August 4, 1981 (Tuesday)
- U.S. Patent 4,659,716 was granted to the American pharmaceutical company Schering-Plough for the active ingredient in Claritin, descarboethoxyloratadine, although the FDA did not approve the medicine's use until April 12, 1993. By 1999, Claritin had become the top selling antihistamine in America, with sales of $1.5 billion.
- U.S. Marine Lt. Col. Oliver North, who in 1987 would become a central figure in the Iran-Contra Affair and then a conservative commentator, became a staffer on the National Security Council.
- In what was, at the time, the largest corporate merger in American history, the DuPont chemical company acquired majority ownership of the petroleum company Conoco Inc. for 7.8 billion dollars, buying up outstanding stock at 2:45 a.m.
- A day after a rebellion broke out at Santa Curz, General Luis Garcia Meza was forced to resign as President of Bolivia. He was replaced by a junta led by General Celso Torrelio.
- Born: Marques Houston, American singer and actor, in Los Angeles
- Died: Melvyn Douglas, 80, American film actor, winner of two Oscars
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Famous quotes containing the word august:
“That night ended the day when history was written in Abilene. August 14, 1865 was the date. That was the end of the first drive on the Chisolm Trail. It was just the first of thousands of such drives bringing beef to the world.”
—Borden Chase [Frank Fowler] (1900–1971)