articles of impeachment against President Nixon: obstruction of justice, abuse of presidential powers, and hindrance of the impeachment process. On July 30, under coercion from the Supreme Court, Nixon finally released the Watergate tapes. On August 5, transcripts of the recordings were released, including a segment in which the president was heard instructing Haldeman to order the FBI to halt the Watergate investigation. Three days later, Nixon announced his resignation.
August 8, 1974
Market goes down with Nixon
News of the President's resignation wasn't exactly going to sneak past Wall Street, so it's no surprise that the markets declined on August 8, 1974, the day that Richard Nixon stepped down from office. Nixon's decision was considered something of a fait accompli: the President was embroiled in the Watergate scandal and had little choice but to throw in the towel. The markets responded in kind, as the DOW dropped 12.67 points. However, prior to the decision, Wall Street, mired in a prolonged funk, actually staged a brief "Nixon rally." The inevitability of his decision sparked trading, and in the three days leading up to the resignation, the DOW jumped forty-five points. Unfortunately, the President's announcement deflated the markets, as a chorus of analysts prophesied dark days for Nixon's successor, Gerald Ford. Ford was inheriting a nation sinking under the weight of various economic woes, including rising inflation and unemployment rates. Gazing into his crystal ball, one broker predicted that if Ford couldn't stem the tide of inflation, "a change in Presidents" wouldn't "have much effect on the stock markets."
