TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT

1920

The 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, guaranteeing American women’s right to vote, was certified in effect.

ALSO ON THIS DATE

1817

The University of Michigan was founded.

1883

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

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.)

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.

1957

The Soviet Union announced it had successfully tested an intercontinental ballistic missile.

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.

1985

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

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.