TODAY IN HISTORY
TODAY IS SUNDAY, AUG. 30, the 243rd day of 2020. There are 123 days left in the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN HISTORY: On this date in 1967, the Senate confirmed the appointment of Thurgood Marshall as the first Black justice on the U.S. Supreme Court.
In 1797, Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, creator of “Frankenstein,” was born in London.
In 1861, Union Gen. John C. Fremont instituted martial law in Missouri and declared slaves there to be free. (However, Fremont’s emancipation order was countermanded by President Abraham Lincoln.)
In 1945, U.S. Gen. Douglas MacArthur arrived in Japan to set up Allied occupation headquarters.
In 1983, Guion S. Bluford Jr. became the first Black American astronaut to travel in space as he blasted off aboard the Challenger.
In 1986, Soviet authorities arrested Nicholas Daniloff, a correspondent for U.S. News and World Report, as a spy a week after American officials arrested Gennadiy Zakharov, a Soviet employee of the United Nations, on espionage charges in New York. (Both men were later released.)
In 1993, “The Late Show with David Letterman” premiered on CBS-TV.
In 1997, Americans received word of the car crash in Paris that claimed the lives of Princess Diana, her boyfriend, Dodi Fayed and their driver, Henri Paul. (Because of the time difference, it was August 31 where the crash occurred.)
In 2002, With just hours to spare, baseball averted a strike; it was the first time since 1970 that players and owners had agreed to a new collective bargaining agreement without a work stoppage.
In 2007, in a serious breach of nuclear security, a B-52 bomber armed with six nuclear warheads flew cross-country unnoticed; the Air Force later punished 70 people.
In 2012, Mitt Romney launched his fall campaign for the White House with a rousing, personal speech to the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida, proclaiming that America needs “jobs, lots of jobs.”
In 2017, the former Hurricane Harvey completed a U-turn in the Gulf of Mexico and rolled ashore for the second time in six days, hitting southwestern Louisiana as a tropical storm with heavy rains and winds of 45 miles an hour.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Actor Elizabeth Ashley is 81. Actor Ben Jones is 79. Actor John Kani is 78. Cartoonist R. Crumb and Olympic gold medal skier Jean-Claude Killy are 77. Comedian Lewis Black is 72. Jazz musician Gerald Albright is 63. Actor Michael Chiklis is 57. Actor Michael Michele is 54. Country singer Sherrie Austin and rock singermusician Lars Frederiksen (Rancid) are 49. Actor Cameron Diaz is 48. Rock musician Leon Caffrey (formerly w/ Space) and TV personality Lisa Ling are 47. Actors Raúl Castillo and Michael Gladis are 43. MLB pitcher Adam Wainwright is 39. Tennis player Andy Roddick is 38. Singer Rachael Price (Lake Street Dive) is 35. Rock musician Ryan Ross is 34. Actors Johanna Braddy and Cameron Finley are 33.