It was a Tuesday.
If you were alive and near a radio or a television on August 16 1977, that specific day of the week probably feels etched into your brain, even if the calendar date itself has blurred over the decades. Tuesdays are usually forgettable. They’re the workhorse of the week—not as jarring as Monday, but nowhere near the relief of Friday. But this particular Tuesday in mid-August carried a heatwave across much of the United States, and by mid-afternoon, the air felt heavy for a completely different reason.
Elvis Presley was found dead.
People often search for the day of the week for August 16 1977 because they’re trying to piece together a timeline of their own lives or perhaps verify a story a parent told them. Maybe you're looking at an old newspaper clipping or a birth certificate. Honestly, it’s one of those "where were you" moments that defines a generation. When the news broke from Graceland in Memphis, Tennessee, the world didn't just lose a singer; it lost the primary architect of the rock and roll era.
The Tuesday That Stopped the World
Why does the day matter? Well, for one, it explains the chaos of the following forty-eight hours. Because it was a Tuesday, the news hit right as the evening papers were being prepped and the nightly news broadcasts were finalizing their scripts.
By the time Wednesday morning rolled around, the world had shifted.
Presley was only 42 years old. He had been prepping for a tour that was supposed to kick off in Portland, Maine, the very next day, Wednesday, August 17. Imagine that for a second. Thousands of people were holding tickets for a Wednesday night show, only to spend their Tuesday evening staring at a television screen in total disbelief.
The humidity in Memphis that day was brutal. Fans began gathering outside the gates of Graceland almost immediately after the announcement was made by Joe Esposito and the medical team at Baptist Memorial Hospital. By Tuesday night, the crowd was thousands deep. If this had happened on a Saturday, the logistical nightmare for the city might have been even worse, but as it stood, the work-week was effectively cancelled for the city of Memphis.
What Else Was Happening on August 16 1977?
While the King’s death overshadowed everything, the world didn't actually stop spinning. It’s easy to get tunnel vision when looking at major historical dates.
If you stepped away from the music world, the "Big Ear" radio telescope at Ohio State University actually received a strong narrow-band radio signal from deep space on or around this date—famously known as the "Wow! signal." It’s one of the best candidates we’ve ever had for potential extraterrestrial contact. It happened right in the same window of time. Space and music, colliding on a random Tuesday.
In the UK, the Top 40 charts were dominated by "I Feel Love" by Donna Summer. Disco was reaching its peak. It’s a bit ironic, isn't it? As the man who started the rock revolution was passing away in his bathroom, the synthesizers of the disco era were claiming the throne.
The Logistics of a Mid-Week Tragedy
When a celebrity of that magnitude passes away on a Tuesday, the industry moves fast. By Thursday, August 18, the funeral was already taking place.
Think about the speed of 1970s communication. No Twitter. No cell phones. Just landlines and the AP wire. Yet, by Wednesday morning, florists in Memphis were completely sold out of every single blossom in the city. They had to fly in five tons of flowers from across the country.
Most people don't realize that the "Tuesday" factor played into the reporting. News anchors like Walter Cronkite had to pivot their entire broadcast. The evening news on August 16 1977 became a retrospective overnight. Journalists who were supposed to be covering Jimmy Carter’s presidency or the ongoing debates about the Panama Canal suddenly found themselves writing obituaries for a man who had defined the 1950s.
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The Weather and the Vibe
I’ve talked to folks who remember that day vividly. They mention the heat. In Memphis, the high was around 90 degrees Fahrenheit. It was stifling.
- The Humidity: Heavy, typical Tennessee August air.
- The Sound: Radios everywhere were playing "Way Down" or "Moody Blue."
- The Feeling: A weird, collective silence in neighborhoods once the news spread.
It wasn't just Memphis, though. In New York, the city was still reeling from the "Summer of Sam" murders and the massive blackout that had occurred just a month prior. The death of Elvis on a Tuesday afternoon felt like the grim icing on a very dark cake for 1977.
Looking Back at the Calendar
If you’re trying to calculate dates for a legal document or a family history project, it’s helpful to know the surrounding days.
August 1, 1977, was a Monday.
The month ended on a Wednesday.
Labor Day that year fell on September 5.
If you were born on August 16 1977, your zodiac sign is Leo. You share a birthday with Madonna (who turned 19 that day) and James Cameron. It’s a powerhouse day for creativity, which makes the loss of Elvis on that same date feel even more poignant.
Why We Still Care About This Specific Date
We’re obsessed with dates because they provide anchors for our memories.
Saying "Elvis died in 1977" is one thing. Saying "Elvis died on a Tuesday afternoon in August" makes it a story. It gives it a beginning, a middle, and an end. It allows us to visualize the people coming home from work, the kids playing in the street before dinner, and the sudden interruption of a "Special Report" on the TV.
The medical details of that day are often debated—the cocktail of drugs, the enlarged heart, the strain of a grueling performance schedule—but the calendar remains fixed. Tuesday. August 16.
It was the day the 1970s lost their last link to the innocence of the 1950s.
Verify the Day Yourself
If you’re a skeptic or just like doing the math, you can use the Doomsday algorithm created by John Conway. It’s a way to calculate the day of the week for any date in your head. For 1977, the "anchor day" was Monday. Using the formula, August 16 lands squarely on a Tuesday.
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Or, honestly, just look at a vintage calendar. They’re all over eBay. You’ll see the 16th sitting there in the third full week of the month, right after Monday the 15th.
Actionable Steps for Researching 1977 Dates
If you are digging into this specific era for a project or personal reasons, don't just stop at the day of the week.
Check local archives. If you’re looking for a specific event that happened on that Tuesday, your best bet is the digital archives of local newspapers. The Memphis Press-Scimitar is the gold standard for August 16 1977, as they ran the first afternoon headlines.
Use the NOAA weather database. If you want to know exactly how hot it was in your specific city on that Tuesday, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has historical data that goes back decades. It adds a layer of "humanity" to your writing or research to know if it was raining or sunny.
Cross-reference with Billboard charts. To understand the cultural "vibe" of that Tuesday, look at the Billboard Hot 100 for the week ending August 20, 1977. It gives you a snapshot of what was playing in cars and grocery stores when the news broke.
Visit the digital Elvis archives. Graceland maintains a fairly detailed timeline of the events leading up to that Tuesday morning. It’s useful for debunking the various conspiracy theories that have popped up over the years. No, he wasn't spotted at a Burger King in Michigan that afternoon. He was in Memphis, and the timeline of the medical examiners proves it.
Analyze the economic context. 1977 was a year of massive inflation. If you're writing a book or a paper, knowing that a gallon of gas cost about 62 cents on that Tuesday helps ground your reader in the reality of the time.
The significance of August 16 1977 being a Tuesday is mostly about the "after." It meant the news cycle had all week to churn. It meant the weekend became a period of national mourning. It meant that by Monday, August 22, the world was trying to figure out what music looked like without its King.
Next time you look at a calendar, remember that the most ordinary days—the Tuesdays of the world—are often the ones where history decides to show up unannounced.
If you are tracking down historical days of the week for a family tree, double-check your leap year calculations. 1977 wasn't a leap year, which simplifies things. But always verify against a perpetual calendar tool just to be safe. Digging into the specifics of a single day can reveal more about history than any textbook ever could.
Check the microfiche at your local library for the August 17th morning editions. Seeing those front pages, printed just hours after that Tuesday ended, is the closest thing we have to a time machine.