Today in History
Today is Sunday, Aug. 28, the 241st day of 2016. There are 125 days
left in the year. Today's Highlight in History: On Aug. 28, 1941,
Japan's ambassador to the U.S., Kichisaburo Nomura, presented a note to
President Franklin D. Roosevelt from the Japanese prime minister,
Prince Fumimaro Konoye, expressing a desire for improved relations;
Roosevelt responded that he considered the note a step forward and that
he was very hopeful. On this date: In 1609, English sea explorer Henry
Hudson and his ship, the Half Moon, reached present-day Delaware Bay.
In 1862, the Second Battle of Bull Run (also known as Second Manassas)
began in Prince William County, Virginia, during the Civil War; the
result was a Confederate victory. In 1916, Italy declared war on
Germany during World War I. In 1922, the first-ever radio commercial
aired on station WEAF in New York City; the 10-minute advertisement was
for the Queensboro Realty Co., which had paid a fee of $100. In 1945,
the Allies began oc'cup'ying Japan at the end of World War II. In 1955,
Emmett Till, a black teenager 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 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 1968, police and
anti-war demonstrators clashed in the streets of Chicago as the
Democratic National Convention nominated Hubert H. Humphrey for
president. In 1972, Mark Spitz of the United States won the first two
of his seven gold medals at the Munich Olympics, finishing first in the
200-meter butterfly and anchoring the 400-meter freestyle relay. The
Soviet women gymnasts won the team all-around. In 1988, 70 people were
killed when three Italian stunt planes collided during an air show at
the U.S. Air Base in Ramstein (RAHM'-shtyn), West Germany. In 1990, an
F5 tornado struck the Chicago area, killing 29 people. In 1996,
Democrats nominated President Bill Clinton for a second term at their
national convention in Chicago. The troubled 15-year marriage of
Britain's Prince Charles and Princess Diana officially ended with the
issuing of a divorce decree. Ten years ago: Prosecutors in Colorado
abruptly dropped their case against John Mark Karr in the slaying of
JonBenet Ramsey, saying DNA tests had failed to put him at the crime
scene despite his insistence that he killed the 6-year-old beauty queen
in 1996. President George W. Bush visited the Gulf Coast on the eve of
the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. Columbus, Georgia, beat
Kawaguchi City, Japan, 2-1 to win the Little League World Series
championship game. Five years ago: A suicide bomber blew himself up
inside Baghdad's largest Sunni mosque, killing 29 people during
prayers. California returned the Little League World Series title to
the United States with a 2-1 victory over Hamamatsu City, Japan. Katy
Perry won three MTV Video Music Awards, including video of the year for
the inspirational clip "Firework"; during the broadcast, Beyonce
announced she was pregnant with her first child (Blue Ivy Carter was
born in Jan. 2012). One year ago: President Barack Obama compared
tensions between the U.S. and Israel over the Iranian nuclear deal to a
family feud, and said in a webcast with Jewish Americans that he
expected quick improvements in ties between the longtime allies once
the accord was implemented. A jury in Concord, New Hampshire, acquitted
Owen Labrie, a prep school graduate, of rape but convicted him of
committing lesser sex offenses against a 15-year-old freshman girl in a
case that exposed a tradition in which seniors competed to see how many
younger students they could have sex with. Today's Birthdays: Actor
Sonny Shroyer is 81. Actor Ken Jenkins is 76. Former Defense Secretary
William S. Cohen is 76. Actor David Soul is 73. Former pop
singer-musician Honey Lantree (The Honeycombs) is 73. Former MLB
manager and player Lou Piniella is 73. Actress Barbara Bach is 70.
Actress Debra Mooney is 69. Singer Wayne Osmond (The Osmonds) is 65.
Actor Daniel Stern is 59. Olympic gold medal figure skater Scott
Hamilton is 58. Actor John Allen Nelson is 57. Actress Emma Samms is
56. Actress Jennifer Coolidge is 55. Movie director David Fincher is
54. Actress Amanda Tapping is 51. Country singer Shania (shah-NY'-uh)
Twain is 51. Actor Billy Boyd is 48. Actor Jack Black is 47. Actor
Jason Priestley is 47. Olympic gold medal swimmer Janet Evans is 45.
Actor J. August Richards is 43. Rock singer-musician Max Collins (Eve
6) is 38. Actress Carly Pope is 36. Country singer Jake Owen is 35.
Country singer LeAnn Rimes is 34. Actress Kelly Thiebaud (TV: "General
Hospital") is 34. Actor Alfonso Herrera (TV: "The Exorcist") is 33.
Actress Sarah Roemer is 32. Actor Armie Hammer is 30. Rock singer
Florence Welch (Florence and the Machine) is 30. Actress Shalita Grant
(TV: "NCIS: New Orleans") is 28. Country-pop singer Cassadee Pope (TV:
"The Voice") is 27. Actress Katie Findlay is 26. Actor/singer Samuel
Larsen is 25. Actor Kyle Massey is 25. Actress Quvenzhane
(kwuh-VEHN'-zhah-nay) Wallis is 13. Reality TV star Alana Thompson, AKA
"Honey Boo Boo," is 11. Thought for Today: "One starts to get young at
the age of 60 and then it is too late. Pablo Picasso, Spanish artist
(1881-1973).
