Today is Friday, Aug. 26, the 239th day of 2016. There are 127 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On Aug. 26, 1968, the Democratic National Convention opened in Chicago; the four-day event was marked by a bloody police crackdown on anti-war protesters in the streets and a tumultuous nominating process that resulted in the choice of Hubert H. Humphrey for president.
On this date:
In 1789, France’s National Assembly adopted its Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen.
In 1883, the island volcano Krakatoa began cataclysmic eruptions, leading to a massive explosion the following day.
In 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.
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 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 1958, Alaskans went to the polls to overwhelmingly vote in favor of statehood.
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, New Jersey.
In 1972, the summer Olympics games opened in Munich, West Germany.
In 1978, Cardinal Albino Luciani (al-BEE’-noh loo-CHYAH’-nee) 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 1996, Democrats opened their 42nd national convention in Chicago.
In 2009, authorities in California solved the 18-year disappearance of Jaycee Lee Dugard after she appeared at a parole office with her children and the Antioch couple who’d kidnapped her when she was 11.
Ten years ago: Iran’s hard-line president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (mahk-MOOD’ ah-muh-DEE’-neh-zhahd), inaugurated a heavy-water production plant, a facility the West feared would be used to develop a nuclear bomb. Chad’s President Idriss Deby ordered California-based Chevron Corp. and Malaysian company Petronas to leave the country, saying neither had paid taxes. (The dispute over taxes was later resolved, with the two companies agreeing to pay $289 million.)
Five years ago: More than 2 million people along the Eastern Seaboard were ordered to move to safer ground as Hurricane Irene approached the coast. A Boko Haram sect member detonated a car loaded with explosives at the United Nations headquarters in Nigeria’s capital Abuja, killing 25 people and wounding more than 100 others.
One year ago: Alison Parker, a reporter for WDBJ-TV in Roanoke, Virginia, and her cameraman, Adam Ward, were shot to death during a live outdoor interview with Vicki Gardner, executive director of the Smith Mountain Lake Chamber of Commerce, by Vester Lee Flanagan, a disgruntled former station employee who then fatally shot himself while being pursued by police. (Gardner was seriously wounded in the attack.) Amelia Boynton Robinson, 104, who was widely considered the mother of the American civil rights movement, died in Montgomery, Alabama.
Today’s Birthdays: Actress Francine York is 80. Former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge is 71. Rhythm-and-blues singer Valerie Simpson is 71. Pop singer Bob Cowsill is 67. Broadcast journalist Bill Whitaker is 65. Actor Brett Cullen is 60. NBA coach Stan Van Gundy is 57. Jazz musician Branford Marsalis is 56. Country musician Jimmy Olander (Diamond Rio) is 55. Actor Chris Burke is 51. Actress-singer Shirley Manson (Garbage) is 50. Rock musician Dan Vickrey (Counting Crowes) is 50. TV writer-actress Riley Weston is 50. Rock musician Adrian Young (No Doubt) is 47. Actress Melissa McCarthy is 46. Latin pop singer Thalia is 45. Rock singer-musician Tyler Connolly (Theory of a Deadman) is 41. Actor Mike Colter is 40. Actor Macaulay Culkin is 36. Actor Chris Pine is 36. Country singer Brian Kelley (Florida Georgia Line) is 31. Rhythm-and-blues singer Cassie Ventura is 30. Actor Evan Ross is 28. Actor Dylan O’Brien is 25. Actress Keke Palmer is 23.
Thought for Today: “When the political columnists say ‘Every thinking man’ they mean themselves, and when candidates appeal to ‘Every intelligent voter’ they mean everybody who is going to vote for them.” – Franklin P. Adams, American journalist-humorist (1881-1960).
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