Today in History: August 14, FDR signs Social Security Act

Today is Friday, Aug. 14, the 226th day of 2026. There are 139 days left in the year.

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:

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 postwar 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 withdrew from the school less than a week later, citing the stress of her court fight, and her isolation among the male cadets.)

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.

In 2016, Usain Bolt became the first athlete to win the 100-meter dash in three consecutive Olympics, taking gold at the Summer Games in Rio.

In 2018, a 650-foot section of Genoa, Italy's Morandi highway bridge collapsed in a rainstorm, sending dozens of vehicles plunging to the ground and killing 43 people. The bridge was part of a major route linking northern Italy with the French Riviera.

In 2021, a 7.2-magnitude earthquake struck Haiti, turning thousands of structures into rubble; Haiti’s government put the death toll at more than 300,000, while a report commissioned by the U.S. government placed it between 46,000 and 85,000.

Today’s Birthdays: Broadway lyricist Lee Adams (“Bye Bye Birdie”) is 102. Country singer Connie Smith is 85. Comedian-actor Steve Martin is 81. Film director Wim Wenders is 81. Singer-musician Larry Graham is 80. Actor Susan Saint James is 80. Author Danielle Steel is 79. “Far Side” cartoonist Gary Larson is 76. Actor Carl Lumbly is 75. Olympic gold medal swimmer Debbie Meyer is 74. Actor Jackee Harry is 70. NASCAR Hall of Famer Rusty Wallace is 70. Actor Marcia Gay Harden is 67. Basketball Hall of Famer Earvin “Magic” Johnson is 67. Singer Sarah Brightman is 66. Actor Susan Olsen (TV: “The Brady Bunch”) is 65. Actor Halle Berry is 60. Golfer Darren Clarke is 58. Actor Catherine Bell is 58. Actor Mila Kunis is 43. Actor Lamorne Morris is 43. Actor Marsai Martin is 22.