Today is the 215th day of 2012 and the 44th day of summer.
TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1790, the first official census of the United States was conducted.
In 1923, President Warren Harding died in San Francisco. Vice President Calvin Coolidge was sworn in as president before dawn the next day.
In 1939, Albert Einstein wrote a letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, requesting that the U.S. research the possibility of atomic weapons.
In 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait.
TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: James Baldwin (1924-1987), writer; Carroll O'Connor (1924-2001), actor; Peter O'Toole (1932- ), actor; Wes Craven (1939- ), filmmaker; Mary-Louise Parker (1964- ), actress; Kevin Smith (1970- ), filmmaker; Sam Worthington (1976- ), actor.
TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1921, former Chicago White Sox baseball players, charged with defrauding the public in a conspiracy to throw the 1919 World Series, were acquitted.
TODAY'S FACT: Vice President Calvin Coolidge was sworn into the presidency by his father, a notary public, in the living room of the Coolidge family home in Vermont.
TODAY'S QUOTE: "Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them." -- James Baldwin
TODAY'S NUMBER: 3,929,214 -- population of the United States as recorded in the 1790 census.
TODAY'S MOON: Between full moon (Aug. 1) and last quarter moon (Aug. 9).