Month: August 2023 (Page 1 of 4)

In 1980, representatives of the communist government of Poland agree to the demands of striking shipyard workers in the city of Gdansk. Former electrician Lech Walesa led the striking workers, who went on to form Solidarity, the first independent labor union to develop in a Soviet bloc nation.

In 1985, Brothers In Arms by Dire Straits started a nine-week run at No.1 on the US album charts. The album also topped the charts in 25 other countries and went on to sell over 20 million worldwide.

In 1987, the largest pre-order of albums in the history of CBS Records occurred as 2.25 million copies of Michael Jackson’s ‘Bad’ album were shipped to record stores in the US. The LP followed the Jackson album, Thriller the biggest Jackson-seller of all time (over 35 million copies sold). ‘Bad’ went on to sell over 13 million copies.

In 1994, the Irish Republican Army declared a cease-fire.

In 1997, Diana, Princess of Wales—affectionately known as “the People’s Princess”—dies in a car crash in Paris. She was 36. Her boyfriend, the Egyptian-born socialite Dodi Fayed, and the driver of the car, Henri Paul, died as well.

In 2010, President Barack Obama ended the U.S. combat mission in Iraq, declaring no victory after seven years of bloodshed. and telling those divided: “It is time to turn the page.”

In 2018, Aretha Franklin, the “Queen of Soul,” was laid to rest after an eight-hour funeral at a Detroit church.

On Aug. 30, 1861, Union Gen. John C. Fremont instituted martial law in Missouri and declared slaves there to be free. (Fremont’s order was countermanded by President Abraham Lincoln.)

In 1905, Ty Cobb made his debut as a player for the Detroit Tigers, hitting a double in his first at-bat in a game against the New York Highlanders.

In 1949, Hank Williams went into Herzog Studio in Cincinnati to record ‘I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry’. Williams wrote the song originally intending that the words be spoken, rather than sung. The song about loneliness was largely inspired by his troubled relationship with wife Audrey Sheppard.

In 1983, Guion S. Bluford Jr. became the first Black American astronaut to travel in space.

In 1993, “The Late Show with David Letterman” premiered on CBS-TV.In 2007.

In 2015, the White House announced that President Barack Obama would change the name of North America’s tallest mountain peak from MountMcKinley to Denali, the traditional Alaska Native name.

On Aug. 29, 1533, Atahuallpa, the 13th and last emperor of the Incas, dies by strangulation at the hands of Francisco Pizarro’s Spanish conquistadors.

1949, at a remote test site at Semipalatinsk in Kazakhstan, the USSR successfully detonates its first atomic bomb, code name “First Lightning.”

In 1957, the Senate gave final congressional approval to a Civil Rights Act after South Carolina Sen. Strom Thurmond (then a Democrat) ended a filibuster that had lasted 24 hours.

In 1962, Malvin R. Goode began covering the United Nations for ABC-TV, becoming network television’s first Black reporter.

In 1964, Roy Orbison’s ‘Oh, Pretty Woman’ was released in the US. It went on to reach No.1 four weeks later. The title was inspired by Orbison’s wife Claudette interrupting a conversation to announce she was going out; when Orbison asked if she was okay for cash, his co-writer Bill Dees interjected “A pretty woman never needs any money.”

In 2001, Gene Wilder died in Stamford, Connecticut, at age 83.

In 2005, Hurricane Katrina makes landfall near New Orleans, Louisiana, as a Category 3 hurricane.

In 2013, the Justice Department said it would not stand in the way of states that wanted to legalize, tax and regulate marijuana as long as there were effective controls to keep marijuana away from kids, the black market and federal property.

In 2018, Ariana Grande was at No.1 on the UK album chart with her fourth studio album Sweetener. The album which features guest appearances from Pharrell Williams, Nicki Minaj and Missy Elliott also topped the US charts and won the Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Album marking Grande’s first career Grammy win.

In 2019, President Donald Trump said the United States planned to withdraw more than 5,000 troops from Afghanistan.

On August 28, 1963, more than 200,000 people listened as the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.

In 1609, English sea explorer Henry Hudson and his ship, the Half Moon, reached present-day Delaware Bay.

In 1941, Japan’s ambassador to the U.S., Kichisaburo Nomura, presented a note to President Franklin D. Roosevelt from Japan’s prime minister, Prince Fumimaro Konoye, expressing a desire for improved relations.

In 1955, Emmett Till, a Black teen from Chicago, was abducted from his uncle’s home in Money, Mississippi, by two white men after he had supposedly whistled at a white woman; he was found brutally slain three days later.

In 1968, police and anti-war demonstrators clashed in the streets of Chicago as the Democratic National Convention nominated Hubert H. Humphrey for president.

In 1993, Billy Joel started a three-week run at No.1 on the US album chart with ‘River Of Dreams.’ Joel claimed most of the music came to him in his sleep, hence the title. The singers second wife, one time model Christie Brinkley, painted the album cover which was later voted worst album cover of the year.

In 1996, the troubled 15-year marriage of Britain’s Prince Charles and Princess Diana officially ended with the issuing of a divorce decree.

In 2005, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin (NAY’-gin) ordered everyone in the city to evacuate after Hurricane Katrina grew to a monster storm.

In 2009, the Los Angeles County coroner’s office announced that Michael Jackson’s death was a homicide caused primarily by the powerful anesthetic propofol (PROH’-puh-fahl) and another sedative, lorazepam (lor-AZ’-uh-pam).

In 2013, a military jury sentenced Maj. Nidal Hasan to death for the 2009 shooting rampage at Fort Hood that claimed 13 lives.

In 2017, floodwaters reached the rooflines of single-story homes as Hurricane Harvey poured rain on the Houston area for a fourth consecutive day; thousands of people had been rescued from the flooding.

In 2018, a white former police officer, Roy Oliver, was convicted of murder for fatally shooting a Black 15-year-old boy, Jordan Edwards, while firing into a car packed with teenagers in suburban Dallas; Oliver was sentenced the following day to 15 years in prison.

On Aug 27, 1859, Edwin L. Drake drilled the first successful oil well in the United States, at Titusville, Pennsylvania.

In 1883, the island volcano Krakatoa erupted with a series of cataclysmic explosions.

In 1949, a violent white mob prevented an outdoor concert headlined by Paul Robeson a Black performer, from taking place near Peekskill, New York. (The concert was held eight days later.)

In 1966, the Beach Boys ‘God Only Knows’ peaked at No.2 on the UK singles chart. The song broke new ground in many ways. It was one of the first commercial songs to use the word ‘God’ in its title and Brian Wilson used many unorthodox instruments, including the French horns that are heard in the song’s famous introduction.

In 1979, Lord Louis Mountbatten is killed when Irish Republican Army (IRA) terrorists detonate a 50-pound bomb hidden on his fishing vessel Shadow V.

In 1998, two suspects in the bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Kenya were brought to the United States to face charges. (Mohamed Rashed Daoud al-‘Owhali (moh-HAH’-mehd rah-SHEED’ dah-ood ahl-oh-WAHL’-ee) and Mohammed Saddiq Odeh (sah-DEEK’ oh-DAY’) were convicted in 2001 of conspiring to carry out the bombing; both were sentenced to life in prison.)

In 2001, Israeli helicopters fired a pair of rockets through office windows and killed senior PLO leader Mustafa Zibri.

In 2007, Michael Vick, a star quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons, formally pleads guilty before a Richmond, Virginia, judge to a federal felony charge related to running a dogfighting ring.

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

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.

In 2020, 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse was arrested in Illinois in the shooting deaths of two people and the wounding of another during a third night of protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin, over the police shooting of a Black man, Jacob Blake. (Rittenhouse, who said he was defending himself after the three men attacked him, would be acquitted on all charges, including homicide.) All three scheduled NBA playoff games were postponed, with players choosing to boycott in their strongest statement yet against racial injustice. (The games resumed three days later, after players and owners agreed to expand initiatives, many tied to increased voting awareness and opportunities.)

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.