TODAY IN HISTORY
TODAY IS SUNDAY, AUG. 11, the 223rd day of 2019. There are 142 days left in the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN HISTORY: On this date in 1992, the Mall of America, the nation’s largest shopping-entertainment center, opened in Bloomington, Minnesota.
In 1919, Germany’s Weimar Constitution was signed by President Friedrich Ebert.
In 1949, President Harry S. Truman nominated General Omar N. Bradley to become the first chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
In 1956, abstract painter Jackson Pollock, 44, died in an automobile accident on Long Island, New York.
In 1964, the Beatles movie “A Hard Day’s Night” had its U.S. premiere in New York.
In 1965, rioting and looting that claimed 34 lives broke out in the predominantly black Watts section of Los Angeles.
In 1984, at the Los Angeles Olympics, American runner Mary Decker fell after colliding with South African-born British competitor Zola Budd in the 3,000-meter final; Budd finished seventh.
In 1991, Shiite Muslim kidnappers in Lebanon released two Western captives: Edward Tracy, an American held nearly five years, and Jerome Leyraud, a Frenchman who’d been abducted by a rival group three days earlier.
In 1993, President Bill Clinton named Army Gen. John Shalikashvili to be the new chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, succeeding the retiring Gen. Colin Powell.
In 1997, President Bill Clinton made the first use of the historic line-item veto, rejecting three items in spending and tax bills. The U.S. Supreme Court later struck down the veto as unconstitutional.
In 2012, Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney announced his choice of Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin to be his running mate. Usain Bolt capped his perfect London Olympics by leading Jamaica to victory in a world-record 36.84 seconds in the 4x100 meters.
In 2017, a federal judge ordered Charlottesville, Virginia, to allow a weekend rally of white nationalists and other extremists to take place at its originally planned location downtown. Violence erupted at the rally and a woman was killed when a man plowed his car into a group of counterprotesters.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Actress Arlene Dahl is 94. Songwriter-producer Kenny Gamble and rock musician Jim Kale (Guess Who) are 76. Magazine columnist Marilyn Vos Savant and country singer John Conlee are 73. Singer Eric Carmen is 70. Computer scientist and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak is 69. Wrestleractor Hulk Hogan is 66. Singer Joe Jackson is 65. Playwright David Henry Hwang is 62. Actor Miguel A. Nunez Jr. is 60. Actresses Viola Davis and Embeth Davidtz, and actor Duane Martin are 54. Actor-host Joe Rogan is 52. Rhythm-andblues musician Chris Dave, actresses Anna Gunn, Ashley Jensen and Sophie Okonedo, and rock guitarist Charlie Sexton are 51. Actor Nigel Harman is
46. Actor Will Friedle is 43. Actor Rob Kerkovich is 40. Actress Merritt Wever is
39. Actor Chris Hemsworth is 36. Rock musician Heath Fogg (Alabama Shakes) is
35. Actress Alyson Stoner is 26.