On August 1, 1996, sprinter Michael Johnson breaks the world record in the 200 meters to win gold at the Summer Olympics in Atlanta.

On August 1, 1996, “A Game of Thrones,” an epic fantasy novel by George R.

On August 1, 1981, MTV: Music Television goes on the air for the first time ever, with the words (spoken by one of MTV’s creators, John Lack): “Ladies and gentlemen, rock and roll.

In July 1975, representatives from 35 nations gathered in Helsinki, Finland, for a landmark summit that would significantly shape the landscape of post-World War II Europe.

The United States, the Soviet Union, Canada and every European nation (except Albania) sign the Helsinki Final Act on the last day of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE).

On August 1, 1971, Madison Square Garden in New York City resonated with the powerful harmonies of music and the spirit of humanitarianism during The Concert for Bangladesh.

In 1957, a significant milestone in military cooperation between the United States and Canada was established with the announcement of the North American Air Defense Command (NORAD).

During World War II, an advance Soviet armored column under General Konstantin Rokossovski reaches the Vistula River along the eastern suburb of Warsaw, prompting Poles in the city to launch a major uprising against the Nazi occupation.

Anne Frank, the young Jewish girl hiding out in Nazi-occupied Holland whose diary came to serve as a symbol of the Holocaust, writes her final entry three days before she and her family are arrested and placed in concentration camps.

Simmering racial tensions and economic frustrations boil over in New York City on the night of August 1, 1943, culminating in what is now known as the Harlem Riot of 1943.