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Almanac

By The Associated Press

Today in History

Today is Wednesday, Aug. 31, the 244th day of 2016. There are 122 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On Aug. 31, 1886, an earthquake with an estimated magnitude of 7.3 devastated Charleston, South Carolina, killing at least 60 people, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

On this date:

In 1881, the first U.S. tennis championships (for men only) began in Newport, Rhode Island.

In 1916, the musical revue “The Big Show,” featuring the song “Poor Butterfly” by Raymond Hubbell and John Golden, opened at New York’s Hippodrome.

In 1939, the first issue of Marvel Comics, featuring the Human Torch, was published by Timely Publications in New York.

In 1941, the radio program “The Great Gildersleeve,” a spinoff from “Fibber McGee and Molly” starring Harold Peary, debuted on NBC.

In 1954, Hurricane Carol hit the northeastern Atlantic states; Connecticut, Rhode Island and part of Massachusetts bore the brunt of the storm, which resulted in some 70 deaths.

In 1965, the U.S. House of Representatives joined the Senate in voting to establish the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

In 1972, at the Munich Summer Olympics, American swimmer Mark Spitz won his fourth and fifth gold medals in the 100-meter butterfly and 800-meter freestyle relay; Soviet gymnast Olga Korbut won gold medals in floor exercise and the balance beam.

In 1980, Poland’s Solidarity labor movement was born with an agreement signed in Gdansk (guh-DANSK’) that ended a 17-day-old strike.

In 1986, 82 people were killed when an Aeromexico jetliner and a small private plane collided over Cerritos, California. The Soviet passenger ship Admiral Nakhimov collided with a merchant vessel in the Black Sea, causing both to sink; up to 448 people reportedly died.

In 1991, Uzbekistan (ooz-bek-ih-STAHN’) and Kyrgyzstan (keer-gih-STAHN’) declared their independence, raising to ten the number of republics seeking to secede from the Soviet Union.

In 1996, three adults and four children drowned when their vehicle rolled into John D. Long Lake in Union, South Carolina; they had gone to see a monument to the sons of Susan Smith, who had drowned the two boys in Oct. 1994.

In 1997, a car crash in Paris claimed the lives of Princess Diana, Dodi Fayed and their driver, Henri Paul.

Thought for Today: “Every man in the world is better than someone else and not as good someone else.” – William Saroyan, American author

Almanac

By The Associated Press

Today in History

Today is Monday, Aug. 29, the 242nd day of 2016. There are 124 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On Aug. 29, 1966, the Beatles concluded their fourth American tour with their last public concert, held at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.

On this date:

In 1533, the last Incan King of Peru, Atahualpa (ah-tuh-WAHL’-puh), was executed on orders of Spanish conqueror Francisco Pizarro.

In 1877, the second president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Brigham Young, died in Salt Lake City, Utah, at age 76.

In 1910, Korean Emperor Sunjong abdicated as the Japan-Korea Annexation Treaty went into effect.

In 1935, the film “Top Hat,” starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, premiered at Radio City Music Hall in New York.

In 1944, 15,000 American troops of the 28th Infantry Division marched down the Champs Elysees (shahms ay-lee-ZAY’) in Paris as the French capital continued to celebrate its liberation from the Nazis.

In 1952, the composition 4’33” (“Four Minutes, Thirty-three Seconds”) by avant-garde composer John Cage premiered in Woodstock, New York, as David Tudor sat down at a piano, shut the keyboard lid, and, for four minutes and 33 seconds, played … nothing.

In 1958, pop superstar Michael Jackson was born in Gary, Indiana.

In 1965, Gemini 5, carrying astronauts Gordon Cooper and Charles “Pete” Conrad, splashed down in the Atlantic after 8 days in space.

In 1972, swimmer Mark Spitz of the United States won the third of his seven gold medals at the Munich Olympics, finishing first in the 200-meter freestyle.

In 1981, broadcaster and world traveler Lowell Thomas died in Pawling, New York, at age 89.

In 1996, the Democratic National Convention in Chicago nominated Al Gore for a second term as vice president. Earlier in the day, President Bill Clinton’s chief political strategist, Dick Morris, resigned amid a scandal over his relationship with a prostitute.

In 2005, Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast near Buras, Louisiana, bringing floods that devastated New Orleans. More than 1,800 people in the region died.

Ten years ago: President George W. Bush visited New Orleans one year after Hurricane Katrina devastated the region to offer comfort and hope to residents. Tropical Storm Ernesto’s leading edge drenched Miami and the rest of southern Florida.

Five years ago: In a sign Moammar Gadhafi had lost grip on his country, his wife and three of his children fled Libya to neighboring Algeria. Grammy-winning blues musician David “Honey Boy” Edwards, believed to be the oldest surviving Delta bluesman, died in his Chicago home at age 96.

Almanac

By The Associated Press

Today in History

Today is Saturday, Aug. 27, the 240th day of 2016. There are 126 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On Aug. 27, 1883, the island volcano Krakatoa erupted with a series of cataclysmic explosions; the resulting tidal waves in Indonesia’s Sunda Strait claimed some 36,000 lives in Java and Sumatra.

On this date:

In 1776, the Battle of Long Island began during the Revolutionary War as British troops attacked American forces, who ended up being forced to retreat two days later.

In 1908, Lyndon Baines Johnson, the 36th president of the United States, was born near Stonewall, Texas.

In 1928, the Kellogg-Briand Pact was signed in Paris, outlawing war and providing for the peaceful settlement of disputes.

In 1939, the first turbojet-powered aircraft, the Heinkel He 178, went on its first full-fledged test flight over Germany.

In 1949, a violent white mob prevented an outdoor concert headlined by Paul Robeson from taking place near Peekskill, New York. In 1957, the USS Swordfish, the second Skate Class nuclear submarine, was launched from the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Maine.

In 1962, the United States launched the Mariner 2 space probe, which flew past Venus in December 1962.

In 1965, influential Swiss-born architect Le Corbusier, 77, died in Cap Martin, France.

In 1975, Haile Selassie (HY’-lee sehl-AH’-see), the last emperor of Ethiopia’s 3,000-year-old monarchy, died in Addis Ababa at age 83 almost a year after being overthrown.

In 1979, British war hero Lord Louis Mountbatten and three other people, including his 14-year-old grandson Nicholas, were killed off the coast of Ireland in a boat explosion claimed by the Irish Republican Army.

In 1989, the first U.S. commercial satellite rocket was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida – a Delta booster carrying a British communications satellite, the Marcopolo 1.

In 2008, Barack Obama was nominated for president by the Democratic National Convention in Denver.

Ten years ago: A Comair CRJ-100 crashed after trying to take off from the wrong runway in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49 people and leaving the co-pilot the sole survivor. Two Fox News journalists, Steve Centanni and cameraman Olaf Wiig, were freed by militants nearly two weeks after being kidnapped in Gaza City. The action series “24” won Emmys for best drama series and best actor for Kiefer Sutherland; “The Office” was honored as best comedy.

Five years ago: Hurricane Irene, after striking Puerto Rico and the Bahamas, pushed up the U.S east coast, prompting evacuations in New York City and leaving major flood damage in Vermont. Hundreds of soldiers and federal agents raided a casino in Monterrey in northern Mexico, two days after an arson attack on a gambling house killed 52 people.

One year ago: Visiting residents on tidy porch stoops and sampling the fried chicken at a corner restaurant, President Barack Obama held out the people of New Orleans as an extraordinary example of renewal and resilience 10 years after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina.

Thought for Today: “Doing what’s right isn’t the problem. It is knowing what’s right.” – Lyndon Baines Johnson, 36th President of the United States (1908-1973).

Almanac

By The Associated Press

Today in History

Today is Friday, Aug. 26, the 239th day of 2016. There are 127 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On Aug. 26, 1968, the Democratic National Convention opened in Chicago; the four-day event was marked by a bloody police crackdown on anti-war protesters in the streets and a tumultuous nominating process that resulted in the choice of Hubert H. Humphrey for president.

On this date:

In 1789, France’s National Assembly adopted its Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen.

In 1883, the island volcano Krakatoa began cataclysmic eruptions, leading to a massive explosion the following day.

In 1920, the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, guaranteeing American women’s right to vote, was certified in effect by Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby.

In 1939, the first televised major league baseball games were shown on experimental station W2XBS: a double-header between the Cincinnati Reds and the Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field. (The Reds won the first game, 5-2, the Dodgers the second, 6-1.)

In 1944, French Gen. Charles de Gaulle braved the threat of German snipers as he led a victory march in Paris, which had just been liberated by the Allies from Nazi occupation.

In 1958, Alaskans went to the polls to overwhelmingly vote in favor of statehood.

In 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson was nominated for a term of office in his own right at the Democratic National Convention in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

In 1972, the summer Olympics games opened in Munich, West Germany.

In 1978, Cardinal Albino Luciani (al-BEE’-noh loo-CHYAH’-nee) of Venice was elected pope following the death of Paul VI; the new pontiff took the name Pope John Paul I. (However, he died just over a month later.)

In 1986, in the so-called “preppie murder case,” 18-year-old Jennifer Levin was found strangled in New York’s Central Park; Robert Chambers later pleaded guilty to manslaughter and served 15 years in prison.

In 1996, Democrats opened their 42nd national convention in Chicago.

In 2009, authorities in California solved the 18-year disappearance of Jaycee Lee Dugard after she appeared at a parole office with her children and the Antioch couple who’d kidnapped her when she was 11.

Ten years ago: Iran’s hard-line president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (mahk-MOOD’ ah-muh-DEE’-neh-zhahd), inaugurated a heavy-water production plant, a facility the West feared would be used to develop a nuclear bomb. Chad’s President Idriss Deby ordered California-based Chevron Corp. and Malaysian company Petronas to leave the country, saying neither had paid taxes. (The dispute over taxes was later resolved, with the two companies agreeing to pay $289 million.)

Five years ago: More than 2 million people along the Eastern Seaboard were ordered to move to safer ground as Hurricane Irene approached the coast. A Boko Haram sect member detonated a car loaded with explosives at the United Nations headquarters in Nigeria’s capital Abuja, killing 25 people and wounding more than 100 others.

One year ago: Alison Parker, a reporter for WDBJ-TV in Roanoke, Virginia, and her cameraman, Adam Ward, were shot to death during a live outdoor interview with Vicki Gardner, executive director of the Smith Mountain Lake Chamber of Commerce, by Vester Lee Flanagan, a disgruntled former station employee who then fatally shot himself while being pursued by police. (Gardner was seriously wounded in the attack.) Amelia Boynton Robinson, 104, who was widely considered the mother of the American civil rights movement, died in Montgomery, Alabama.

Almanac

By The Associated Press

Today in History

Today is Thursday, Aug. 25, the 238th day of 2016. There are 128 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On Aug. 25, 1916, President Woodrow Wilson signed an act establishing the National Park Service within the Department of the Interior.

On this date:

In 1718, hundreds of French colonists arrived in Louisiana, with some settling in present-day New Orleans.

In 1825, Uruguay declared independence from Brazil.

In 1921, the United States signed a peace treaty with Germany.

In 1944, during World War II, Paris was liberated by Allied forces after four years of Nazi occupation. Romania declared war on former ally Germany.

In 1958, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed a measure providing pensions for former U.S. presidents and their widows.

In 1960, opening ceremonies were held for the Summer Olympics in Rome.

In 1975, the Bruce Springsteen album “Born to Run” was released by Columbia Records.

In 1981, the U.S. spacecraft Voyager 2 came within 63,000 miles of Saturn’s cloud cover, sending back pictures of and data about the ringed planet.

In 1989, Voyager 2 made its closest approach to Neptune, its final planetary target.

In 1998, retired Supreme Court Justice Lewis F. Powell died in Richmond, Virginia, at age 90.

In 2001, Mette-Marit Tjessem Hoiby (meh-tay mar-it shes-em hoy-bee), a single mother and former waitress, married Norway’s Crown Prince Haakon (hoh-uh-kahn) in Oslo. Rhythm-and-blues singer Aaliyah (ah-LEE’-yah) was killed with eight others in a plane crash in the Bahamas; she was 22.

In 2009, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy died at age 77 in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, after a battle with a brain tumor.

Ten years ago: A college student’s checked luggage on a Continental Airlines flight that had arrived in Houston from Buenos Aires, Argentina, was found to contain a stick of dynamite, one of six security incidents that day that caused U.S. flights to be diverted, evacuated or searched. Joseph Stefano, who wrote the screenplay for Alfred Hitchcock’s “Psycho,” died in Thousand Oaks, California, at age 84.

Five years ago: Fifty-two people were killed in a fire at a casino in the northern Mexican city of Monterrey that was allegedly targeted by a drug cartel. The New York Yankees became the first team in major league history to hit three grand slams in a game, with Robinson Cano, Russell Martin and Curtis Granderson connecting in a 22-9 romp over the Oakland Athletics.

One year ago: French authorities formally opened a terrorism investigation into a foiled attack four days earlier; a prosecutor said minutes before he slung an assault rifle across his chest and walked through a high-speed train, suspect Ayoub El-Khazzani of Morocco watched a jihadi video on his cellphone.

– —

Thought for Today: “History is the sum total of the things that could have been avoided.” – Konrad Adenauer, German statesman (1876-1967).

Almanac

By The Associated Press

Today in History

Today is Wednesday, Aug. 24, the 237th day of 2016. There are 129 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On Aug. 24, A.D. 79, long-dormant Mount Vesuvius erupted, burying the Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum in volcanic ash; an estimated 20,000 people died.

On this date:

In 1572, the St. Bartholomew’s Day massacre of French Protestants at the hands of Catholics began in Paris.

In 1814, during the War of 1812, British forces invaded Washington, D.C., setting fire to the Capitol (which was still under construction) and the White House, as well as other public buildings.

In 1821, the Treaty of Cordoba (kohr-DOH’-buh) was signed, granting independence to Mexico from Spanish rule.

In 1912, Congress passed a measure creating the Alaska Territory. Congress approved legislation establishing Parcel Post delivery by the U.S. Post Office Department, slated to begin on January 1, 1913.

In 1932, Amelia Earhart embarked on a 19-hour flight from Los Angeles to Newark, New Jersey, making her the first woman to fly solo, non-stop, from coast to coast.

In 1949, the North Atlantic Treaty came into force. In 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Communist Control Act, outlawing the Communist Party in the United States.

In 1968, France became the world’s fifth thermonuclear power as it exploded a hydrogen bomb in the South Pacific.

In 1970, an explosives-laden van left by anti-war extremists blew up outside the University of Wisconsin’s Sterling Hall in Madison, killing 33-year-old researcher Robert Fassnacht.

In 1981, Mark David Chapman was sentenced in New York to 20 years to life in prison for murdering John Lennon.

In 1989, Baseball Commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti (juh-MAH’-tee) banned Pete Rose from the game for betting on his own team, the Cincinnati Reds.

In 1992, Hurricane Andrew smashed into Florida, causing $30 billion in damage; 43 U.S. deaths were blamed on the storm.

Ten years ago: The International Astronomical Union declared that Pluto was no longer a full-fledged planet, demoting it to the status of a “dwarf planet”; Patricia Tombaugh, the widow of Pluto discoverer Clyde Tombaugh, called the decision “disappointing” and “confusing.”

Five years ago: A defiant Moammar Gadhafi vowed from hiding to fight on “until victory or martyrdom” and called on residents of the Libyan capital and loyal tribesmen across his North African nation to free Tripoli from the “devils and traitors” who had overrun it. Steve Jobs resigned as CEO of Apple Inc.; he was succeeded by Tim Cook. Thought for Today: “Show me a man who cannot bother to do little things and I’ll show you a man who cannot be trusted to do big things.” – Lawrence D. Bell, American aircraft manufacturer (1894-1956).

Almanac

By The Associated Press

Today in History

Today is Tuesday, Aug. 23, the 236th day of 2016. There are 130 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On Aug. 23, 1926, legendary silent film star Rudolph Valentino died in New York at age 31.

On this date:

In 1305, Scottish rebel leader Sir William Wallace was executed by the English for treason.

In 1775, Britain’s King George III proclaimed the American colonies to be in a state of “open and avowed rebellion.”

In 1858, “Ten Nights in a Bar-room,” a play by Timothy Shay Arthur about the perils of alcohol, opened in New York.

In 1913, Copenhagen’s Little Mermaid statue, inspired by the Hans Christian Andersen story, was unveiled in the harbor of the Danish capital.

In 1914, Japan declared war against Germany in World War I.

In 1927, amid protests, Italian-born anarchists Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were executed in Boston for the murders of two men during a 1920 robbery.

In 1939, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union agreed to a non-aggression treaty, the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, in Moscow.

In 1944, Romanian Prime Minister Ion Antonescu was dismissed by King Michael, paving the way for Romania to abandon the Axis in favor of the Allies.

In 1960, Broadway librettist Oscar Hammerstein (HAM’-ur-STYN’) II, 65, died in Doylestown, Pennsylvania.

In 1973, a bank robbery-turned-hostage-taking began in Stockholm, Sweden; the four hostages ended up empathizing with their captors, a psychological condition now referred to as “Stockholm Syndrome.”

In 1982, Lebanon’s parliament elected Christian militia leader Bashir Gemayel president. (However, Gemayel was assassinated some three weeks later.)

In 1989, in a case that inflamed racial tensions in New York, Yusuf Hawkins, a 16-year-old black teen, was shot dead after he and his friends were confronted by a group of white youths in the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn. (Gunman Joey Fama was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison; he will be eligible for parole in 2022.)

Thought for Today: “A wise man without a book is like a workman with no tools.” – Moroccan proverb.

Almanac

By The Associated Press

Today in History

Today is Monday, Aug. 22, the 235th day of 2016. There are 131 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On Aug. 22, 1485, England’s King Richard III was killed in the Battle of Bosworth Field, effectively ending the War of the Roses.

On this date:

In 1787, inventor John Fitch demonstrated his steamboat on the Delaware River to delegates from the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia.

In 1846, Gen. Stephen W. Kearny proclaimed all of New Mexico a territory of the United States.

In 1851, the schooner America outraced more than a dozen British vessels off the English coast to win a trophy that came to be known as the America’s Cup. In 1910, Japan annexed Korea, which remained under Japanese control until the end of World War II.

In 1922, Irish revolutionary Michael Collins was shot to death, apparently by Irish Republican Army members opposed to the Anglo-Irish Treaty that Collins had co-signed.

In 1932, the British Broadcasting Corp. conducted its first experimental television broadcast, using a 30-line mechanical system.

In 1956, President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Vice President Richard Nixon were nominated for second terms in office by the Republican National Convention in San Francisco.

In 1968, Pope Paul VI arrived in Bogota, Colombia, for the start of the first papal visit to South America.

In 1972, President Richard Nixon was nominated for a second term of office by the Republican National Convention in Miami Beach.

In 1985, 55 people died when fire broke out aboard a British Airtours charter jet on a runway at Manchester Airport in England.

In 1986, Kerr-McGee Corp. agreed to pay the estate of the late Karen Silkwood $1.38 million, settling a 10-year-old nuclear contamination lawsuit. The Rob Reiner coming-of-age film “Stand By Me” was put into wide release by Columbia Pictures.

In 1996, President Bill Clinton signed welfare legislation ending guaranteed cash payments to the poor and demanding work from recipients.

Ten years ago: A Russian Pulkovo Airlines jet carrying 170 people crashed in eastern Ukraine, killing all aboard. Paramount Pictures severed its ties to actor Tom Cruise after 14 years, citing what it called unacceptable conduct, such as jumping on Oprah Winfrey’s couch and aggressively advocating Scientology.

Five years ago: Hurricane Irene cut a destructive path through the Caribbean, raking Puerto Rico with strong winds and rain and then spinning just north of the Dominican Republic. Thought for Today: “Charming people live up to the very edge of their charm, and behave as outrageously as the world lets them.” – Logan Pearsall Smith, Anglo-American essayist

Almanac

By The Associated Press

Today in History

Today is Saturday, Aug. 20, the 233rd day of 2016. There are 133 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On Aug. 20, 1866, months after fighting in the Civil War had ended, President Andrew Johnson issued Proclamation 157, which declared that “peace, order, tranquility, and civil authority now exist in and throughout the whole of the United States of America.”

On this date:

In 1833, Benjamin Harrison, 23rd president of the United States, was born in North Bend, Ohio.

In 1882, Tchaikovsky’s “1812 Overture” had its premiere in Moscow.

In 1914, German forces occupied Brussels, Belgium, during World War I.

In 1940, during World War II, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill paid tribute to the Royal Air Force before the House of Commons, saying, “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.” Exiled Communist revolutionary Leon Trotsky was assassinated in Coyoacan, Mexico by Ramon Mercader. (Trotsky died the next day.)

In 1953, the Soviet Union publicly acknowledged it had tested a hydrogen bomb.

In 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Economic Opportunity Act, a nearly $1 billion anti-poverty measure.

In 1968, the Soviet Union and other Warsaw Pact nations began invading Czechoslovakia to crush the “Prague Spring” liberalization drive.

In 1972, the Wattstax concert took place at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

In 1977, the U.S. launched Voyager 2, an unmanned spacecraft carrying a 12-inch copper phonograph record containing greetings in dozens of languages, samples of music and sounds of nature.

In 1986, postal employee Patrick Henry Sherrill went on a deadly rampage at a post office in Edmond, Oklahoma, shooting 14 fellow workers to death before killing himself.

In 1989, entertainment executive Jose Menendez and his wife, Kitty, were shot to death in their Beverly Hills mansion by their sons, Lyle and Erik. Fifty-one people died when a pleasure boat sank in the River Thames (tehmz) in London after colliding with a dredger.

In 1994, Benjamin Chavis Jr. was fired as head of the NAACP after a turbulent 16-month tenure.

Ten years ago: John Mark Karr, the suspect in the death of 6-year-old JonBenet Ramsey, sipped champagne and dined on fried king prawns in business class of Thai Airways as he was flown to the U.S. (Although he’d implicated himself in JonBenet’s slaying, Karr was later cleared.) Former Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal, who’d taken the iconic Iwo Jima flag-raising picture during World War II, died in Novato, California, at age 94. Tiger Woods won the PGA Championship, closing with a 4-under 68 for a 5-shot victory over Shaun Micheel and his 12th career major.

Five years ago: Israel issued a rare apology for the deaths of three Egyptian soldiers who were killed during a cross-border attack blamed on Palestinians. North Korean leader Kim Jong Il arrived in Russia’s Far East on a nearly weeklong visit. Jordyn Wieber won her first title at the U.S. gymnastics championships in St. Paul, Minnesota, in a rout, finishing with 121.30 points, 6.15 points ahead of McKayla Maroney.

One year ago: With a broad smile and an upbeat attitude, former President Jimmy Carter told a news conference in Atlanta that he had cancer in his brain, and felt “perfectly at ease with whatever comes.” (In March 2016, Carter announced that recent scans had shown no signs of cancer and that he no longer needed to receive doses of an immune-boosting drug.)

Almanac

By The Associated Press

Today in History

Today is Thursday, Aug. 18, the 231st day of 2016. There are 135 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On Aug. 18, 1846, during the Mexican-American War, U.S. forces led by Gen. Stephen W. Kearny occupied Santa Fe in present-day New Mexico.

On this date:

In 1587, Virginia Dare became the first child of English parents to be born in present-day America, on what is now Roanoke Island in North Carolina. (However, the Roanoke colony ended up mysteriously disappearing.)

In 1838, the first marine expedition sponsored by the U.S. government set sail from Hampton Roads, Virginia; the crews traveled the southern Pacific Ocean, gathering scientific information.

In 1914, President Woodrow Wilson issued his Proclamation of Neutrality, aimed at keeping the United States out of World War I.

In 1920, the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, guaranteeing all American women’s right to vote, was ratified as Tennessee became the 36th state to approve it.

In 1938, President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Canadian Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King dedicated the Thousand Islands Bridge connecting the United States and Canada.

In 1954, during the Eisenhower administration, Assistant Secretary of Labor James Ernest Wilkins became the first black official to attend a meeting of the president’s Cabinet as he sat in for Labor Secretary James P. Mitchell.

In 1958, the novel “Lolita” by Vladimir Nabokov was first published in New York by G.P. Putnam’s Sons, almost three years after it was originally published in Paris.

In 1963, James Meredith became the first black student to graduate from the University of Mississippi.

In 1969, the Woodstock Music and Art Fair in Bethel, New York, wound to a close after three nights with a mid-morning set by Jimi Hendrix.

In 1976, two U.S. Army officers were killed in Korea’s demilitarized zone as a group of North Korean soldiers wielding axes and metal pikes attacked U.S. and South Korean soldiers.

In 1983, Hurricane Alicia slammed into the Texas coast, leaving 21 dead and causing more than a billion dollars’ worth of damage. The Kansas City Royals defeated the New York Yankees, 5-4, in the completion of the “pine-tar” game in just 12 minutes.

In 1988, Vice President George H.W. Bush accepted the presidential nomination of his party at the Republican National Convention in New Orleans.

TThought for Today: “In the end it is worse to suppress dissent than to run the risk of heresy.” – Learned Hand, American jurist

Almanac

By The Associated Press

Today in History

Today is Wednesday, Aug. 17, the 230th day of 2016. There are 136 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On Aug. 17, 1807, Robert Fulton’s North River Steamboat began heading up the Hudson River on its successful round trip between New York and Albany.

On this date:

In 1863, Federal batteries and ships began bombarding Fort Sumter in Charleston harbor during the Civil War, but the Confederates managed to hold on despite several days of pounding.

In 1915, a mob in Cobb County, Georgia, lynched Jewish businessman Leo Frank, 31, whose death sentence for the murder of 13-year-old Mary Phagan had been commuted to life imprisonment. (Frank, who’d maintained his innocence, was pardoned by the state of Georgia in 1986.)

In 1943, the Allied conquest of Sicily during World War II was completed as U.S. and British forces entered Messina.

In 1945, Indonesian nationalists declared their independence from the Netherlands. The George Orwell novel “Animal Farm,” an allegorical satire of Soviet Communism, was first published in London by Martin Secker & Warburg.

In 1962, East German border guards shot and killed 18-year-old Peter Fechter, who had attempted to cross the Berlin Wall into the western sector.

In 1969, Hurricane Camille slammed into the Mississippi coast as a Category 5 storm that was blamed for 256 U.S. deaths, three in Cuba.

In 1978, the first successful trans-Atlantic balloon flight ended as Maxie Anderson, Ben Abruzzo and Larry Newman landed their Double Eagle II outside Paris.

In 1982, the first commercially produced compact discs, a recording of ABBA’s “The Visitors,” were pressed at a Philips factory near Hanover, West Germany.

In 1985, more than 1,400 meatpackers walked off the job at the Geo. A. Hormel and Co.’s main plant in Austin, Minnesota, in a bitter strike that lasted just over a year.

In 1987, Rudolf Hess, the last member of Adolf Hitler’s inner circle, died at Spandau Prison at age 93, an apparent suicide.

In 1996, the Reform Party announced Ross Perot had been selected to be its first-ever presidential nominee, opting for the third-party’s founder over challenger Richard Lamm.

In 1999, more than 17,000 people were killed when a magnitude 7.4 earthquake struck Turkey.

Thought for Today: “Experience is a good school, but the fees are high.” – Heinrich Heine, German poet and critic (1797-1856).

Almanac

By The Associated Press

Today in History

Today is Tuesday, Aug. 16, the 229th day of 2016. There are 137 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On Aug. 16, 1777, American forces won the Battle of Bennington in what was considered a turning point of the Revolutionary War.

On this date:

In 1812, Detroit fell to British and Indian forces in the War of 1812.

In 1858, a telegraphed message from Britain’s Queen Victoria to President James Buchanan was transmitted over the recently laid trans-Atlantic cable.

In 1937, the American Federation of Radio Artists was chartered.

In 1948, baseball legend Babe Ruth died in New York at age 53.

In 1954, Sports Illustrated was first published by Time Inc.

In 1956, Adlai E. Stevenson was nominated for president at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

In 1962, The Beatles fired their original drummer, Pete Best, replacing him with Ringo Starr.

In 1976, the ABBA single “Dancing Queen” was released in Sweden.

In 1977, Elvis Presley died at his Graceland estate in Memphis, Tennessee, at age 42.

In 1978, James Earl Ray, convicted assassin of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., told a Capitol Hill hearing he did not commit the crime, saying he’d been set up by a mysterious man called “Raoul.”

In 1987, 156 people were killed when Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashed while trying to take off from Detroit; the sole survivor was 4-year-old Cecelia Cichan (SHEE’-an).

Almanac

By The Associated Press

Today in History

Today is Saturday, Aug. 13, the 226th day of 2016. There are 140 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On Aug. 13, 1961, East Germany sealed off the border between Berlin’s eastern and western sectors before building a wall that would divide the city for the next 28 years.

On this date:

In 1624, King Louis XIII of France appointed Cardinal Richelieu (ree-shuh-LYOO’) his first minister.

In 1792, French revolutionaries imprisoned the royal family.

In 1846, the American flag was raised for the first time in Los Angeles.

In 1910, Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing, died in London at age 90.

In 1923, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk was again elected Speaker of Turkey’s Grand Assembly.

In 1934, the satirical comic strip “Li’l Abner,” created by Al Capp, made its debut.

In 1946, author H.G. Wells, 79, died in London.

In 1960, the first two-way telephone conversation by satellite took place with the help of Echo 1. The Central African Republic became totally independent of French rule.

In 1979, Lou Brock of the St. Louis Cardinals became the 14th player in major league baseball history to reach the 3,000th career hit plateau as his team defeated the Chicago Cubs, 3-2.

In 1981, in a ceremony at his California ranch, President Ronald Reagan signed a historic package of tax and budget reductions.

In 1989, searchers in Ethiopia found the wreckage of a plane which had disappeared almost a week earlier while carrying Rep. Mickey Leland, D-Texas, and 14 other people – there were no survivors.

Ten years ago: Israel’s Cabinet became the final party to sign on to a U.N. cease-fire deal with Hezbollah. Fidel Castro sent Cubans a sober greeting on his 80th birthday, saying he faced a long recovery from surgery.

Five years ago: Seven people were killed when a stage collapsed at the Indiana State Fair during a powerful storm just before a concert was to begin. In the Republican presidential race, Rep. Michele Bachmann won the Iowa straw poll; Texas Gov. Rick Perry officially declared his candidacy. In eastern Pakistan, al-Qaida gunmen kidnapped an American development expert, Warren Weinstein. (Weinstein was killed in a U.S. drone strike in Jan. 2015.)

One year ago: In one of the deadliest single attacks in postwar Baghdad, a truck bomb shattered a popular fruit-and-vegetable market in a teeming Shiite neighborhood, killing dozens of people. The New York Times reported that DNA testing had proved that President Warren G. Harding fathered a child with long-rumored mistress Nan Britton, according to AncestryDNA, a division of Ancestry.com.

Thought for Today: “Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe… Yet, clumsily or smoothly, the world, it seems, progresses and will progress.” – H.G. Wells (1866-1946).

Almanac

By The Associated Press

Today in History

Today is Friday, Aug. 12, the 225th day of 2016. There are 141 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On Aug. 12, 1939, the MGM movie musical “The Wizard of Oz,” starring Judy Garland, had its world premiere at the Strand Theater in Oconomowoc (oh-KAH’-noh-moh-wahk), Wisconsin, three days before opening in Hollywood.

On this date:

In 1867, President Andrew Johnson sparked a move to impeach him as he defied Congress by suspending Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton.

In 1898, fighting in the Spanish-American War came to an end.

In 1915, the novel “Of Human Bondage,” by William Somerset Maugham, was first published in the United States, a day before it was released in England.

In 1941, Marshal Henri Philippe Petain (ahn-REE’ fee-LEEP’ pay-TAN’), head of the government of Vichy France, called on his countrymen to give full support to Nazi Germany.

In 1944, during World War II, Joseph P. Kennedy Jr., eldest son of Joseph and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, was killed with his co-pilot when their explosives-laden Navy plane blew up over England.

In 1953, the Soviet Union conducted a secret test of its first hydrogen bomb.

Almanac

By The Associated Press

Today in History

Today is Thursday, Aug. 11, the 224th day of 2016. There are 142 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On Aug. 11, 1956, abstract painter Jackson Pollock, 44, died in an automobile accident on Long Island, New York.

On this date:

In 1860, the nation’s first successful silver mill began operation near Virginia City, Nevada.

In 1909, the steamship SS Arapahoe became the first ship in North America to issue an S.O.S. distress signal, off North Carolina’s Cape Hatteras.

In 1934, the first federal prisoners arrived at Alcatraz Island (a former military prison) in San Francisco Bay.

In 1942, during World War II, Pierre Laval, prime minister of Vichy France, publicly declared that “the hour of liberation for France is the hour when Germany wins the war.”

In 1954, a formal peace took hold in Indochina, ending more than seven years of fighting between the French and Communist Viet Minh.

In 1962, Andrian Nikolayev became the Soviet Union’s third cosmonaut in space as he was launched on a 94-hour flight.

In 1965, rioting and looting that claimed 34 lives broke out in the predominantly black Watts section of Los Angeles.

In 1975, the United States vetoed the proposed admission of North and South Vietnam to the United Nations, following the Security Council’s refusal to consider South Korea’s application.

In 1984, during a voice test for a paid political radio address, President Ronald Reagan joked that he had “signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes.”

Almanac

By The Associated Press

Today in History

Today is Wednesday, Aug. 10, the 223rd day of 2016. There are 143 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On Aug. 10, 1846, President James K. Polk signed a measure establishing the Smithsonian Institution.

On this date:

In 1792, during the French Revolution, mobs in Paris attacked the Tuileries (TWEE’-luh-reez) Palace, where King Louis XVI resided. (The king was later arrested, put on trial for treason, and executed.)

In 1821, Missouri became the 24th state.

In 1814, Henri Nestle, founder of the food and beverage company bearing his name, was born in Frankfurt, Germany.

In 1874, Herbert Clark Hoover, the 31st president of the United States, was born in West Branch, Iowa.

In 1921, Franklin D. Roosevelt was stricken with polio at his summer home on the Canadian island of Campobello.

In 1949, the National Military Establishment was renamed the Department of Defense.

In 1969, Leno and Rosemary LaBianca were murdered in their Los Angeles home by members of Charles Manson’s cult, one day after actress Sharon Tate and four other people had been slain.

In 1975, television personality David Frost announced he had purchased the exclusive rights to interview former President Richard Nixon.

In 1988, President Ronald Reagan signed a measure providing $20,000 payments to still-living Japanese-Americans who’d been interned by their government during World War II.

In 1991, nine Buddhists were found slain at their temple outside Phoenix, Arizona. (Two teen-agers were later arrested; Alessandro Garcia was sentenced to life in prison, while Jonathan Doody received 281 years.)

In 1993, Ruth Bader Ginsburg was sworn in as the second female justice on the U.S. Supreme Court.

In 1995, Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols were charged with 11 counts in the Oklahoma City bombing (McVeigh was convicted of murder and executed; Nichols was convicted of conspiracy and involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to life in prison). Norma McCorvey, “Jane Roe” of the 1973 Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion, announced she had joined the anti-abortion group Operation Rescue.

Ten years ago: British authorities announced they had thwarted a terrorist plot to simultaneously blow up 10 aircraft heading to the U.S. using explosives smuggled in hand luggage. A suicide bomber blew himself up among pilgrims outside Iraq’s holiest Shiite shrine in Najaf, killing 35 people. Saomai (sow-my), the most powerful typhoon to hit China in five decades, slammed into the country’s southeastern coast; it ultimately killed more than 440 people.

Five years ago: Marine Corps Gen. John Allen, the top American commander in Afghanistan, said international forces had slain the Taliban insurgents responsible for shooting down a U.S. helicopter, killing 30 Americans and seven Afghan commandos. Country singer-musician Billy Grammer, 85, died in Benton, Illinois.

One year ago: A draft of a secret study obtained by The Associated Press found that air traffic controllers’ work schedules often led to chronic fatigue, making them less alert and endangering the safety of the country’s air traffic system. A power plant operator in southern Japan restarted a nuclear reactor, the first to begin operating under new safety requirements following the Fukushima disaster.

Today’s Birthdays: Actress Rhonda Fleming is 93. Singer Ronnie Spector is 73. Actor James Reynolds is 70. Rock singer-musician Ian Anderson (Jethro Tull) is 69. Country musician Gene Johnson (Diamond Rio) is 67. Singer Patti Austin is 66. Actor Daniel Hugh Kelly is 64. Folk singer-songwriter Sam Baker is 62. Actress Rosanna Arquette is 57. Actor Antonio Banderas is 56. Rock musician Jon Farriss (INXS) is 55.

Thought for Today: “About the time we can make the ends meet, somebody moves the ends.” – President Herbert Hoover (1874-1964).

Almanac

By The Associated Press

Today in History

Today is Tuesday, August 9, the 222nd day of 2016. There are 144 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On August 9, 1945, three days after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Japan, a U.S. B-29 Superfortress code-named Bockscar dropped a nuclear device (“Fat Man”) over Nagasaki, killing an estimated 74,000 people.

On this date:

In 1842, the United States and Canada resolved a border dispute by signing the Webster-Ashburton Treaty.

In 1854, Henry David Thoreau’s “Walden,” which described Thoreau’s experiences while living near Walden Pond in Massachusetts, was first published.

In 1902, Edward VII was crowned king of Britain following the death of his mother, Queen Victoria.

In 1934, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed an executive order nationalizing silver.

In 1936, Jesse Owens won his fourth gold medal at the Berlin Olympics as the United States took first place in the 400-meter relay.

In 1944, 258 African-American sailors based at Port Chicago, California, refused to load a munitions ship following a cargo vessel explosion that killed 320 men, many of them black. (Fifty of the sailors were convicted of mutiny, fined and imprisoned.)

In 1969, actress Sharon Tate and four other people were found brutally slain at Tate’s Los Angeles home; cult leader Charles Manson and a group of his followers were later convicted of the crime.

In 1974, Vice President Gerald R. Ford became the nation’s 38th chief executive as President Richard Nixon’s resignation took effect.

In 1982, a federal judge in Washington ordered John W. Hinckley Jr., who’d been acquitted of shooting President Ronald Reagan and three others by reason of insanity, committed to a mental hospital.

Almanac

By The Associated Press

Today in History

Today is Monday, Aug. 8, the 221st day of 2016. There are 145 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On Aug. 8, 1974, President Richard Nixon announced his resignation, effective the next day, following damaging new revelations in the Watergate scandal.

On this date:

In 1815, Napoleon Bonaparte set sail for St. Helena to spend the remainder of his days in exile.

In 1911, President William Howard Taft signed a measure raising the number of U.S. representatives from 391 to 433, effective with the next Congress, with a proviso to add two more when New Mexico and Arizona became states.

In 1937, during the Second Sino-Japanese War, Japan completed its occupation of Beijing.

In 1942, during World War II, six Nazi saboteurs who were captured after landing in the U.S. were executed in Washington, D.C.; two others who’d cooperated with authorities were spared.

In 1945, President Harry S. Truman signed the U.S. instrument of ratification for the United Nations Charter. The Soviet Union declared war against Japan during World War II.

In 1953, the United States and South Korea initialed a mutual security pact.

In 1963, Britain’s “Great Train Robbery” took place as thieves made off with 2.6 million pounds in banknotes.

In 1968, the Republican national convention in Miami Beach nominated Richard Nixon for president on the first ballot.

In 1973, Vice President Spiro T. Agnew branded as “damned lies” reports he had taken kickbacks from government contracts in Maryland, and vowed not to resign – which he ended up doing.

In 1994, Israel and Jordan opened the first road link between the two once-warring countries. In 2007, space shuttle Endeavour roared into orbit with teacher-astronaut Barbara Morgan on board.

In 2009, Sonia Sotomayor was sworn in as the U.S. Supreme Court’s first Hispanic and third female justice.

Ten years ago: Sen. Joe Lieberman lost the Connecticut Democratic primary to political newcomer Ned Lamont (however, Lieberman ended up winning re-election to the Senate by running as an independent). The Federal Reserve left a benchmark interest rate unchanged after 17 consecutive rate hikes over more than two years. Roger Goodell was chosen as the NFL’s next commissioner.

Five years ago: Eager to calm a nervous nation, President Barack Obama dismissed an unprecedented downgrade by Standard & Poor’s of the U.S. credit rating from AAA to AA-plus, declaring: “No matter what some agency may say, we’ve always been and always will be a triple-A country.”

One year ago: Several rivals of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump criticized his treatment of a debate moderator; the real estate mogul and reality television star remained unbowed, refusing to apologize for saying on CNN that Megyn Kelly, who had aggressively questioned him during the primary debate on Fox News, had “blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever” when she asked him about his incendiary comments toward women. A family of six children and two parents were handcuffed and fatally shot in the head at a Houston home.

Thought for Today: “We probably wouldn’t worry about what people think of us if we could know how seldom they do.” – Olin Miller, American humorist and poet

Almanac

By The Associated Press

Today in History

Today is Saturday, Aug. 6, the 219th day of 2016. There are 147 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On Aug. 6, 1945, during World War II, the U.S. B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay dropped an atomic bomb code-named “Little Boy” on Hiroshima, Japan, resulting in an estimated 140,000 deaths. (Three days later, the United States exploded a nuclear device over Nagasaki; five days after that, Imperial Japan surrendered.)

On this date:

In 1813, during the Venezuelan War of Independence, forces led by Simon Bolivar recaptured Caracas.

In 1825, Upper Peru became the autonomous republic of Bolivia.

In 1914, Austria-Hungary declared war against Russia and Serbia declared war against Germany.

In 1916, D.W. Griffith’s silent film epic “Intolerance,” which intercut four stories in four different settings and time periods, was sneak-previewed in Riverside, California.

In 1926, Gertrude Ederle became the first woman to swim the English Channel, arriving in Kingsdown, England, from France in 14 1/2 hours. Warner Bros. premiered its Vitaphone sound-on-disc movie system in New York with a showing of “Don Juan” featuring synchronized music and sound effects.

In 1930, New York State Supreme Court Justice Joseph Force Crater went missing after leaving a Manhattan restaurant; his disappearance remains a mystery.

In 1956, the DuMont television network went off the air after a decade of operations.

In 1961, Soviet cosmonaut Gherman Titov became the second man to orbit Earth as he flew aboard Vostok 2; his call sign, “Eagle,” prompted his famous declaration: “I am Eagle!”

In 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act.

In 1978, Pope Paul VI died at Castel Gandolfo at age 80.

In 1986, William J. Schroeder (SHRAY’-dur) died at at Humana Hospital-Audubon in Louisville, Kentucky, after living 620 days with the Jarvik 7 artificial heart.

In 1991, the World Wide Web made its public debut as a means of accessing webpages over the Internet. TV newsman Harry Reasoner died in Norwalk, Connecticut, at age 68.

Ten years ago: Oil giant BP announced an indefinite shutdown of the biggest oilfield in the U.S., at Prudhoe Bay in Alaska, after finding a pipeline leak. Sherri Steinhauer shot an even-par 72 to win the Women’s British Open.

Almanac

By The Associated Press

Today in History

Today is Friday, Aug. 5, the 218th day of 2016. There are 148 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On Aug. 5, 1966, the Beatles’ “Revolver” album was released in the United Kingdom on the Parlophone label; it was released in the United States three days later by Capitol Records. (Songs included “Eleanor Rigby” and “Yellow Submarine,” which were also issued as a double A-side single on Aug. 5 and 8.)

On this date:

In 1864, during the Civil War, Union Adm. David G. Farragut led his fleet to victory in the Battle of Mobile Bay, Alabama.

In 1884, the cornerstone for the Statue of Liberty’s pedestal was laid on Bedloe’s Island in New York Harbor.

In 1924, the comic strip “Little Orphan Annie” by Harold Gray made its debut.

In 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the National Labor Board, which was later replaced with the National Labor Relations Board.

In 1936, Jesse Owens of the United States won the 200-meter dash at the Berlin Olympics, collecting the third of his four gold medals.

In 1953, Operation Big Switch began as remaining prisoners taken during the Korean War were exchanged at Panmunjom.

In 1957, the teenage dance show “American Bandstand,” hosted by Dick Clark, made its network debut on ABC-TV.

In 1962, actress Marilyn Monroe, 36, was found dead in her Los Angeles home; her death was ruled a probable suicide from “acute barbiturate poisoning.” South African anti-apartheid activist Nelson Mandela was arrested; it was the beginning of 27 years of imprisonment.

In 1969, the U.S. space probe Mariner 7 flew by Mars, sending back photographs and scientific data.

In 1974, the White House released transcripts of subpoenaed tape recordings showing that President Richard Nixon and his chief of staff, H.R. Haldeman, had discussed a plan in June 1972 to use the CIA to thwart the FBI’s Watergate investigation; revelation of the tape sparked Nixon’s resignation.

In 1986, it was revealed by Arts & Antiques magazine that artist Andrew Wyeth had, over a 15-year period, secretly created some 240 drawings and paintings of a woman named Helga Testorf, a neighbor in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania.

In 1991, Democratic congressional leaders formally launched an investigation into whether the 1980 Reagan-Bush campaign had secretly conspired with Iran to delay release of American hostages until after the presidential election, thereby preventing an “October surprise” that supposedly would have benefited President Jimmy Carter. (A task force later concluded there was “no credible evidence” of such a deal.)

Thought for Today: “For life: It is rather a determination not to be overwhelmed. For work: The truth can only be recalled, never invented.” – Marilyn Monroe (1926-1962).

Almanac

By The Associated Press

Today in History

Today is Thursday, Aug. 4, the 217th day of 2016. There are 149 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On Aug. 4, 1991, the Greek luxury liner Oceanos sank in heavy seas off South Africa’s southeast coast; the 402 passengers and 179 crew members all survived, largely through the efforts of ship’s entertainers who oversaw rescue operations. (Capt. Yiannis Avranas and other officers faced criticism for leaving the ship while some passengers were still on board.)

On this date:

In 1735, a jury found John Peter Zenger of the New York Weekly Journal not guilty of committing seditious libel against the colonial governor of New York, William Cosby.

In 1790, the U.S. Coast Guard had its beginnings as President George Washington signed a measure authorizing a group of revenue cutters to enforce tariff and trade laws and prevent smuggling.

In 1830, plans for the city of Chicago were laid out.

In 1892, Andrew and Abby Borden were axed to death in their home in Fall River, Massachusetts. Lizzie Borden, Andrew’s daughter from a previous marriage, was accused of the killings, but acquitted at trial.

In 1914, Britain declared war on Germany for invading Belgium; the United States proclaimed its neutrality in the mushrooming world conflict. In 1936, Jesse Owens of the U.S. won the second of his four gold medals at the Berlin Olympics as he prevailed in the long jump over German Luz Long, who was the first to congratulate him.

In 1944, 15-year-old diarist Anne Frank was arrested with her sister, parents and four others by the Gestapo after hiding for two years inside a building in Amsterdam. (Anne and her sister, Margot, died at the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.)

In 1964, the bodies of missing civil rights workers Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman and James Chaney were found buried in an earthen dam in Mississippi.

In 1977, President Jimmy Carter signed a measure establishing the Department of Energy. In 1987, the Federal Communications Commission voted to abolish the Fairness Doctrine, which required radio and television stations to present balanced coverage of controversial issues.

Thought for Today: “The beginning is the most important part of the work.” – Plato, Classical Greek philosopher.

Almanac

By The Associated Press

Today in History

Today is Wednesday, Aug. 3, the 216th day of 2016. There are 150 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On Aug. 3, 1966, comedian Lenny Bruce, whose raunchy brand of satire and dark humor landed him in trouble with the law, was found dead in his Los Angeles home; he was 40.

On this date:

In 1492, Christopher Columbus set sail from Palos, Spain, on a voyage that took him to the present-day Americas.

In 1807, former Vice President Aaron Burr went on trial before a federal court in Richmond, Virginia, charged with treason. (He was acquitted less than a month later.)

In 1914, Germany declared war on France at the onset of World War I.

In 1916, Irish-born British diplomat Roger Casement, a strong advocate of independence for Ireland, was hanged for treason.

In 1921, baseball commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis refused to reinstate the former Chicago White Sox players implicated in the “Black Sox” scandal, despite their acquittals in a jury trial.

In 1936, Jesse Owens of the United States won the first of his four gold medals at the Berlin Olympics as he took the 100-meter sprint.

In 1943, Gen. George S. Patton slapped a private at an army hospital in Sicily, accusing him of cowardice. (Patton was later ordered by Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower to apologize for this and a second, similar episode.)

In 1949, the National Basketball Association was formed as a merger of the Basketball Association of America and the National Basketball League.

In 1958, the nuclear-powered submarine USS Nautilus became the first vessel to cross the North Pole underwater.

In 1972, the U.S. Senate ratified the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty between the United States and the Soviet Union. (The U.S. unilaterally withdrew from the treaty in 2002.)

In 1981, U.S. air traffic controllers went on strike, despite a warning from President Ronald Reagan they would be fired, which they were.

In 1994, Arkansas carried out the nation’s first triple execution in 32 years. Stephen G. Breyer was sworn in as the Supreme Court’s newest justice in a private ceremony at Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist’s Vermont summer home.

Ten years ago: In Afghanistan, 21 civilians were killed in a suicide car bombing near Canadian military vehicles in a town market in Kandahar province; U.S. forces killed 25 Taliban in a raid in Helmand province. Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, a soprano who’d won global acclaim for her renditions of Mozart and Strauss, died in Schruns, Austria, at age 90.

Five years ago: Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak denied all charges against him as he went on trial for alleged corruption and complicity in the deaths of protesters who’d helped drive him from power. (Mubarak is currently being retried for the killings of protesters; he and his sons were convicted of graft and have already served their sentences for that crime.) The Muscular Dystrophy Association announced that Jerry Lewis was no longer its national chairman and would not be appearing on the Labor Day telethon. Death claimed former NFL star and actor Bubba Smith, 66, and actress Annette Charles, 63, best known for her role as Cha Cha DeGregorio in “Grease.”

Thought for Today: “Let me tell you the truth. The truth is what is, and what should be is a fantasy. A terrible, terrible lie that someone gave to the people long ago.” – Lenny Bruce

Almanac

By The Associated Press

Today in History

Today is Tuesday, Aug. 2, the 215th day of 2016. There are 151 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On Aug. 2, 1776, members of the Continental Congress began attaching their signatures to the Declaration of Independence.

On this date:

In 216 B.C., during the Second Punic War, Carthaginian forces led by Hannibal defeated the Roman army in the Battle of Cannae.

In 1873, inventor Andrew S. Hallidie (HAH’-lih-day) successfully tested a cable car he had designed for the city of San Francisco.

In 1876, frontiersman “Wild Bill” Hickok was shot and killed while playing poker at a saloon in Deadwood, Dakota Territory, by Jack McCall, who was later hanged.

In 1909, the original Lincoln “wheat” penny first went into circulation, replacing the “Indian Head” cent.

In 1923, the 29th president of the United States, Warren G. Harding, died in San Francisco; Vice President Calvin Coolidge became president.

In 1934, German President Paul von Hindenburg died, paving the way for Adolf Hitler’s complete takeover.

In 1939, Albert Einstein signed a letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt urging creation of an atomic weapons research program. President Roosevelt signed the Hatch Act, which prohibited civil service employees from taking an active part in political campaigns.

In 1943, during World War II, U.S. Navy boat PT-109, commanded by Lt. (jg) John F. Kennedy, sank after being rammed in the middle of the night by the Japanese destroyer Amagiri off the Solomon Islands. Two crew members were killed.

In 1964, the destroyer USS Maddox suffered light damage during a skirmish with North Vietnamese patrol torpedo boats in the Gulf of Tonkin. (This and an alleged second incident two days later led to congressional approval of the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution that propelled America deep into war.)

In 1974, former White House counsel John W. Dean III was sentenced to one to four years in prison for obstruction of justice in the Watergate coverup. (Dean ended up serving four months.)

In 1985, 137 people were killed when Delta Air Lines Flight 191, a Lockheed L-1011 Tristar, crashed while attempting to land at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.

In 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait, seizing control of the oil-rich emirate. (The Iraqis were later driven out in Operation Desert Storm.)

Thought for Today: “We look forward to the time when the power to love will replace the love of power.” – William Ellery Channing, American clergyman (1780-1842).

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