TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT

Aug. 19,2004

Google began trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market, ending the day up $15.34at $100.34.

ALSO ON THIS DATE

1812

The USS Constitution defeated the British frigate HMS Guerriere off Nova Scotia during the War of 1812, earning the nickname “Old Ironsides.”

1814

During the War of 1812, British forces landed at Benedict, Maryland, with the objective of capturing Washington D.C.

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 57.4mph.

1934

Aplebiscite in Germany approved the vesting of sole executive power in Adolf Hitler.

1936

The first of a series of show trials orchestrated by Soviet leader Josef Stalin began in Moscow as 16defendants faced charges of conspiring against the government.

1942

During World War II, about 6,000Canadian and British soldiers launched a disastrous raid against the Germans at Dieppe, France, suffering more than 50percent casualties.

1976

President Gerald R. Ford won the Republican presidential nomination.

2003

A suicide truck bomb struck U.N. headquarters in Baghdad, killing 22, including the top U.N. envoy, Sergio Vieira de Mello.

2017

Thousands of demonstrators chanting anti-Nazi slogans and denouncing white nationalism upstaged a small group of conservatives in Boston who had gathered for a “free speech rally.”