TODAY IN HISTORY
TODAY IS WEDNESDAY, AUG. 14, the 226th day of 2019. There are 139 days left in the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN HISTORY:
On this date in 1945, President Harry S. Truman announced that Imperial Japan had surrendered unconditionally, ending World War II.
In 1900, international forces, including U.S. Marines, entered Beijing to put down the Boxer Rebellion, which aimed to purge China of foreign influence.
In 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act into law.
In 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill issued the Atlantic Charter, a statement of principles that renounced aggression.
In 1948, the Summer Olympics in London ended; they were the first Olympic games held since 1936.
In 1969, British troops went to Northern Ireland to intervene in sectarian violence between Protestants and Roman Catholics.
In 1973, U.S. bombing of Cambodia came to a halt.
In 1980, actress-model Dorothy Stratten, 20, was shot to death by her estranged husband and manager, Paul Snider, who then killed himself.
In 1992, the White House announced that the Pentagon would begin emergency airlifts of food to Somalia to alleviate mass deaths by starvation.
In 1997, an unrepentant Timothy McVeigh was formally sentenced to death for the Oklahoma City bombing.
In 2003, a huge blackout hit the northeastern United States and part of Canada; 50 million people lost power.
In 2008, President George W. Bush signed consumer safety legislation that banned lead from children’s toys, imposing the toughest standard in the world. In 2017, under pressure from right and left, President Donald Trump condemned white supremacist groups by name, declaring them to be “repugnant to everything that we hold dear as Americans.” The CEO of Merck, the nation’s third-largest pharmaceutical company, resigned from a federal advisory council, citing Trump’s failure to explicitly condemn white nationalists who marched in Charlottesville, Virginia. Kenneth Frazier was one of the few African Americans to head a Fortune 500 company. The CEOs of Intel and Under Armour also resigned from the American Manufacturing Council later in the day.
Broadway lyricist Lee Adams (“Bye Bye Birdie”) is 95. College Football Hall of Famer John Brodie is 84. Singer Dash Crofts is 81. Rock singer David Crosby and country singer Connie Smith are 78. Comedianactor Steve Martin and movie director Wim Wenders are 74. Actor Antonio Fargas, singer-musician Larry Graham, actress Susan Saint James and actor David Schramm are 73. Author Danielle Steel is 72. Rock singer-musician Terry Adams (NRBQ) is 71. “Far Side” cartoonist Gary Larson is 69. Actor Carl Lumbly is 68. Olympic gold medal swimmer Debbie Meyer is 67. Actress Jackee Harry is 63. Actress Marcia Gay Harden and Basketball Hall of Famer Earvin “Magic” Johnson are 60. Singer Sarah Brightman is 59. Actress Susan Olsen is 58. Actress-turned-fashion/ interior designer Cristi Conaway and rock musician Keith Howland (Chicago) are 55. Actress Halle Berry is 53. Actor Ben Bass, actress Catherine Bell and country musician Cody McCarver (Confederate Railroad) are 51. Rock musician Kevin Cadogan is 49. Actor Scott Michael Campbell is 48. Actress Lalanya Masters is 47. Actor Christopher Gorham is 45. Actress Mila Kunis, actor Lamorne Morris and TV personality Spencer Pratt are 36. NFL quarterback-turned-baseball player Tim Tebow is 32. Actress Marsai Martin is 15.