Today in History

Today’s highlight:

On Aug. 22, 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.

On this date:

1787: Inventor John Fitch demonstrated his steamboat on the Delaware River to delegates from the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia.

1910: Japan annexed Korea, which remained under Japanese control until the end of World War II.

1932: The British Broadcasting Corp. conducted its first experimental television broadcast, using a 30-line mechanical system.

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.

1972: President Richard Nixon was nominated for a second term of office by the Republican National Convention in Miami Beach.

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 comingof-age film “Stand By Me” was put into wide release by Columbia Pictures.

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.

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.

1996: President Bill Clinton signed welfare legislation ending guaranteed cash payments to the poor and demanding work from recipients.

2003: Alabama’s chief justice, Roy Moore, was suspended for his refusal to obey a federal court order to remove his Ten Commandments monument from the rotunda of his courthouse.

Ten years ago: Dozens of wildfires broke out across Greece, torching olive groves, cutting off villages and sending residents fleeing as one of the largest blazes swept perilously close to the capital’s northern suburbs.

Five years ago: Tensions between Russia and Ukraine escalated sharply as Moscow sent more than 130 trucks rolling across the border in what it said was a mission to deliver humanitarian aid.

One year ago: President Donald Trump accused his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, of making up stories in order to get a deal from federal prosecutors.