What Happened This Day In History - August 31

Today in History
August 31

1303		The War of Vespers in Sicily ends with an agreement between Charles of Valois, who invaded the country, and Frederick, the ruler of Sicily.
1756		The British at Fort William Henry, New York, surrender to Louis Montcalm of France.
1802		Captain Merriwether Lewis leaves Pittsburgh to meet up with Captain William Clark and begin their trek to the Pacific Ocean.
1864		At the Democratic convention in Chicago, General George B. McClellan is nominated for president.
1919		The Communist Labor Party is founded in Chicago, with the motto, "Workers of the world unite!"
1928		Kurt Weill’s The Threepenny Opera opens in Berlin.
1940		Joseph Avenol steps down as Secretary-General of the League of Nations.
1942		The British army under General Bernard Law Montgomery defeats Field Marshal Erwin Rommel’sAfrika Korps in the Battle of Alam Halfa in Egypt.
1944		The British Eighth Army penetrates the German Gothic Line in Italy.
1949		Six of the 16 surviving Union veterans of the Civil War attend the last-ever encampment of the Grand Army of the Republic, held in Indianapolis, Indiana.
1951		The 1st Marine Division begins its attack on Bloody Ridge in Korea. The four-day battle results in 2,700 Marine casualties.
1961		A concrete wall replaces the barbed wire fence that separates East and West Germany, it will be called the Berlin wall.
1965		US Congress creates Department of Housing & Urban Development.
1968		The Dasht-e Bayaz 7.3 earthquake in NE Iran completely destroys five villages and severely damages six others.
1970		Lonnie McLucas convicted of torturing and murdering fellow Black Panther Party member Alex Rackley in the first of the New Haven Black Panther Trials.
1980		Polish government forced to sign Gdansk Agreement allowing creation of the trade union Solidarity.
1985		Police capture Richard Ramirez, dubbed the "Night Stalker" for a string of gruesome murders that stretched from Mission Viejo to San Francisco, Cal.
1986		A Russian cargo ship collides with cruise shipAdmiral Nakhimov, killing 398.
1987		Longest mine strike in South Africa’s history ends, after 11 people were killed, 500 injured and 400 arrested.
1990		East and West Germany sign the Treaty of Unification (Einigungsvertrag) to join their legal and political systems.
1990		Ken Griffey and Ken Griffey Jr. become first father and son to play on same team simultaneously in professional baseball (Seattle Mariners).
1994		Last Russian troops leave Estonia and Latvia.
1994		The Irish Republican Army (IRA) announces a "complete cessation of military operations," opening the way to a political settlement in Ireland for the first time in a quarter of a century.
1997		Diana, Princess of Wales, dies in a Paris car crash along with her companion Dodi Fayed and driver Henri Paul while fleeing paparazzi.
1997		New York Yankees retire Don Mattingly’s #23 (first baseman, coach, manager).
2006		Edvard Munch’s famed painting The Screamrecovered by Norwegian police. The artwork had been stolen on Aug. 22, 2004.
Born on August 31
1811		Théophile Gautier, French poet, novelist and author of Art for Art’s Sake.
1870		Maria Montessori, educator and founder of the Montessori schools.
1885		Duboise Heyward, novelist, poet and dramatist best know for Porgy which was the basis for the operaPorgy and Bess.
1899		Lynn Riggs, writer, her book Green Grow the Lilacswas adapted by Rodgers and Hammerstein to become Oklahoma.
1903		Arthur Godfrey, radio and television personality.
1905		Sanford Meisner, influential acting teacher.
1907		Wiliam Shawn, longtime editor of The New Yorker.
1908		Wiliam Saroyan, author and playwright (The Human Comedy).
1918		Alan Jay Lerner, playwright and lyricist (Brigadoon,Camelot).
1918		Daniel Schorr, journalist.
1935		Eldridge Cleaver, political activist and author of Soul on Fire.
1936		Marva Collins, innovative educator who started Chicago’s one-room school, Westside Preparatory.
1945		Van Morrison, Irish singer, songwriter.
1945		Itzhak Perlman, violinist.
1948		Lowell Ganz, screenwriter, (A League of Their Own) director, producer, actor.
1949		Richard Gere, actor (Pretty Woman, An Officer and a Gentleman).
1970		Deborah Ann "Debbie" Gibson, singer, songwriter, record producer, actress; youngest artist ever to write, produce and perform a Billboard #1 single ("Foolish Beat").
1970		Queen Rania of Jordan (nee Rania al Yassin), wife of King Abdullah II.

What Happened This Day In History - August 30

Today in History
August 30

30 BC		Cleopatra VII, Queen of Egypt, commits suicide.
1617		Rosa de Lima of Peru becomes the first American saint to be canonized.
1721		The Peace of Nystad ends the Second Northern War between Sweden and Russia, giving Russia considerably more power in the Baltic region.
1781		The French fleet arrives in the Chesapeake Bay to aid the American Revolution.
1813		Creek Indians massacre over 500 whites at Fort Mims Alabama.
1860		The first British tramway is inaugurated at Birkenhead by an American, George Francis Train.
1861		Union General John Fremont declares martial law throughout Missouri and makes his own emancipation proclamation to free slaves in the state. President Lincoln overrules the general.
1892		The Moravia, a passenger ship arriving from Germany, brings cholera to the United States.
1932		Nazi leader Hermann Goering is elected president of the Reichstag.
1944		Ploesti, the center of the Rumanian oil industry, falls to Soviet troops.
1961		President John F. Kennedy appoints General Lucius D. Clay as his personal representative in Berlin.
1963		Hot Line communications link installed between Moscow and Washington, DC.
1967		US Senate confirms Thurgood Marshall as first African-American Supreme Court justice.
1976		Tom Brokaw becomes news anchor of Today Show.
1979		First recorded instance of a comet (Howard-Koomur-Michels) hitting the sun; the energy released is equal to approximately 1 million hydrogen bombs.
1982		Yasser Arafat, leader of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) forced out of Lebanon after 10 years in Beirut during Lebanese Civil War.
1983		Lieutenant Colonel Guion S. Bluford, Jr., becomes the first African-American astronaut to travel in space.
1986		KGB arrest journalist Nicholas Daniloff (US News World Report) on a charge of spying and hold him for 13 days.
1983		Eiffel Tower welcomes its 150 millionth visitor, 33-year-old Parisian Jacqueline Martinez.
Born on August 30
1797		Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, novelist best known forFrankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus.
1871		Ernest Rutherford, physicist who discovered and named alpha, beta and gamma radiation and was the first to achieve a man-made nuclear reaction.
1893		Huey P. Long, Louisiana politician who served as governor and U.S. senator, known as "The Kingfish."
1918		Ted Williams, Hall of Fame outfielder for the Boston Red Sox, the last man to hit .400 in a season.
1919		Kitty Wells (Ellen Muriel Deason), first female singer to top the Country Music charts in US ("It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky-Tonk Angels," 1952).
1930		Warren Buffett, business magnate; listed as world’s wealthiest person in 2008.
1931		Carrie Saxon Perry, 1st black mayor of a major US city (Hartford CT).
1943		Robert Crumb (R. Crumb), satiric "underground" cartoonist (Fritz the Cat), musician.
1944		Molly Ivins, American political humorist, newspaper columnist.
1956		Jayne Irving, TV broadcaster (Good Morning Britain).
1958		Anna Politkovskaya (Anna Mazepa), New York-born Ukrainian journalist, writer, human rights advocate best known for her reporting from Chechnya.
1960		Hassan Nasrallah, leader of the Lebanese political-paramilitary group Hezbollah since 1992.
1960		US Army Master Sgt. Gary Gordon, receives posthumorous Medal of Honor for his actions in the Battle of Mogadishu, Somalia.
1964		Gavin Fisher, mechanical engineer; chief designer of the Williams Formula One racing team (1997–2005).
1972		Cameron Diaz, model, award-winning actress (The Mask, There’s Something About Mary, Any Given Sunday).

What Happened This Day In History - August 29

Today in History
August 29

70		The Temple of Jerusalem burns after a nine-month Roman siege.
1526		Ottoman Suleiman the Magnificent crushes a Hungarian army under Lewis II at the Battle of Mohacs.
1533		In Peru, the Inca chief Atahualpa is executed by orders of Francisco Pizarro, although the chief had already paid his ransom.
1776		General George Washington retreats during the night from Long Island to New York City.
1793		Slavery is abolished in Santo Domingo.
1862		Union General John Pope’s army is defeated by a smaller Confederate force at the Second Battle of Bull Run.
1882		Australia defeats England in cricket for the first time. The following day a obituary appears in theSporting Times addressed to the British team.
1942		The American Red Cross announces that Japan has refused to allow safe conduct for the passage of ships with supplies for American prisoners of war.
1945		U.S. airborne troops are landed in transport planes at Atsugi airfield, southwest of Tokyo, beginning the occupation of Japan.
1949		USSR explodes its first atomic bomb, "First Lightning."
1950		International Olympic Committee votes to allow West Germany and Japan to compete in 1952 games.
1952		In the largest bombing raid of the Korean War, 1,403 planes of the Far East Air Force bomb Pyongyang, North Korea.
1957		US Congress passes Civil Rights Act of 1957 after Strom Thurmond (Sen-D-SC) ends 24-hour filibuster, the longest in Senate history, against the bill.
1960		US U-2 spy plane spots SAM (surface-to-air) missile launch pads in Cuba.
1964		Mickey Mantle ties Babe Ruth’s career strikeout record (1,330).
1965		Astronauts L. Gordon Cooper Jr. and Charles "Pete" Conrad Jr complete 120 Earth orbits in Gemini 5, marking the first time the US set an international duration record for a manned space mission.
1966		The Beatles give their last public concert (Candlestick Park, San Francisco).
1968		Democrats nominate Hubert H Humphrey for president at their Chicago convention.
1977		Lou Brock (St Louis Cardinals) breaks Ty Cobb’s 49-year-old career stolen bases record at 893.
1986		Morocco’s King Hassan II signs unity treaty with Libya’s Muammar Gadhafi, strengthening political and economic ties and creating a mutual defense pact.
1991		USSR’s parliament suspends Communist Party activities in the wake of a failed coup.
1992		Thousands of Germans demonstrate against a wave of racist attacks aimed at immigrants.
1995		NATO launches Operation Deliberate Force against Bosnian Serb forces.
2003		A terrorist bomb kills Ayatollah Sayed Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim, the Shia Muslim leader in Iraq, and nearly 100 worshippers as they leave a mosque in Najaf where the ayatollah had called for Iraqi unity.
2005		Rains from Hurricane Katrina cause a levee breech at the Industrial Canal in New Orleans, causing severe flooding.
2012		The Egyptian Army’s Operation Eagle results in the deaths of 11 suspected terrorists and the arrest of another 23.
Born on August 29
1632		John Locke, philosopher of liberalism whose ideas influenced the American founding fathers, famous for his treatise An Essay Concerning Human Understanding.
1809		Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., poet, essayist and father of Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
1898		Preston Sturges, screenwiter, film director and playwright.
1915		Ingrid Bergman, Oscar winning actress famous whose films include Casablanca and Anastasia.
1920		Charlie "Bird" Parker, self-taught jazz saxophonist, pioneer of the new "cool" movement.
1923		Richard Attenborough, actor, (The Great Escape,Jurassic Park) Academy Award–winning director and producer (Gandhi)
1924		Dinah Washington, singer known in the 50s as "Queen of the Harlem Blues.".
1925		Donald O’Connor, dancer, actor (Singing in the Rain).
1927		Marion Williams, gospel singer.
1931		Lise Payette, Quebec politician, writer and columnist.
1933		Jehan Sadat, First Lady of Egypt (1970–1981); widow of Anwar Sadat.
1935		William Friedkin, director, producer, writer (The Exorcist, The French Connection).
1936		Future Republican US presidential nominee (2008) John McCain.
1938		Elliott Gould, actor (M*A*S*H, Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice).
1940		James Brady, press secretary who was severely wounded during John Hinckley Jr.’s attempt to assassinate US President Ronald Reagan.
1941		Robin Leach, TV host (Life Styles of the Rich and Famous).
1943		Richard Halligan, vocalist with band Blood Sweat & Tears.
1952		Karen Hesse, Newbery Medal–winning author of children’s literature (Out of the Dust).
1958		Michael Jackson, pop singer, entertainer.

What Happened This Day In History - August 28

Today in History
August 28

1676		Indian chief King Philip, also known as Metacom, is killed by English soldiers, ending the war between Indians and colonists.
1862		Mistakenly believing the Confederate Army to be in retreat, Union General John Pope attacks, beginning the Battle of Groveten. Both sides sustain heavy casualties.
1914		Three German cruisers are sunk by ships of the Royal Navy in the Battle of Heligoland Bight, the first major naval battle of World War I.
1938		The first degree given to a ventriloquist’s dummy is awarded to Charlie McCarthy–Edgar Bergen’s wooden partner. The honorary degree, "Master of Innuendo and Snappy Comeback," is presented on radio by Ralph Dennis, the dean of the School of Speech at Northwestern University.
1941		The German U-boat U-570 is captured by the British and renamed Graph
1944		German forces in Toulon and Marseilles, France, surrender to the Allies.
1945		Chinese communist leader Mao Tse-Tung arrives in Chunking to confer with Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-Shek in a futile effort to avert civil war.
1963		One of the largest demonstrations in the history of the United States, the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, takes place and reaches its climax at the base of the Lincoln Memorial when Dr. Martin Luther King delivers his "I have a dream" speech.
1965		The Viet Cong are routed in the Mekong Delta by U.S. forces, with more than 50 killed.
1968		Clash between police and anti-war demonstrators during Democratic Party’s National Convention in Chicago.
1979		Irish Republican Army (IRA) bomb explodes under bandstand in Brussels’ Great Market as British Army musicians prepare for a performance; four British soldiers wounded.
1981		John Hinckley Jr. pleads innocent to attempting to assassinate Pres. Ronald Reagan.
1982		First Gay Games held, in San Francisco.
1983		Israeli’s prime minister Menachem Begin announces his resignation.
1986		Bolivian president Victor Paz Estenssoro declares a state of siege and uses troops and tanks to halt a march by 10,000 striking tin miners.
1986		US Navy officer Jerry A. Whitworth given 365-year prison term for spying for USSR.
1993		Two hundred twenty-three die when a dam breaks at Qinghai (Kokonor), in northwest China.
2003		Power blackout affects half-million people in southeast England and halts 60% of London’s underground trains.
2005		Hurricane Katrina reaches Category 5 strength; Louisiana Superdome opened as a "refuge of last resort" in New Orleans.
2012		US Republican convention nominates Mitt Romney as the party’s presidential candidate.
Born on August 28
1749		Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, German poet, playwright and novelist, best known for Faust.
1774		Elizabeth Ann Seton, founder of the Sisters of St. Joseph and the first U.S.-born saint.
1828		Leo Tolstoy, Russian novelist (War and Peace, Anna Karenina).
1882		Belle Benchley, the first female zoo director in the world, who directed the Zoological Gardens of San Diego.
1896		Liam O’Flaherty, Irish novelist and short-story writer.
1903		Bruno Bettelheim, Austrian psychologist, educator of autistic and emotionally disturbed children.
1908		Roger Tory Peterson, author of the innovative bird book A Field Guide to Birds.
1925		Donald O’Connor, entertainer (Singin’ in the Rain,Anything Goes).
1939		Catherine "Cassie" Mackin, journalist; first woman to anchor an evening newscast alone on a regular basis (NBC’s Sunday Night News); NBC’s first woman floor reporter at a national political convention.
1943		Lou Pinelia, American League Rookie of the Year (1969); 14th-winningest manager of all time.
1948		Daniel Seraphine, drummer with the band Chicago.
1951		Wayne Osmond, singer, songwriter, TV actor (The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters).
1952		Rita Dove, poet; second African-American poet to receive the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry (1987); first African-American Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress (1993-95); Poet Laureate of Virginia (2004-06).
1965		Shania Twain (Eilleen Regina Edwards), five-time Grammy-winning singer ("You’re Still the One"); only female artist to have three consecutive Diamond albums (10 million units sold).
1971		Todd Eldredge, figure skater; Men’s World Champion (1996).
1982		Leann Rimes, Grammy-winning singer ("Blue"), actress, (Northern Lights).
1986		Gilad Shalit, Israeli Defense Forces corporal kidnapped by Hamas and held for five years before being exchanged for 1,027 Palestinian prisoners.