August 5

August 5 is the 218th day of the year, and the American record for it runs from 1861 to 2015 — a span of 154 years. The entry that anchors it: Watergate scandal, 1974.

By the middle of the nineteenth century the date carries heavier freight. In 1861, American Civil War — in order to help pay for the war effort, the United States government levies the first income tax as part of the Revenue Act of 1861 (3% of all incomes over US$800; rescinded in 1872) A year later, in 1862, Battle of Baton Rouge — Along the Mississippi River near Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Confederate troops attempt to take the city, but are driven back by fire from Union gunboats. Two years on, in 1864, American Civil War — the Battle of Mobile Bay begins at Mobile Bay near Mobile, Alabama, Admiral David Farragut leads a Union flotilla through Confederate defenses and seals one of the last major Southern ports.

The postwar entries show a nation both expanding and contesting itself. In 1964, Operation Pierce Arrow — American aircraft from carriers USS Ticonderoga and USS Constellation bomb North Vietnam in retaliation for strikes against U.S. destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin. Ten years on, in 1974, Watergate scandal — President Richard Nixon, under orders of the US Supreme Court, releases the "Smoking Gun" tape, recorded on June 23, 1972, clearly revealing his actions in covering up and interfering investigations into the break-in. His political support vanishes completely. Seven years on, in 1981, U.S. president Ronald Reagan fired the 11,345 striking members of the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization en masse.

Closer to the present, the date is still accumulating. In 2011, NASA launched the Juno probe to Jupiter as part of the New Frontiers program. Four years on, in 2015, United States Environmental Protection Agency personnel accidentally caused a spillage of 3 million gallons (11 million litres) of mine waste water and tailings trapped inside the Gold King Mine near Silverton, Colorado.

The date is also a birthday. Among the Americans born on August 5: Thomas Lynch Jr. (1749), American commander and politician; Wesley Clair Mitchell (1874), American economist and academic; Mary Ritter Beard (1876), American historian and activist; Gertrude Rush (1880), American lawyer and jurist; and Ruth Sawyer (1880), American author and educator.

August 5 is also a date of endings. Among the Americans who died on it: Spotted Tail (1881), American tribal chief; Bob Caruthers (1911), American baseball player and umpire; Charles Harold Davis (1933), American painter and academic; and David Townsend (1935), American art director and set designer.

August 5 carries 8 entries spread across 154 years. None of the people in them knew they were sharing a date; that is a pattern only visible looking back.