Month: August 2022 (Page 1 of 2)

On August 26, 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, major league baseball games were shown on experimental station W2XBS: a double-header between the Cincinnati Reds and the Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field.

In 1957, the Soviet Union announced it had successfully tested an intercontinental ballistic missile.

In 1968, the Democratic National Convention opened in Chicago; the four-day event that resulted in the nomination of Hubert H. Humphrey for president was marked by a bloody police crackdown on antiwar protesters in the streets.

In 1970, recording with Eric Clapton for what would become the double album Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs, producer Tom Dowd took Clapton and his band to an Allman Brothers concert where Clapton, already a fan of the guitarist, first heard Duane Allman play in person. After Clapton invited the whole band back to the studio that night, he and Allman formed an instant bond that provided the catalyst for the Layla album. Over ten days Allman contributed to most of the tracks on the album.

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

In 1985, 13-year-old AIDS patient Ryan White began “attending” classes at Western Middle School in Kokomo, Indiana, via a telephone hook-up at his home — school officials had barred Ryan from attending classes in person.

In 2004, the nation’s supply of vaccine for the impending flu season took a big hit when Chiron Corp. announced it had found tainted doses in its factory, and would hold up shipment of about 50 million shots.

In 2015, Alison Parker, a reporter for WDBJ-TV in Roanoke, Virginia, and her cameraman, Adam Ward, were shot to death during a live broadcast by a disgruntled former station employee who fatally shot himself while being pursued by police.

In 2018, a gunman opened fire on fellow gamers at a video game tournament in Jacksonville, Fla., killing two men and wounding 10 others before taking his own life; and also in 2018, Playwright Neil Simon, whose comedies included “The Odd Couple” and “Barefoot in the Park,” died at the age of 91.

In 2019, Ed Sheeran ended his ÷ (Divide) tour with a show at Chantry Park in Ipswich, England, near his hometown of Framlingham. The tour started on March 16, 2017 and set the record for highest-grossing tour, earning $775.6 million over 255 shows.

On Aug. 25, 1718, hundreds of French colonists arrived in Louisiana, with some settling in present-day New Orleans.

In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson signed an act establishing the National Park Service in the Department of the Interior.

In 1928, an expedition led by Richard E. Byrd set sail from Hoboken, N.J., on its journey to Antartica.

In 1944, during World War II, Paris was liberated by Allied forces after four years of Nazi occupation.

In 1945, John Birch, an American missionary to China before the war and a captain in the Army during the war, is killed by Chinese communists days after the surrender of Japan, for no apparent reason.

In 1962, Little Eva went to No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘The Loco-motion’. The Carole King and Gerry Goffin song was offered to Dee Dee Sharp (Mashed Potatoes), who turned it down. The writers had their babysitter record it who took it to No.1.

In 1975, Bruce Springsteen released his third studio album Born to Run. The album peaked at No.3 on the Billboard chart eventually selling six million copies in the United States and has since been considered by critics to be one of the greatest albums in popular music. Two singles were released from the album: ‘Born to Run’ and ‘Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out’; the first helped Springsteen to reach mainstream popularity.

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 2009, Edward “Ted” Kennedy, the youngest brother of President John F. Kennedy and a U.S. senator from Massachusetts from 1962 to 2009, dies of brain cancer at age 77 at his home in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts.

In 2012, Neil Armstrong, the first man to set foot on the moon, died in Cincinnati, Ohio, age 82.

On August 24, 79 AD, after centuries of dormancy, Mount Vesuvius erupts in southern Italy, devastating the prosperous Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum and killing thousands.

In 1814, during the War of 1812 between the United States and England, British troops enter Washington, D.C. and burn the White House in retaliation for the American attack on the city of York in Ontario, Canada, in June 1813.

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 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Communist Control Act, outlawing the Communist Party in the United States.

In 1966, the Doors started recording their first album at Sunset Sound Recording Studios, West Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles, California.

In 1989, Baseball Commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti 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.

In 2016, astronaut Jeffrey Williams marked a U.S. recording-breaking 521st day in orbit, a number accumulated over four flights.

In 2021, 80 year-old Charlie Watts, the drummer for the Rolling Stones since 1963 passed away.

On Aug. 23, 1305, Scottish 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 1914, Japan declared war against Germany in World War I.

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

In 1989, as punishment for betting on baseball, Cincinnati Reds manager Pete Rose accepts a settlement that includes a lifetime ban from the game.

In 2003, former priest John Geoghan, the convicted child molester whose prosecution sparked the scandal that shook the Roman Catholic Church, died after another inmate attacked him in a Massachusetts prison.

In 2008, Madonna kicked off her 86-date Sticky & Sweet Tour at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff Wales. It became the highest grossing tour by a solo artist, breaking the previous record Madonna achieved with her 2006 Confessions Tour. Madonna’s first venture with Live Nation, was estimated to have grossed $280 million

In 2019, Taylor Swift released her seventh studio album Lover, her first album after parting ways with her former label, Big Machine Records. All of the album’s 18 tracks charted on the Hot 100, breaking the all-time female record for the most simultaneous entries. Lover topped the charts in Australia, Canada, Mexico, Norway, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and several others. It was Swift’s sixth No.1 album on the US Billboard chart.

On Aug. 22, 1485, England’s King Richard III was killed, ending the War of the Roses.

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

In 1910, Japan annexed Korea, which remained under Japanese control until World War II ended.

In 1914, Austria-Hungary declared war against Belgium.

In 1950, officials of the United States Lawn Tennis Association (USLTA) accept Althea Gibson into their annual championship at Forest Hills, New York, making her the first African American player to compete in a U.S. national tennis competition.

In 1962, President Charles de Gaulle of France survives one of several assassination attempts against him thanks to the superior performance of the presidential automobile: The sleek, aerodynamic Citroen DS 19, known as “La Deesse” (The Goddess).

In 1970, Creedence Clearwater Revival started a nine-week run at No.1 on the US album chart with their fifth studio album Cosmo’s Factory. The name of the album comes from the warehouse in Berkeley where the band rehearsed. Bandleader John Fogerty was so insistent on practicing (nearly every day) that drummer Doug “Cosmo” Clifford began referring to the place as “the factory”.

In 1989, Black Panthers co-founder Huey P. Newton was shot to death in Oakland, California.

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

In 2003, Alabama’s chief justice, Roy Moore, was suspended for his refusal to obey a federal court order to remove his Ten Commandments monument from the rotunda of his courthouse.