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 oc'cup'ied 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. Ten years ago: President George W. Bush
criticized a federal court ruling the day before that his warrantless
wiretapping program was unconstitutional, declaring that opponents did
not understand "the nature of the world in which we live. Financially
struggling Ford Motor Co. said it would temporarily halt production at
ten assembly plants. Five years ago: President Barack Obama and
European leaders demanded that Syrian President Bashar Assad resign,
saying his brutal suppression of his people made him unfit to lead.
Vice President Joe Biden met with Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping in
Beijing. A storm swept through a popular open-air music festival in
Hasselt, Belgium, killing five people. One year ago: The Food and Drug
Administration approved Addyi, the world's first prescription drug
designed to boost sexual desire in women. Bud Yorkin, a director and
producer who helped forge a new brand of topical TV comedy with the
1970s hit "All in the Family," died in Los Angeles at age 89. Today's
Birthdays: Former first lady Rosalynn Carter is 89. Movie director
Roman Polanski is 83. Olympic gold medal decathlete Rafer Johnson is
81. Actor-director Robert Redford is 80. Actor Henry G. Sanders is 74.
Actor-comedian Martin Mull is 73. Rhythm-and-blues singer Sarah Dash
(LaBelle) is 71. Rock musician Dennis Elliott is 66. Country singer
Jamie O'Hara is 66. Comedian Elayne Boosler is 64. Country singer Steve
Wilkinson (The Wilkinsons) is 61. Actor Denis Leary is 59. Actor Reg E.
Cathey is 58. Actress Madeleine Stowe is 58. Former Treasury Secretary
Timothy Geithner (GYT'-nur) is 55. ABC News reporter Bob Woodruff is
55. The former president of Mexico, Felipe Calderon, is 54. Bluegrass
musician Jimmy Mattingly is 54. Actor Adam Storke is 54. Actor Craig
Bierko (BEER'-koh) is 52. Rock singer-musician Zac Maloy (The Nixons)
is 48. Rock singer and hip-hop artist Everlast is 47. Rapper Masta
Killa (Wu-Tang Clan) is 47. Actor Christian Slater is 47. Actor Edward
Norton is 47. Actor Malcolm-Jamal Warner is 46. Actress Kaitlin Olson
is 41. Actor-writer-director Hadjii is 40. Rock musician Dirk Lance is
40. Actor-comedian Andy Samberg (TV: "Saturday Night Live") is 38.
Country musician Brad Tursi (Old Dominion) is 37. Actress Mika Boorem
is 29. Actress Maia Mitchell is 23. Actress Parker McKenna Posey is 21.
Thought for Today: "In the end it is worse to suppress dissent than to
run the risk of heresy. Learned Hand, American jurist (born 1872, died
this date in 1961).
