Today’s highlight 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 1789, France’s National Assembly adopted its Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. In 1817, the University of Michigan was founded. In 1939, the first televised major-league baseball games were shown on experimental station W2XBS: a double-header between the Cincinnati Reds and the Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field. (The Reds won the first game, 5-2, the Dodgers the second, 6-1.)
In 1957, the Soviet Union announced it had successfully tested an intercontinental ballistic missile.
In 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson was nominated for a term of office in his own right at the Democratic National Convention in Atlantic City, N.J.
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 1978, Cardinal Albino Luciani of Venice was elected pope following the death of Paul VI; the new pontiff took the name Pope John Paul I. (However, he died just over a month later.)
In 1986, in the so-called “preppie murder case,” 18-year-old Jennifer Levin was found strangled in New York’s Central Park; Robert Chambers later pleaded guilty to manslaughter and served 15 years in prison.
In 2015, Alison Parker, a reporter for WDBJ-TV in Roanoke, Va., 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: The $95 million Hawaii Superferry made its maiden run from Oahu to Maui, the first passenger ferry service between the islands. (However, the ferry went out of business two years later.)
Five years ago: Lydia Ko, a 15-year-old South Korean-born New Zealander, won the Canadian Women’s Open to become the youngest winner in LPGA Tour history and only the fifth amateur champion. One year ago: San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick refused to stand for the national anthem before the Niners played host to the Green Bay Packers in an exhibition game, saying he believed the United States was oppressing African-Americans and other minorities. (The Packers won, 21-10.) Associated Press