Today In History
Today is Tuesday, Aug. 6, the 218th day of 2019. There are 147 days left in the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT
› 1965: President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act.
ON THIS DATE
› 1806: The Holy Roman Empire went out of existence as Emperor Francis II abdicated.
› 1890: Cy Young gained the first of his 511 major league victories as he pitched the Cleveland Spiders to a win over the Chicago Colts (however, the score is a matter of dispute, with some sources saying 6-1, and others saying 8-1).
› 1926: Gertrude Ederle became the first woman to swim the English Channel, arriving in Kingsdown, England, from France in 14 1/2 hours.
› 1942: Queen Wilhemina of the Netherlands became the first reigning queen to address a joint meeting of Congress, telling lawmakers that despite Nazi occupation, her people’s motto remained, “No surrender.”
› 1945: During World War II, the U.S. B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay dropped an atomic bomb code-named “Little Boy” on Hiroshima, Japan, resulting in an estimated 140,000 deaths. (Three days later, the United States exploded a nuclear device over Nagasaki; five days after that, Imperial Japan surrendered.)
› 1991: The World Wide Web made its public debut as a means of accessing webpages over the internet.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS
Children’s performer Ella Jenkins is 95. Actor-director Peter Bonerz is 81. Actor Dorian Harewood is 69. Actress Catherine Hicks is 68. Rock singer Pat MacDonald (Timbuk 3) is 67. Country musician Mark DuFresne (Confederate Railroad) is 66. Actress Stepfanie Kramer is 63. Actress Faith Prince is 62. Rhythm and blues singer Randy DeBarge is
61. Actor Leland Orser is
59. Actor Jeremy Ratchford is 54. Actor Benito Martinez is 51. Country singer Lisa Stewart is 51. Movie writer-director M. Night Shyamalan is 49. Actress Merrin Dungey is
48. Singer Geri Halliwell Horner is 47. Actor Jason O’Mara is 47. Singer-actor David Campbell is
46. Actress Vera Farmiga is 46. Rock singer Travis McCoy (Gym Class Heroes) is 38. Actor Leslie Odom Jr. is 38. Actress Romola Garai is 37. Rock musician Eric Roberts (Gym Class Heroes) is 35.