Also on this date
In 1812, the USS Constitution defeated the British frigate HMS Guerriere off Nova Scotia during the War of 1812, earning the nickname “Old Ironsides.”
In 1814, during the War of 1812, British forces landed at Benedict, Maryland, with the objective of capturing Washington, D.C.
In 1848, the New York Herald reported the discovery of gold in California.
In 1909, the first automobile races were run at the just-opened Indianapolis Motor Speedway; the winner of the first event was auto engineer Louis Schwitzer, who drove a Stoddard-Dayton touring car twice around the 2.5-mile track at an average speed of 57.4 mph.
In 1934, a plebiscite in Germany approved the vesting of sole executive power in Adolf Hitler.
In 1942, during World War II, about 6,000 Canadian and British soldiers launched a disastrous raid against the Germans at Dieppe, France, suffering more than 50% casualties.
In 1960, a tribunal in Moscow convicted American U2 pilot Francis Gary Powers of espionage. (Although sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment, Powers was returned to the United States in 1962 as part of a prisoner exchange.)
In 1991, rioting erupted in the Brooklyn, New York, Crown Heights neighborhood after a Black 7-yearold, Gavin Cato, was struck and killed by a Jewish driver from the ultra-Orthodox Lubavitch community; three hours later, a mob of Black youth fatally stabbed Yankel Rosenbaum, a rabbinical student.
Ten years ago: Three men — Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jesse Misskelley — who’d spent nearly two decades in prison for the slayings of three Cub Scouts in Arkansas, went free after agreeing a legal maneuver allowing them to maintain their innocence while acknowledging prosecutors had enough evidence against them.
Five years ago: The Obama administration defended its decision to make a $400 million cash delivery to Iran contingent on the release of American prisoners, saying itwasn’t ransom because the Islamic Republic would have soon recouped the money one way or another.
One year ago: Kamala Harris accepted the Democratic nomination for vice president in a speech to the party’s virtual convention. She became the first Black woman on a major-party ticket.
Associated Press