On the 2^nd of August, 1939 - a day which the History Channel describes as unexpectedly changing America - Albert Einstein wrote a two-page letter to President Franklin Roosevelt. In it, he suggests that the United States government should get involved with a group of physicists working on nuclear fission. That communication directly led to the "Manhattan Project," responsible for developing the atomic bomb. In this story, you can examine Einstein's original letter and watch a video of Robert Oppenheimer as he remembers his reaction to the bomb's first test: "Now, I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds."

Meeting in a Berlin suburb called Potsdam - on the 2nd of August, 1945 - three Allied leaders concluded their discussions about post-war Europe. Two months before, Winston Churchill had described what the war left behind: "a rubble-heap, a charnel house, a breeding ground of pestilence and hate." How could three men, and their staff personnel, really determine what was best for countries in which they neither lived nor ruled? What did they consider as they made decisions? What did they see as they toured the decimated city of Berlin? Thanks to resources from various national archives, including those of the former Soviet Union (see, especially, chapters 7 and 8), we can step back in time to revisit the end of the war in Europe.

In the summer of 1944, as the tide of war turned against Hitler, the Polish Home Army (Armia Krajowa) rebelled. German garrisons, in Warsaw, were the focus of their attacks. The insurgents held their best position on August 5, but their efforts were not enough to liberate the city. After the rebellion was crushed, Hitler ordered his troops to decimate Warsaw. About ninety percent of it was destroyed, including historical sites.

HIROSHIMA and NAGASAKI

When did President Truman make the decision to use a new weapon - the atomic bomb - against Japan? Is there an actual document, which Truman signed, giving his approval? After "Little Boy" was dispatched to Hiroshima (on August 6, 1945), and "Fat Man" was dropped above Nagasaki (three days later), what happened to those cities? What was the reaction of Allied soldiers with orders to invade Japan's home islands? Documents and photographs from Japanese and American national archives, together with the Hiroshima Institute for Peace, answer those questions.

FREDERICK DOUGLASS

On the 12^th of August, 1922, the home of Frederick Douglass was dedicated as a national shrine. Who was this man - born a slave - who said: "Liberty is meaningless where the right to utter one's thoughts and opinions has ceased to exist?" How did he defy the "custom and practice" that slaves must be kept illiterate? How did he escape a life of slavery to become a presidential advisor? Take a virtual trip to the Library of Congress, the National Archives and the University of North Carolina's "Documenting the American South" to view primary sources about this slave-turned-abolitionist.

POMPEII: FROM DEVASTATION to a LIVING MUSEUM

It was lunch time in the ancient city of Pompeii. Vesuvius, a nearby volcano, was about to begin nineteen hours of spectacular eruptions. There had been warning signs, but no one on the 24^th of August, 79 A.D., knew what they meant. Had they understood what was about to happen, everyone in the town of 20,000 could have escaped. Instead, many people were buried beneath volcanic ash and debris. For 1,700 years the city remained silent. Today it is a living museum, remarkably preserved by the very ashes which ruined it. With animations, photographs, recreations and the firsthand account of Pliny the Younger, an eyewitness, learn what happened to Pompeii and nearby Herculaneum.

BOXING - EARLY RULES in BRITAIN

In ancient times, the Greek sport of Pankration - a mixture of wrestling and boxing - had rules which would never pass muster today. Biting an opponent - and gouging his eyes, nose and mouth with fingernails - were prohibited, but that was about it.

The first-known story about a boxing match, during more "modern" times, was published in a London newspaper in 1681. But it wasn't until August of 1743, after someone died following a fight, that John ("Jack") Broughton devised rules for boxers in Britain. Learn about the early days of boxing by taking a look at the original rules, such as: "No person is to hit his adversary when he is down, or seize him by the hair, the britches, or any part below the waist; a man on his knees is to be reckoned down."

EARLY DAYS of BASEBALL

Boys playing games with balls and sticks can be traced to Tudor England, Russia and Germany. The true beginnings of baseball, however, are shrouded in mystery. Although key elements of the game are referenced in a 1744 edition of a British children's book, the sport has never been very popular in the United Kingdom.

By the 1840s, however, people were playing amateur baseball in Canada and the United States. During America's civil war, when Northern troops "played ball" in Southern prison camps, knowledge of the game spread across the country. The first women's professional team was formed in 1875, six years after the "Cincinnati Red Stockings" were first paid a salary. With pictures and documents from national archives, and a video recreation of the first recorded baseball game in Canada, learn about the early days of the game - and the beginnings of baseball cards.

NON-AGGRESSION PACT and STALINGRAD

On the 23^rd of August, 1939, Hitler and the Soviet Union agreed to a "Non-Aggression Pact." Three years later, to the day, Hitler - ignoring his earlier commitments - began the deadliest battle in military history. When it was over, Stalingrad was in ruins. Georgi Zelma, a Soviet photographer, documented extraordinary scenes for the Soviet publication Izvestia. His work is featured in this story.