Women who made History…TODAY

1860 Aug 8, Queen of Sandwich Islands (Hawaii) arrived in NYC.1909 Aug 8, In Australia Sister Mary MacKillop (b.1842) died. She had founded the Sisters of St Joseph at age 24 and spent her life educating the poor and taking learning to the harsh Outback. In 2009 Pope Benedict XVI recognized a miracle in which she apparently cured a woman of cancer, paving the way to making her Australia’s first saint.1969 Aug 8, Actress Sharon Tate (26) and four other people were brutally murdered in her Beverly Hills home; cult leader Charles Manson and a group of his disciples were later convicted of the crime. The best writing on the Manson murders was by Joan Didion in “The White Album.”1985 Aug 8, Mary Louise Brooks (b.1906), American silent film star, died. In 1982 she authored her memoir “Lulu in Hollywood.”1999 Aug 8, In Guyana Pres. Janet Jagan (78) announced that she was resigning due to ill health and that Bharat Jagdeo (35), her finance minister, would succeed her.2001 Aug 8, Maureen Reagan (b.1941), daughter of former Pres. Ronald Reagan, died of malignant melanoma. She authored the 1989 autobiography “First Father, First Daughter.”2004 Aug 8, Fay Wray (b.1907), film actress, died. She was best known for her 1933 performance in “King Kong.”2005 Aug 8, Barbara Bel Geddes (82), stage and screen actress, died in Maine. She was best known for her role as the matriarch on the TV series “Dallas.”2006 Aug 8, The Philippine Congress began hearing new impeachment complaints against President Gloria Arroyo, linking her to corruption and human rights abuses and alleging she cheated in the 2004 election.2011 Aug 8, In Guatemala former first lady Sandra Torres’ bid to succeed her ex-husband came to an end when the constitutional court ruled her ineligible to run because of her relationship to the president.2014 Aug 8, An Iraqi official said hundreds of women from the Yazidi religious minority have been taken captive by Sunni militants. US jets pounded jihadist positions to pave the way for Iraq’s federal and Kurdish forces and also dropped aid to stranded Yazidi civilians on Mount Sinjar.