TODAY IN HISTORY
Today is Thursday, Aug. 16, the 228th day of 2018. There are 137 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On August 16, 1987, 156 people were killed when Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashed while trying to take off from Detroit; the sole survivor was 4-year-old Cecelia Cichan.
On this date:
In 1812, Detroit fell to British and Indian forces in the War of 1812.
In 1858, a telegraphed message from Britain’s Queen Victoria to President James Buchanan was transmitted over the recently laid trans-Atlantic cable.
In 1861, President Abraham Lincoln issued Proclamation 86, which prohibited the states of the Union from engaging in commercial trade with states that were in rebellion—i.e., the Confederacy.
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 1977, Elvis Presley died at his Graceland estate in Memphis, Tenn., at age 42.
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 1991, Pope John Paul II began the first-ever papal visit to Hungary.
In 2003, Idi Amin, the former dictator of Uganda, died in Jiddah, Saudi Arabia.
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 100meter butterfly, giving Phelps his seventh gold medal of the Games, tying Mark Spitz’s performance in the 1972 Munich Games. Usain Bolt of Jamaica ran the 100-meter dash in a stunning world-record time of 9.69 seconds. Talk show host Ellen DeGeneres and actress Portia de Rossi were married at their Beverly Hills home.
Today’s Birthdays: Actress Ann Blyth is 90. Actor Gary Clarke is 85. Actress Julie Newmar is 85. Actress-singer Ketty Lester is 84. Actor John Standing is 84. College Football Hall of Famer and NFL player Bill Glass is 83. Actress Anita Gillette is 82. Actress Carole Shelley is 79. Country singer Billy Joe Shaver is 79. Movie director Bruce Beresford is 78. Actor Bob Balaban is 73. Ballerina Suzanne Farrell is 73. Actress Lesley Ann Warren is 72. Rock singer-musician Joey Spampinato is 70. Actor Marshall Manesh is 68. Actor Reginald VelJohnson is 66. TV personality Kathie Lee Gifford is 65. Rhythm-and-blues singer J.T. Taylor is 65. Movie director James Cameron is
64. Actor Jeff Perry is 63. Rock musician Tim Farriss (INXS) is
61. Actress Laura Innes is 61. Singer Madonna is 60. Actress Angela Bassett is 60. Actor Timothy Hutton is 58. Actor Steve Carell is 56.
Thought for Today :“The most persistent threat to freedom, to the rights of Americans ,is fear.”—George Me any( born this date in 1894, diedin1980).