What Happened On
Gomer (left) with Sgt. Carter
Gomer (left) with Sgt. Carter
Gomer Pyle
August 9, 2001
The fictional 1960's TV character Gomer Pyle is made an honorary U.S. Marine and promoted to the rank of Lance Corporal by the Commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps. "Well, Gol-ly!" The character, portrayed by Jim Nabors, was introduced in 1962 during the third season of The Andy Griffith Show and in 1964 was spun off into its own series, Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.
Nixon leaving the White House shortly before his resignation
Nixon leaving the White House shortly before his resignation
Watergate - Nixon Resigns
August 9, 1974
U.S. President Richard Nixon resigns. Four days earlier, he had admitted his complicity in the Watergate cover-up. Vice President Gerald Ford is then appointed President, with Ford giving Nixon a full pardon the following month. This is the first and only time in U.S. history that someone became President without having been elected either President or Vice President. Ford had become Vice President after Spiro T. Agnew resigned.
Charles Manson - Helter Skelter
August 9, 1969
Several of cult leader Charles Manson's followers murder actress Sharon Tate and four others. Tex Watson took fellow Manson followers Susan Atkins, Linda Kasabian, and Patricia Krenwinkel to the home of Sharon Tate and told them to destroy everyone in it and make it as gruesome as you can. On the way up to the house, Watson killed 18-year-old Steven Parent who was driving up to visit the property's caretaker. Once in the house, they killed Tate, who was 8½ months pregnant, her friend Jay Sebring, Wojciech Frykowski, and Frykowski's lover Abigail Folger, heiress to the Folger coffee fortune. As they were leaving they wrote "pig" on the front door in Tate's blood. Manson was trying to start a race war which he called "Helter Skelter" after the Beatles song.
Manson, a would-be musician, had previously attempted to enter into a recording contract with record producer Terry Melcher, who was the previous renter of the house. When Melcher saw Manson's violent tendencies, he chose not to work with him. At the urging of his actress mother Doris Day, Melcher moved. Even though Manson knew of Melcher's move, it is believed Manson chose this location because Melcher had snubbed him and the house had come to symbolize the establishment that Manson hated.
Sharon Tate's husband, Roman Polanski, was in Europe working on a film at the time.
Manson's followers would also murder Leno and Rosemary LaBianca the following day.
World War II - Atom Bomb Dropped on Nagasaki
August 9, 1945
The U.S. drops a bomb, named "Fat Man," on the Japanese city of Nagasaki killing between 39,000 to 80,000 people. The plane was piloted by Major Charles Sweeney. The initial target had been the Japanese town of Kokura, but cloud cover forced the pilots to bomb the secondary target of Nagasaki.
Smokey Bear
August 9, 1944
The first Smokey Bear poster debuts. Because of this, August 9 is used as Smokey's birthday. The poster used the slogan, "Care will prevent 9 out of 10 forest fires!" In 1950, a bear cub was rescued from a New Mexico wildfire and became the live embodiment of the cartoon Smokey Bear. The slogan eventually became, "Only You Can Prevent Wildfires."
Jesse Owens
August 9, 1936
The black American track star Jesse Owens upsets Adolf Hitler's theory of Aryan superiority by winning his fourth gold medal, for the 4 x 100-meter relay race.
Betty Boop
August 9, 1930
The curvaceous cartoon cabaret singer Betty Boop debuts in the Max Fleischer cartoon Dizzy Dishes. Betty Boop was based on real-life squeaky-voiced singers Helen Kane and Clara Bow. Kane began mimicking the style black singer Baby Esther after seeing her perform at the Cotton Club in Harlem in 1928. Baby Esther was about nine years old at the time.
First Night Game at Wrigley Field
August 9, 1988
The Chicago Cubs defeat the New York Mets 6-4 at Chicago's 74-year-old ballpark.
Missile Explosion
August 9, 1965
A Titan II missile explodes near Searcy, Arkansas, killing 53.
Birthdays
Whitney Houston
Born August 9, 1963 d. 2012
American singer. According to Guinness World Records she is the most awarded female act of all time. She was found unresponsive in her hotel bathtub and died shortly thereafter. The coroner ruled the death was caused by drowning and the "effects of atherosclerotic heart disease and cocaine use". Music: I Wanna Dance With Somebody (1987) and Where Do Broken Hearts Go (1988, her 7th consecutive #1 American hit).
Ken Norton
Born August 9, 1943 d. 2013
American Hall of Fame boxer. He is the only heavyweight boxing champion (1977-78) who never won a heavyweight championship fight. After Leon Spinks took the title from Muhammad Ali, the World Boxing Council (WBC) ordered a match between Spinks and the number one contender Norton. But Spinks wanted to give Ali the first shot at the title rather than face Norton. The WBC then gave title fight status to Norton's victory over Jimmy Young the previous year, awarding Norton the championship.
Dr. William T. G. Morton (William Thomas Green Morton)
Born August 9, 1819 d. 1868
American dentist. He performed the first tooth extraction under anesthesia (1846). He used ether for anesthesia, although he unsuccessfully tried to disguise the substance he used by calling it Letheon. Shortly after, the use of ether came into common use for many types of surgery.
The word anesthesia is from the Greek for "without sensation".
Walton and his Scholar, by Louis Rhead
Walton and his Scholar, by Louis Rhead
Father of Flyfishing
Izaak Walton
Born August 9, 1593 d. 1683
English author. Called the "Father of Flyfishing" for his book The Compleat Angler, or the Contemplative Man's Recreation (1653). It is considered one of the monuments of English literature and contained the famous quote about Piscator the Frog, "use him as though you loved him, that is, harm him as little as you may possibly, that he may live the longer."
The "Izaak Walton League" environmental conservation group, founded in 1922, is named after him.
Melanie Griffith
Born August 9, 1957
American actress. Film: The Drowning Pool (1976), Working Girl (1988), and Bonfire of the Vanities (1990).
Sam Elliott
Born August 9, 1944
American actor. TV: Mission Impossible (Doug).
Rod Laver
Born August 9, 1938
Australian tennis player, the only player to win the Grand Slam twice (1962, 69), four-time Wimbledon champ, and the first to win over a $1,000,000 in prize money.
Fred Fredericks (Harold Fredericks, Jr.)
Born August 9, 1929 d. 2015
American cartoonist. Artist for Mandrake the Magician (1964-2013).
Robert Shaw
Born August 9, 1927 d. 1978
British actor, author. Film: From Russia with Love (1963, SPECTRE agent Red Grant), The Sting (1973, conned mobster Doyle Lonnegan), and Jaws (1975, Quint). Shaw co-wrote the famous 
Jaws Indianapolis Speech based on the sinking of the USS Indianapolis.
He also wrote The Man in the Glass Booth (1967), which described the trial of Nazi Adolf Eichmann.
Shaw died of a heart attack at the age of 51.
Farina of The Little Rascals
Allen Clayton Hoskins Jr.
Born August 9, 1920 d. 1980
American actor, Farina of The Little Rascals. He appeared in 105 Our Gang films (1922-31) - more than any one else in the series.
Robert Aldrich
Born August 9, 1918 d. 1983
American film director. Film: Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962), The Dirty Dozen (1967), and The Longest Yard (1974).
John Dryden
Born August 9, 1631 d. 1700
English poet, essayist. He instigated the rule of not ending a sentence with a preposition.
Henry V
Born August 9, 1387 d. 1422
King of England (1413-22). Although greatly outnumbered (13,000 to 50,000), he defeated the French at the Battle of Agincourt (1415).
Deaths
First Woman to Break the Sound Barrier
Jacqueline Cochran (Bessie Lee Pittman)
Died August 9, 1980 b. 1906
American aviator. She was the first civilian awarded the U.S. Distinguished Service Medal; the first woman to break the sound barrier (1953); the first woman to break Mach 2 (1960); the first woman to pilot a bomber across the North Atlantic (1941); the first woman inducted into the Aviation Hall of Fame; the first pilot to make an instrument landing; the first woman President of the Federation Aeronautique lnt'l (58-61); and the first pilot to fly above 20,000 feet with an oxygen mask; the first woman to compete in the famous Bendix Trophy Transcontinental Race across the U.S. (1934) and was the first woman to win it (1938). The Associated Press named her "Woman of the Year in Business" for her cosmetics business (1953, 1954). Source Jackie Cochran: An Autobiography.
Alex Cord (Alexander Viespi, Jr.)
Died August 9, 2021 b. 1933
American actor, rodeo performer. TV: Airwolf (1984-86, Michael Archangel).
Frank Gifford
Died August 9, 2015 b. 1930
American football player, Emmy-winning sportscaster for Monday Night Football. Gifford won the NFL MVP Award (1956).
Al Freeman Jr.
Died August 9, 2012 b. 1934
American Emmy-winning actor. TV: One Life to Live (Capt. Ed Hall, 1972-88), for which he became the first African American to win a Daytime Emmy Award for acting (1979).
Gregory Hines
Died August 9, 2003 b. 1946
American actor, dancer. Film: History of the World Part I (1981), The Cotton Club (1984), White Nights (1985), and Tap (1989). He made his Broadway debut at age 8.
Jerry Garcia (Jerome John Garcia)
Died August 9, 1995 b. 1942
American Rock and Roll Hall of Fame guitarist, singer, songwriter, with the Grateful Dead.
Sharon Tate
Died August 9, 1969 b. 1943
American actress. She was murdered by followers of Charles Manson. She was two-weeks from giving birth at the time. Film: Valley of the Dolls (1967, Jennifer North) and The Fearless Vampire Killers (1967).
Fontaine Fox, Jr.
Died August 9, 1964 b. 1884
American cartoonist. Creator of Toonerville Folks. (1913-55) It was one of the most popular comics of its time.
Hermann Hesse
Died August 9, 1962 b. 1877
German Nobel-winning author. Quote: "If you hate a person, you hate something in him that is part of yourself. What isn't part of ourselves doesn't disturb us." Writings: Demian, Steppenwolf, Siddhartha, and The Glass Bead Game.
Damasus II
Died August 9, 1048 b. ????
Bavarian-born religious leader, 151st Pope (July - Aug. 1048).