Today’s highlight in history
On Aug. 16, 1977, Elvis Presley died at his Graceland estate in Memphis, Tenn., at age 42.
On this date
In 1812, Detroit fell to British and Indian forces in the War of 1812.
In 1920, Ray Chapman of the Cleveland Indians was struck in the head by a pitch thrown by Carl Mays of the New York Yankees; Chapman died the following morning.
In 1948, baseball legend Babe Ruth died in New York at age 53. In 1954, Sports Illustrated was first published by Time Inc.
In 1962, The Beatles fired their original drummer, Pete Best, replacing him with Ringo Starr.
In 1987, people worldwide began a two-day celebration of the “harmonic convergence,” which heralded what believers called the start of a new, purer age of humankind.
In 2003, Idi Amin, the former dictator of Uganda, died in Jiddah, Saudi Arabia; he was believed to have been about 80.
Ten years ago: At the Beijing Olympics, Michael Phelps touched the wall a hundredth of a second ahead of Serbia’s Milorad Cavic to win the 100-meter butterfly, giving Phelps his seventh gold medal of the Games, tying Mark Spitz’s performance in the 1972 Munich Games.
Five years ago: In a spacewalk lasting seven hours and 29 minutes, Russian cosmonauts rigged cable outside the International Space Station for a new lab that was due to arrive in a few months.
One year ago: President Donald Trump disbanded two White House business councils, amid criticism from CEOs for his remarks on the violence in Charlottesville, Va.