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. In
1960, the first balloon communications satellite the Echo 1 was
launched by the United States from Cape Canaveral. In 1962, one day
after launching Andrian Nikolayev into orbit, the Soviet Union also
sent up cosmonaut Pavel Popovich; both men landed safely Aug. 15. In
1978, Pope Paul VI, who had died Aug. 6 at age 80, was buried in St.
Peter's Basilica. In 1981, IBM introduced its first personal computer,
the model 5150, at a press conference in New York. In 1985, the world's
worst single-aircraft disaster occurred as a crippled Japan Airlines
Boeing 747 on a domestic flight crashed into a mountain, killing 520
people. (Four people survived.) In 1994, Woodstock '94 opened in
Saugerties, New York. Ten years ago: Thousands of people gathered
across from the White House, even though President George W. Bush was
out of town, to condemn U.S. and Israeli policies in the Middle East.
Five years ago: A divided three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit Court
of Appeals in Atlanta struck down the centerpiece of President Barack
Obama's sweeping health care overhaul, the so-called individual
mandate. (The mandate was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in June
2012.) Tiger Woods missed the cut at the PGA Championship at Atlanta
Athletic Club with a 3-over 73, finishing out of the top 100 for the
first time ever in a major. One year ago: Islamic State sympathizers
circulated an image that appeared to show the body of a Croatian
hostage abducted in Egypt, the first such killing of a foreign captive
since the extremist group established a branch in the Arab country.
Deadly warehouse blasts in the Chinese port city of Tianjin claimed 165
lives. Former President Jimmy Carter announced he had been diagnosed
with cancer following recent liver surgery. Today's Birthdays: Actor
George Hamilton is 77. Actress Dana Ivey is 75. Actress Jennifer Warren
is 75. Rock singer-musician Mark Knopfler (Dire Straits) is 67. Actor
Jim Beaver is 66. Singer Kid Creole is 66. Jazz musician Pat Metheny is
62. Actor Sam J. Jones is 62. Actor Bruce Greenwood is 60. Country
singer Danny Shirley is 60. Pop musician Roy Hay (Culture Club) is 55.
Rapper Sir Mix-A-Lot is 53. Actor Peter Krause (KROW'-zuh) is 51. Actor
Brent Sexton is 49. International Tennis Hall of Famer Pete Sampras is
45. Actor-comedian Michael Ian Black is 45. Actress Yvette Nicole Brown
is 45. Actress Rebecca Gayheart is 45. Actor Casey Affleck is 41. Rock
musician Bill Uechi is 41. Actress Maggie Lawson is 36. Actress
Dominique Swain is 36. Actress Leah Pipes is 28. Actress Imani Hakim is
23. Thought for Today: "A person without a sense of humor is like a
wagon without springs. It's jolted by every pebble on the road. Henry
Ward Beecher, American clergyman (1813-1887).
