Today in History
Today is Wednesday, Aug. 22, the 234th day of 2018. There are 131 days left in the year.
Today's Highlight in History:
On August 22, 1972, President Richard Nixon was nominated for a second term of office by the Republican National Convention in Miami Beach.
On this date:
In 1787, inventor John Fitch demonstrated his steamboat on the Delaware River to delegates from the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia.
In 1851, the schooner America outraced more than a dozen British vessels off the English coast to win a trophy that came to be known as the America's Cup.
In 1862, President Abraham Lincoln responded to Horace Greeley's call for more drastic steps to abolish slavery; Lincoln replied that his priority was saving the Union, but he also repeated his personal wish "that all men everywhere could be free."
In 1910, Japan annexed Korea, which remained under Japanese control until the end of World War II.
In 1932, the British Broadcasting Corp. conducted its first experimental television broadcast, using a 30-line mechanical system.
In 1956, President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Vice President Richard Nixon were nominated for second terms in office by the Republican National Convention in San Francisco.
In 1972, John Wojtowicz (WAHT'-uh-witz) and Salvatore Naturile took seven employees hostage at a Chase Manhattan Bank branch in Brooklyn, New York, during a botched robbery; the siege, which ended with Wojtowicz's arrest and Naturile's killing by the FBI, inspired the 1975 movie "Dog Day Afternoon."
In 1978, President Jomo Kenyatta, a leading figure in Kenya's struggle for independence, died; Vice President Daniel arap Moi was sworn in as acting president.
In 1985, 55 people died when fire broke out aboard a British Airtours charter jet on a runway at Manchester Airport in England.
In 1986, Kerr-McGee Corp. agreed to pay the estate of the late Karen Silkwood $1.38 million, settling a 10-year-old nuclear contamination lawsuit. The Rob Reiner coming-of-age film "Stand By Me" was put into wide release by Columbia Pictures.
In 1989, Black Panthers co-founder Huey P. Newton was shot to death in Oakland, California. (Gunman Tyrone Robinson was later sentenced to 32 years to life in prison.)
In 1992, on the second day of the Ruby Ridge siege in Idaho, an FBI sharpshooter killed Vicki Weaver, the wife of white separatist Randy Weaver (the sharpshooter later said he was targeting the couple's friend Kevin Harris, and didn't see Vicki Weaver).
Ten years ago: Russia said it had pulled back forces from Georgia in accordance with an EU-brokered cease-fire agreement. Usain (yoo-SAYN') Bolt helped Jamaica win the 400meter relay final in 37.10 seconds for his third gold medal and third world record of the Beijing Olympics. Bryan Clay won the decathlon. Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers beat Brazil in the men's beach volleyball championship game.
Five years ago: Egypt's ousted leader Hosni Mubarak was released from prison and transported to a military hospital in a Cairo suburb to be held under house arrest. A day after being sentenced to up to 35 years in prison for leaking secrets, Army Pfc. Bradley Manning, in a statement to NBC's "Today" show, announced he intended to live as a woman named Chelsea and undergo hormone treatment. A mysterious glitch halted trading on the Nasdaq for three hours.
One year ago: Protesters and police clashed outside a convention center in Phoenix where President Donald Trump had just wrapped up his first political rally since the violence in Charlottesville, Virginia; police fired pepper spray at crowds after someone apparently lobbed rocks and bottles at officers. A military commander reported that Iraqi troops had reached the first urban areas of the northern town of Tal Afar on the third day of an operation to retake it from the Islamic State group.
Thought for Today: "Life does not give itself to one who tries to keep all its advantages at once. I have often thought morality may perhaps consist solely in the courage of making a choice." — Leon Blum, French statesman (1872-1950).