Moments in Time

The History Channel

• On Aug. 9, 1936, at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, black American track star Jesse Owens wins his fourth gold medal of the Games in the 4-by-100-meter relay. His relay team set a new world record of 39.8 seconds, which stood for 20 years.

• On Aug. 6, 1945, an American B-29 bomber, the Enola Gay, drops the world’s first atom bomb over the city of Hiroshima, Japan. Some 80,000 people are killed as a result of the blast, and another 35,000 are injured. At least 60,000 more would be dead by the end of the year from the effects of the radioactive fallout.

• On Aug. 7, 1959, the U....