1914 Europe deepens its ascendant World War I as Germany declares war on France just days after declaring war on Russia.

1948In Washington, a cold war case heats up Capitol Hill, that’s where Whittaker Chambers accuses Alger Hiss of being a communist and a spy for the Soviet Union. Hiss is a former State Department official. Chambers, an ex-communist, is an editor at Time Magazine. “Mr. Hiss represents the concealed enemy against which we are all fighting, and I am fighting.”

Hiss denies the charges, but later spends 5 years in prison for perjuring over his dealings with Chambers.

1981Air traffic controllers in the United States go on strike, defying a warning from President Ronald Reagan that they would be fired. “They are in violation of the law, and if they do not report for work within 48 hours, they have forfeited their jobs and will be terminated.” Reagan dismisses the roughly 11,500 controllers who do not return to their jobs and the government hires replacements.

1949Birth of the NBA, as two pro basketball leagues, the Basketball Association of America and the National Basketball Association, merge.

And 1926“I left my heart in San Francisco.” Tony Bennett, the singer who won new-found fame with the MTV generation, is born in the New York City neighborhood of Astoria. Today in History, August 3rd, Camille Bohannon, the Associated Press.