Today is Tuesday, August 18, the 230th day of 2015. There are 135 days left in the year.
Today’s highlight:
On August 18, 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.)
On this date:
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 1846, U.S. forces led by General Stephen W. Kearny captured Santa Fe, New Mexico.
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 1955, the romantic drama “Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing,” starring William Holden and Jennifer Jones, had its world premiere in New York.
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.
In 1995, Shannon Faulkner, who’d won a 2 ½-year legal battle to become the first female cadet at The Citadel, quit the South Carolina military college after less than a week, most of it spent in the infirmary.
Ten years ago: Cindy Sheehan, who’d started an anti-war demonstration near President George W. Bush’s Texas ranch nearly two weeks earlier, left the camp after learning her mother had suffered a stroke, but told supporters the protest would go on. A judge in Wichita, Kansas, sentenced BTK serial killer Dennis Rader to 10 consecutive life terms, the maximum the law would allow. Pope Benedict XVI began his first foreign trip as pontiff in low-key style, returning to his “beloved” German homeland.
Five years ago: General Motors filed the first batch of paperwork to sell stock to the public again, a significant step toward shedding U.S. government ownership a year after the automaker had filed for bankruptcy. A bull leapt into the packed grandstands of a bullring in northern Spain and ran amok, charging and trampling spectators and leaving dozens of people injured. (The bull was brought under control by handlers and was later killed.)
One year ago: Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon ordered the National Guard to Ferguson, a suburb of St. Louis convulsed by protests over the fatal shooting of an unarmed black teen. Former Vermont U.S. Sen. James Jeffords, who in 2001 tipped control of the Senate when he quit the Republican Party to become an independent, died in Washington; he was 80. Don Pardo, 96, a durable radio and television announcer whose booming baritone became as much a part of the U.S. cultural landscape as the shows and products he touted, died in Tucson, Arizona.
Today’s birthdays: Former first lady Rosalynn Carter is 88. Movie director Roman Polanski is 82. Olympic gold medal decathlete Rafer Johnson is 80. Actor-director Robert Redford is 79. Actor Henry G. Sanders is 73. Actor-comedian Martin Mull is 72. Rhythm-and-blues singer Sarah Dash (LaBelle) is 70. Rock musician Dennis Elliott is 65. Comedian Elayne Boosler is 63. Country singer Steve Wilkinson (The Wilkinsons) is 60. Actor Denis Leary is 58. Actress Madeleine Stowe is 57. Former Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner (GYT’-nur) is 54. ABC News reporter Bob Woodruff is 54. The former president of Mexico, Felipe Calderon, is 53. Bluegrass musician Jimmy Mattingly is 53. Actor Adam Storke is 53. Actor Craig Bierko (BEER’-koh) is 51. Rock singer-musician Zac Maloy (The Nixons) is 47. Rock singer and hip-hop artist Everlast is 46. Rapper Masta Killa (Wu-Tang Clan) is 46. Actor Christian Slater is 46. Actor Edward Norton is 46. Actor Malcolm-Jamal Warner is 45. Actress Kaitlin Olson is 40. Actor-writer-director Hadjii is 39. Rock musician Dirk Lance is 39. Actor-comedian Andy Samberg (TV: “Saturday Night Live”) is 37. Actress Mika Boorem is 28. Actress Maia Mitchell is 22. Actress Parker McKenna Posey is 20.
Thought for today: “Memory is more indelible than ink.” — Anita Loos, American author and screenwriter (1888-1981).
Associated Press
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