Today in History: August 14, FDR signs Social Security Act
** FILE ** President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Social Security Bill in Washington in this Aug. 14, 1935 file photo. From left are: Chairman Doughton of the House Ways and Means Committee; Sen. Wagner, D-N.Y, co-author of the bill, Secretary Perkins, Chairman Harrison of the Senate Finance Committee, Rep. Lewis, D-Md., co-author of the measure. (AP Photo)
Today in history:
On Aug. 14, 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act into law, ensuring income for elderly Americans and creating a federal unemployment insurance program.
Also on this date:
Rainey Bethea walks up the stairs with guards for his public execution, in this Aug. 14, 1936 photo in Owensboro, KY. About 20,000 people turned out for the hanging of Bethea, a black man convicted of raping and killing a white woman. (AP Photo)
Rainey Bethea walks up the stairs with guards for his public execution, in this Aug. 14, 1936 photo in Owensboro, KY. About 20,000 people turned out for the hanging of Bethea, a black man convicted of raping and killing a white woman. (AP Photo)
In 1936, in front of an estimated 20,000 spectators, Rainey Bethea was hanged in Owensboro, Kentucky in the last public execution in the United States.
In 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill signed the Atlantic Charter, which detailed the post-war goals of the two nations.
In 1945, President Harry S. Truman announced that Imperial Japan had surrendered unconditionally, ending World War II.
In 1947, Pakistan gained independence from British rule.
In 1994, Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, the terrorist known as “Carlos the Jackal,” was captured by French agents in Sudan.
In 1995, Shannon Faulkner officially became the first female cadet in the history of The Citadel, South Carolina’s state military college. (However, Faulkner quit the school less than a week later, citing the stress of her court fight, and her isolation among the male cadets.)
Rescue workers continue digging through the rubble of the Alfred Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City Thursday, April 20, 1995, after Wednesday’s fatal explosion. (AP Photo/J.Pat Carter)
Rescue workers continue digging through the rubble of the Alfred Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City Thursday, April 20, 1995, after Wednesday’s fatal explosion. (AP Photo/J.Pat Carter)
In 1997, an unrepentant Timothy McVeigh was formally sentenced to death for the Oklahoma City bombing. (McVeigh was executed by lethal injection in 2001.)
In 2009, Charles Manson follower Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme, 60, convicted of trying to assassinate President Gerald Ford in 1975, was released from a Texas prison hospital after more than three decades behind bars.
Jamaica’s Usain Bolt celebrates gold in the men’s 100 meters at the Summer Olympic Games on Sunday, Aug. 14, 2016, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP)
Jamaica’s Usain Bolt celebrates gold in the men’s 100 meters at the Summer Olympic Games on Sunday, Aug. 14, 2016, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP)
In 2016, Usain Bolt became the first athlete to win the 100m dash in three consecutive Olympics, taking gold at the Summer Games in Rio.
Locals recover their belongings from their homes destroyed in the earthquake in Camp-Perrin, Les Cayes, Haiti, Sunday, Aug. 15, 2021. The death toll from the magnitude 7.2 earthquake in Haiti soared on Sunday as rescuers raced to find survivors amid the rubble ahead of a potential deluge from an approaching tropical storm. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)
Locals recover their belongings from their homes destroyed in the earthquake in Camp-Perrin, Les Cayes, Haiti, Sunday, Aug. 15, 2021. The death toll from the magnitude 7.2 earthquake in Haiti soared on Sunday as rescuers raced to find survivors amid the rubble ahead of a potential deluge from an approaching tropical storm. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)
In 2021, a 7.2-magnitude earthquake struck Haiti, turning thousands of structures into rubble; the quake left more than 2,200 people dead and injured more than 12,000 others.
