TODAY IN HISTORY
Today is Tuesday, Aug. 18, the 231st day of 2020. There are 135 days left in the year.
Today's Highlight in
History: On August 18, 1920, the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, guaranteeing all American women's right to vote, was ratified as Tennessee became the 36th state to approve it. On this date:
In 1587, Virginia Dare became the first child of English parents to be born in present-day America, on what is now Roanoke Island in North Carolina. (However, the Roanoke colony ended up mysteriously disappearing.)
In 1838, the first marine expedition sponsored by the U.S. government set sail from Hampton Roads, Virginia; the crews traveled the southern Pacific Ocean, gathering scientific information.
In 1846, during the Mexican-American War, U.S. forces led by Gen. Stephen W. Kearny occupied Santa Fe in present-day New Mexico.
In 1894, Congress established the Bureau of Immigration.
In 1914, President Woodrow Wilson issued his Proclamation of Neutrality, aimed at keeping the United States out of World War I.
In 1963, James Meredith became the first Black student to graduate from the University of Mississippi.
In 1969, the Woodstock Music and Art Fair in Bethel, New York, wound to a close after three nights with a mid-morning set by Jimi Hendrix.
In 1983, Hurricane Alicia slammed into the Texas coast, leaving 21 dead and causing more than a billion dollars' worth of damage.
In 1993, a judge in Sarasota, Fla., ruled that Kimberly Mays, the 14-year-old girl who had been switched at birth with another baby, need never again see her biological parents, Ernest and Regina Twigg, in accordance with her stated wishes. (However, Kimberly later moved in with the Twiggs.)
In 2014, Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon ordered the National Guard to Ferguson, a suburb of St. Louis convulsed by protests over the fatal shooting of a Black teen. Don Pardo, 96, a durable radio and television announcer known for his introductions with a booming baritone on "Saturday Night Live" and other shows, died in Tucson, Arizona.
In 2017, Steve Bannon, President Donald Trump's top White House strategist, was forced out of his post by Trump; Bannon returned immediately as executive chairman to Breitbart News, which he led before joining Trump's campaign. (Bannon would step down as Breitbart chairman in January 2018 after the release of a book in which he criticized Trump and members of his family.)