Today in History
Today is Tuesday, Aug. 28, the 240th day of 2018. There are 125 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
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.
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 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-ager 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 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 1995, a mortar shell tore through a crowded market in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina, killing some three dozen people and triggering NATO airstrikes against the Bosnian Serbs.
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.
In 2005, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin (NAY’-gin) ordered everyone in the city to evacuate after Hurricane Katrina grew to a monster storm.
Ten years ago: Surrounded by an enormous, adoring crowd at Invesco Field in Denver, Barack Obama accepted the Democratic presidential nomination, promising what he called a clean break from the “broken politics in Washington and the failed policies of George W. Bush.” Former U.S. Marine Jose Luis Nazario Jr., accused of killing unarmed Iraqi detainees in the Iraqi city of Fallujah, was acquitted of voluntary manslaughter in Riverside, Calif.
Five years ago: A military jury sentenced Maj. Nidal Hasan to death for the 2009 shooting rampage at Fort Hood that claimed 13 lives. On the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech at the Lincoln Memorial, President Barack Obama stood on the same steps as he challenged new generations to seize the cause of racial equality.
One year ago: 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. The Navy said divers had recovered the remains of all 10 sailors who had been missing after the USS John S. McCain and an oil tanker collided near Singapore nearly a week earlier.
Today’s Birthdays: Actor Sonny Shroyer is 83. Actress Marla Adams is 80. Actor Ken Jenkins is 78. Former Defense Secretary William S. Cohen is 78. Actor David Soul is 75. Former pop singer-musician Honey Lantree (The Honeycombs) is 75. Former MLB manager and player Lou Piniella is 75. Actress Barbara Bach is 72. Actress Debra Mooney is 71. Singer Wayne Osmond (The Osmonds) is 67. Actor Daniel Stern is 61. Olympic gold medal figure skater Scott Hamilton is 60. Actor John Allen Nelson is 59. Actress Emma Samms is 58. Actress Jennifer Coolidge is 57. Movie director David Fincher is 56. Actress Amanda Tapping is 53. Country singer Shania (shah-NY’-uh) Twain is 53. Actor Billy Boyd is 50. Actor Jack Black is 49. Actor Jason Priestley is 49. Actor Daniel Goddard (TV: “The Young and the Restless”) is 47. Olympic gold medal swimmer Janet Evans is 47. Actor J. August Richards is 45. Rock singer-musician Max Collins (Eve 6) is 40. Actress Carly Pope is 38. Country singer Jake Owen is 37. Country singer LeAnn Rimes is 36. Actress Kelly Thiebaud is 36. Actor Alfonso Herrera is 35. Actress Sarah Roemer is 34. Actor Armie Hammer is 32. Rock singer Florence Welch (Florence and the Machine) is 32. Actress Shalita Grant is 30. Country-pop singer Cassadee Pope (TV: “The Voice”) is 29. Actress Katie Findlay is 28. Actor/singer Samuel Larsen is 27. Actor Kyle Massey is 27. Actress Quvenzhane (kwuh-VEHN’-zhah-nay) Wallis is 15. Reality TV star Alana Thompson, AKA “Honey Boo Boo,” is 13.
Thought for Today: “The man who views the world at fifty the same as he did at twenty has wasted thirty years of his life.” — Muhammad Ali, American boxing champion (1942-2016).