This Day in History

On Aug. 26, 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.

On this date:

In 1883, the island volcano Krakatoa began cataclysmic eruptions, leading to a massive explosion the following day.

In 1910, Thomas Edison demonstrated for reporters an improved version of his Kinetophone, a device for showing a movie with synchronized sound.

In 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.

In 1957, the Soviet Union announced it had successfully tested an intercontinental ballistic missile.

In 1958, Alaskans went to the polls to overwhelmingly vote in favor of statehood.

In 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.

In 1971, New Jersey Gov. William T. Cahill announced that the New York Giants football team had agreed to leave Yankee Stadium for a new sports complex to be built in East Rutherford.

In 1972, the summer Olympics games opened in Munich, West Germany.

In 1974, Charles Lindbergh — the first man to fly solo, non-stop across the Atlantic — died at his home in Hawaii at age 72.

In 1985, 13-year-old AIDS patient Ryan White began “attending” classes at Western Middle School in Kokomo, Indiana, via a telephone hook-up at his home – school officials had barred Ryan from attending classes in person.

In 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.

In 2017, Hurricane Harvey spun into Texas, unloading extraordinary amounts of rain. (The hurricane killed nearly 70 people, damaged more than 300,000 structures and caused an estimated $125 billion in damage.)