August 19

Events

• 1561 - Mary Stuart returns to Scotland.
• 1692 - Salem Witch Trials: In Salem, Massachusetts five women and a clergyman are executed after being convicted of witchcraft.
• 1812 - War of 1812: USS Constitution defeats the British frigate Guerrière off the coast of Nova Scotia. The British shot is said to have bounced off the Constitutions sides, earning her the nickname "Old Ironsides".
• 1813 - Gervasio Antonio de Posadas joins Argentina's second triumvirate.
• 1848 - California Gold Rush: The New York Herald breaks the news to the East Coast of the United States, that there is a gold rush in California (although the rush started in January).
• 1862 - Indian Wars: During an uprising in Minnesota, Lakota warriors decide not to attack heavily-defended Fort Ridgely and instead turn to the settlement of New Ulm, killing white settlers along the way.
• 1895 - American frontier murderer and outlaw, John Wesley Hardin, is killed by an off-duty policeman in a saloon in El Paso, Texas.
• 1919 - Afghanistan gains independence from the United Kingdom.
• 1929 - The radio comedy show Amos and Andy makes its NBC debut starring Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll.
• 1934 - The first All-American Soap Box Derby is held in Dayton, Ohio.
• 1942 - World War II: The Dieppe Raid - Allied forces raid Dieppe in France.
• 1945 - Vietnam War: Viet Minh led by Ho Chi Minh take power in Hanoi, Vietnam.
• 1953 - Cold War: The CIA helps to overthrow the government of Mohammed Mossadegh in Iran and reinstate the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
• 1955 - In the Northeast United States, severe flooding caused by Hurricane Diane, claims 200 lives.
• 1960 - Cold War: In Moscow, downed American U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers is sentenced to ten years imprisonment by the Soviet Union for espionage.
• 1960 - Sputnik program: The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 5 with the dogs Belka and Strelka (Russian for "Squirrel" and "Little Arrow"), 40 mice, 2 rats and a variety of plants. The spacecraft will return to earth the next day and all animals will be recovered safely.
• 1980 - A Saudi Arabian Airlines Tristar burned after making an emergency landing in Riyadh Saudia Arabiakilling 301
• 1981 - Libyan leader Omar Khadafi sends two Sukoi Su-22 fighter jets to take on a couple of United States fighters over the Gulf of Sidra. The American jets destroyed the Libyan fighters.
• 1987 - Hungerford Massacre: In the United Kingdom, Michael Ryan kills 16 with an assault rifle and then commits suicide.
• 1989 - Polish president Wojciech Jaruzelski nominates Solidarity activist Tadeusz Mazowiecki to be Prime Minister, thus becoming the first non-communist in Polish power in 42 years.
• 1993 - The television sitcom, Cheers ends an 11-year run on NBC (the show debuted on September 30, 1982).
• 1999 - In Belgrade, tens of thousands of Serbians rally to demand the resignation of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic.
• 2002 - A Russian Mi-26 helicopter troop carrier is hit by a Chechen missile near Grozny killing more than 118

Births

• 1870 - Bernard Baruch, financier († 1965)
• 1871 - Orville Wright, aviator († 1958)
• 1875 - Stjepan Seljan, explorer Croatia(† 1936)
• 1883 - Coco Chanel, clothing designer († 1971)
• 1892 - Alfred Lunt, actor († 1977)
• 1902 - Ogden Nash, poet († 1971)
• 1906 - Philo T. Farnsworth, inventor, television pioneer († 1971)
• 1907 - Thruston B. Morton, former Representative and Senator from Kentucky († 1982)
• 1916 - Marie Wilson, actress († 1972)
• 1915 - Ring Lardner, Jr., actor, screenwriter († 2000)
• 1919 - Malcolm Forbes, publisher († 1990)
• 1921 - Gene Roddenberry, author, producer († 1991)
• 1925 - Claude Gauvreau, Quebec playwright, poet and polemist († 1971)
• 1930 - Frank McCourt, author
• 1931 - Willie Shoemaker, jockey († 2003)
• 1938 - Diana Muldaur, actress, dog breeder, dog judge
• 1939 - Ginger Baker, drummer, trumpet player
• 1940 - Johnny Nash, singer
• 1940 - Jill St. John, actress
• 1942 - Fred Thompson, Watergate counsel, Senator from Tennessee, actor
• 1946 - Beat Raaflaub, conductor
• 1946 - Bill Clinton, U.S. president
• 1948 - Tipper Gore, author, activist for "Parental Advisory" labels on music
• 1952 - Jonathan Frakes, actor, director
• 1954 - Mary Matalin, Republican Party political activist
• 1956 - Peter Gallagher, actor
• 1963 - John Stamos, actor
• 1965 - Kevin Dillon, actor
• 1965 - Kyra Sedgwick, actress
• 1969 - Matthew Perry, actor
• 1973 - Crown Princess Mette Marit of Norway

Deaths

• 14 - Augustus, Roman emperor
• 1662 - Blaise Pascal, mathematician, physicist and religious philosopher
• 1819 - James Watt, engineer
• 1895 - John Wesley Hardin, gunfighter
• 1936 - Federico García Lorca, author
• 1957 - David Bomberg, painter
• 1967 - Hugo Gernsback, editor, publisher
• 1970 - Paweł Jasienica, Polish historian (* 1909)
• 1976 - Alastair Cook, journalist, television host
• 1977 - Groucho Marx, comedian, actor
• 1980 - Otto Frank, father of Anne Frank
• 1994 - Linus Pauling, chemist, peace activist
• 1995 - Pierre Schaeffer, composer and pioneer of musique concrete

Holidays and observances

• Afghan Independence Day see above: 1919

August 18 - August 20 - July 19 - September 19 -- listing of all days

January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December

Referenced By