August 11 in history — What Happened Today in History

"We begin bombing in five minutes": United States President Ronald Reagan, while running for re-election, jokes while preparing to make his weekly Saturday address on National Public Radio.

A bomb explodes on Pan Am Flight 830, en route from Tokyo, Japan to Honolulu, Hawaii, killing one passenger and injuring 15 others.

Two Aeroflot Tupolev Tu-134s collide over the Ukrainian city of Dniprodzerzhynsk and crash, killing all 178 aboard both airliners.

East Timor: Governor Mário Lemos Pires of Portuguese Timor abandons the capital Dili, following a coup by the Timorese Democratic Union (UDT) and the outbreak of civil war between UDT and Fretilin.

At the 1520 Sedgwick Avenue apartment building in The Bronx, New York, DJ Kool Herc hosts a house party widely considered to mark the birthplace of hip-hop culture and music. DJ Kool Herc demonstrates a new technique of beat juggling and Coke La Rock performs a new style of vocal performance called rapping.

Vietnam War: The last United States ground combat unit leaves South Vietnam.

The Apollo 11 astronauts are released from a three-week quarantine following their liftoff from the Moon.

Race riots (the Watts Riots) begin in the Watts area of Los Angeles, California.

Vostok 3 launches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome and cosmonaut Andrian Nikolayev becomes the first person to float in microgravity.

The former Portuguese territories in India of Dadra and Nagar Haveli are merged to create the Union Territory Dadra and Nagar Haveli.

Chad declares independence from France.

Sheremetyevo International Airport, the second-largest airport in Russia, opens.

Hussein bin Talal is proclaimed King of Jordan.

Poles in Kraków engage in a pogrom against Jews in the city, killing one and wounding five.

Actress Hedy Lamarr and composer George Antheil receive a patent for a Frequency-hopping spread spectrum communication system that later became the basis for modern technologies in wireless telephones, two-way radio communications, and Wi-Fi.

The first civilian prisoners arrive at the Federal prison on Alcatraz Island.

Babe Ruth becomes the first baseball player to hit 500 home runs in his career with a home run at League Park in Cleveland, Ohio.

The 1920 Cork hunger strike begins which eventually results in the deaths of three Irish Republicans including the Lord Mayor of Cork Terence MacSwiney.

The Latvian–Soviet Peace Treaty, which relinquished Russia's authority and pretenses to Latvia, is signed, ending the Latvian War of Independence.

Germany's Weimar Constitution is signed into law.

World War I: The Battle of Amiens ends.

Spanish–American War: American troops enter the city of Mayagüez, Puerto Rico.

An explosion of guncotton occurs in Stowmarket, England, killing 28.

The Eiger in the Bernese Alps is ascended for the first time by Charles Barrington accompanied by Christian Almer and Peter Bohren.

In Colombia, Juan del Corral declares the independence of Antioquia.

Peninsular War: French troops engage British-Portuguese forces in the Battle of Majadahonda.

Francis II assumes the title of first Emperor of Austria.

Captain Francis Light establishes the British colony of Penang in Malaysia.

Cristian Tello, Spanish footballer

Lenka Juríková, Slovak tennis player

Junior Heffernan, Irish cyclist and triathlete (died 2013)

Sebastian Huke, German footballer

Rabeh Al-Hussaini, Filipino basketball player

Patty Mills, Australian basketball player

Mustafa Pektemek, Turkish footballer

Dany N'Guessan, French footballer

Drew Storen, American baseball player

Mokhtar Benmoussa, Algerian footballer

Hélène Defrance, French sailor

Pablo Sandoval, Venezuelan baseball player

Jacqueline Fernandez, Bahraini–Sri Lankan actress

Yisrael Kristal, Polish-Israeli supercentenarian; oldest living Holocaust survivor and one of the ten oldest men ever (born 1903)

Segun Bucknor, Nigerian musician and journalist (born 1946)

Serge Collot, French viola player and educator (born 1923)

Harald Nielsen, Danish footballer and manager (born 1941)

Richard Oriani, Salvadoran-American metallurgist and engineer (born 1920)

Vladimir Beara, Croatian footballer and manager (born 1928)

Raymond Gravel, Canadian priest and politician (born 1952)

Kika Szaszkiewiczowa, Polish author and blogger (born 1917)

Robin Williams, American actor and comedian (born 1951)

Sam Hall, American diver, legislator, and mercenary (born 1937)

Raymond Delisle, French cyclist (born 1943)

Zafar Futehally, Indian ornithologist and author (born 1919)

David Howard, English ballet dancer and educator (born 1937)