Today in History
Published 12:01 am Saturday, August 18, 2018
Today is Saturday, Aug. 18, the 230th day of 2018. There are 135 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On August 18, 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.
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 1894, Congress established the Bureau of Immigration.
In 1914, President Woodrow Wilson issued his Proclamation of Neutrality, aimed at keeping the United States out of World War I.
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 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.
In 1988, Vice President George H.W. Bush accepted the presidential nomination of the Republican National Convention in New Orleans.
In 1993, a judge in Sarasota, Fla., ruled that Kimberly Mays, the 14-year-old girl who had been switched at birth with another baby, need never again see her biological parents, Ernest and Regina Twigg, in accordance with her stated wishes. (However, Kimberly later moved in with the Twiggs.)
In 2001, fire broke out at a budget hotel outside Manila, killing 75 people.
Ten years ago: Pervez Musharraf (pur-VEHZ’ moo-SHAH’-ruhv) resigned as the president of Pakistan. Tropical Storm Fay pounded Cuba with torrential rain and wind before sweeping across the Florida Keys.
Five years ago: David Miranda, partner of Guardian reporter Glenn Greenwald, who’d received leaks from former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden, was detained for nearly nine hours at London’s Heathrow airport, triggering claims authorities were trying to interfere with reporting on the issue. Usain Bolt won his third gold medal of the world championships held in Moscow, anchoring Jamaica to victory in the 4 x 100-meter relay.
One year ago: Steve Bannon, President Donald Trump’s top White House strategist, was forced out of his post by Trump; Bannon returned immediately as executive chairman to Breitbart News, which he led before joining Trump’s campaign. Billionaire investor Carl Icahn resigned from his unpaid post as Trump’s adviser on deregulation efforts, as The New Yorker was preparing to publish an article detailing his potential conflicts of interest. A Los Angeles judge rejected an effort by Roman Polanski’s victim to end a four-decade-old sexual assault case against the fugitive director. (Polanski pleaded guilty to having unlawful sex with the girl when she was 13; he fled the country on the eve of sentencing in 1978.)
Today’s Birthdays: Former first lady Rosalynn Carter is 91. Movie director Roman Polanski is 85. Olympic gold medal decathlete Rafer Johnson is 83. Actor-director Robert Redford is 82. Actor Henry G. Sanders is 76. Actor-comedian Martin Mull is 75. Rhythm-and-blues singer Sarah Dash (LaBelle) is 73. Rock musician Dennis Elliott is 68. Country singer Jamie O’Hara is 68. Comedian Elayne Boosler is 66. Country singer Steve Wilkinson (The Wilkinsons) is 63. Actor Denis Leary is 61. Actress Madeleine Stowe is 60. Former Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner (GYT’-nur) is 57. ABC News reporter Bob Woodruff is 57. The former president of Mexico, Felipe Calderon, is 56. Bluegrass musician Jimmy Mattingly is 56. Actor Adam Storke is 56. Actor Craig Bierko (BEER’-koh) is 54. Rock singer-musician Zac Maloy (The Nixons) is 50. Rock singer and hip-hop artist Everlast is 49. Rapper Masta Killa (Wu-Tang Clan) is 49. Actor Christian Slater is 49. Actor Edward Norton is 49. Actor Malcolm-Jamal Warner is 48. Actress Kaitlin Olson is 43. Actor-writer-director Hadjii is 42. Rock musician Dirk Lance is 42. Actor-comedian Andy Samberg (TV: “Saturday Night Live”) is 40. Country musician Brad Tursi (Old Dominion) is 39. Actress Mika Boorem is 31. Actress Maia Mitchell is 25. Actress Parker McKenna Posey is 23.