HIGHLIGHTS IN HISTORY

Today’s highlight: On Aug. 26, 1957, the Soviet Union announced it had successfully tested an intercontinental ballistic missile. On this date:

1883: The island volcano Krakatoa began cataclysmic eruptions, leading to a massive explosion the following day. 1910: Thomas Edison demonstrated for reporters an improved version of his Kinetophone, a device for showing a movie with synchronized sound.

1920: The 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, guaranteeing American women’s right to vote, was certified in effect by Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby.

1944: French Gen. Charles de Gaulle braved the threat of German snipers as he led a victory march in Paris, which had just been liberated by the Allies from Nazi occupation. 1958: favor of Alaskans statehood. went to the polls to overwhelmingly vote in

1964: a term of President office in Lyndon his own B. right Johnson at the Democratic was nominated National for Convention in Atlantic City, New Jersey. 1968: The Democratic National Convention opened in Chicago; the four-day event that resulted in the nomination of Hubert H. Humphrey for president was marked by a bloody police crackdown on antiwar protesters in the streets. 1972: The summer Olympics games opened in Munich, West Germany.

2015: Alison Parker, a reporter for WDBJ-TV in Roanoke, Virginia, and her cameraman, Adam Ward, were shot to death during a live broadcast by a disgruntled former station employee who fatally shot himself while being pursued by police. Ten years ago: Hurricane Gustav struck Haiti, causing widespread flooding and landslides; the storm went on to kill at least 78 people in the Caribbean.

Five years ago: President Barack Obama bestowed the Medal of Honor on Army Staff Sgt. Ty Carter, who’d risked his life to save an injured soldier, resupply ammunition to his comrades and render first aid during intense fighting in a remote mountain outpost in Afghanistan.