August 20
1862 - The New York Tribune published an open letter by editor Horace Greeley calling on President Abraham Lincoln to take more aggressive measures to free the slaves and end the South's rebellion.
1866 - President Andrew Johnson formally declared the Civil War over, months after fighting had stopped.
1882 - Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture" had its premiere in Moscow.
1910 - A series of wildfires swept through parts of Idaho, Montana and Washington, killing at least 85 people and burning some 3 million acres.
1940 - Exiled Communist revolutionary Leon Trotsky was assassinated in Coyoacan, Mexico by Ramon Mercader. (Trotsky died the next day.)
1953 - The Soviet Union publicly acknowledged it had tested a hydrogen bomb.
1955 - Hundreds of people were killed in anti-French rioting in Morocco and Algeria.
1964 - As part of his "Great Society" policies, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Economic Opportunity Act which, among other things, established the Head Start program.
1968 - The Soviet Union and other Warsaw Pact nations invaded Czechoslovakia.
1977 - The space probe Voyager 2 was launched by NASA. It continues to explore to this day and is now more than 7 billion miles from Earth.
1980 - Italian Reinhold Messner made the first successful solo ascent of Mount Everest and without the use of oxygen.
1986 - Postal employee Patrick Henry Sherrill went on a deadly rampage at a post office in Edmond, Oklahoma, shooting 14 fellow workers to death before killing himself.
1988 - A cease-fire in the war between Iraq and Iran went into effect.
1989 - Fifty-one people died when a pleasure boat sank in the River Thames in London after colliding with a dredger.
1998 - U.S. cruise missiles hit suspected terrorist bases in Afghanistan and Sudan.
2013 - Qatar-based Al-Jazeera Media Network launched its U.S. cable news outlet, Al-Jazeera America.
2018 - In a letter to Catholics worldwide, Pope Francis vowed that "no effort must be spared" to root out sex abuse by priests and cover-ups by the Catholic Church.
2018 - The Recording Industry of America said The Eagles' greatest hits album had surpassed Michael Jackson's "Thriller" to become the best-selling album of all time in the U.S.
Birthdays
20 - Christopher Paul Richards (actor)
28 - Liana Liberato (actress)
31 - Demi Lovato (actress/singer)
34 - Olivia Pierson (reality star)
40 - Andrew Garfield (actor)
41 - Meghan Ory (actress)
42 - Ben Barnes (actor)
48 - Monique Powell (singer)
49 - Misha Collins (actress)
49 - Amy Adams (actress)
53 - Fred Durst (singer)
54 - Billy Gardell (actor)
57 - Colin Cunningham (actor)
61 - James Marsters (actor)
67 - Joan Allen (actress)
68 - Jay Acovone (actor)
69 - Al Roker (TV weatherman)
70 - Peter Horton (actor)
71 - John Hiatt (singer)
75 - John Noble (actor)
76 - Ray Wise (actor)
77 - Connie Chung (broadcast journalist)
79 - Graig Nettles (baseball player)
92 - Don King (boxing promoter)
==============================
Today in Sports History - August 20
1920 - Representatives of four professional football clubs met in the first of two meetings in Canton, Ohio. The meetings led to the founding of the American Professional Football Association. Two years later the APFA officially became the National Football League.
1938 - Lou Gehring of the New York Yankees hits a record 23rd (and final) grand slam of his career.
1945 - Tommy Brown of the Brooklyn Dodgers became the youngest player to hit a home run in a major league ball game. Brown was 17 years, 8 months and 14 days old.
1974 - Pitching star Nolan Ryan throws a fastball measured at 100.4 mph.
1991 - Miami Dolphins quarterback Dan Marino surpasses Joe Montana as the NFL's highest-paid player with a five-year contract extension worth $25 million.
2000 - Tiger Woods won the PGA Championship and became the first player since Ben Hogan in 1953 to win three majors in one year.
2005 - Thomas Herrion (San Francisco 49ers) collapsed and died after a preseason game in Denver.
2006 - Tiger Woods wins his third PGA Championship.
2008 - Usain Bolt of Jamaica wins the Olympic gold in the men's 200 meter dash, breaking Michael Johnson's world record with a time of 19.30.
2010 - A federal grand jury indicted former baseball player Roger Clemens for lying to the U.S. Congress about steroid use. The trial ended in a mistrial.
2016 - In Rio de Janeiro, the U.S. women's basketball team won the gold medal for the sixth consecutive Olympics.
1862 - The New York Tribune published an open letter by editor Horace Greeley calling on President Abraham Lincoln to take more aggressive measures to free the slaves and end the South's rebellion.
1866 - President Andrew Johnson formally declared the Civil War over, months after fighting had stopped.
1882 - Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture" had its premiere in Moscow.
1910 - A series of wildfires swept through parts of Idaho, Montana and Washington, killing at least 85 people and burning some 3 million acres.
1940 - Exiled Communist revolutionary Leon Trotsky was assassinated in Coyoacan, Mexico by Ramon Mercader. (Trotsky died the next day.)
1953 - The Soviet Union publicly acknowledged it had tested a hydrogen bomb.
1955 - Hundreds of people were killed in anti-French rioting in Morocco and Algeria.
1964 - As part of his "Great Society" policies, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Economic Opportunity Act which, among other things, established the Head Start program.
1968 - The Soviet Union and other Warsaw Pact nations invaded Czechoslovakia.
1977 - The space probe Voyager 2 was launched by NASA. It continues to explore to this day and is now more than 7 billion miles from Earth.
1980 - Italian Reinhold Messner made the first successful solo ascent of Mount Everest and without the use of oxygen.
1986 - Postal employee Patrick Henry Sherrill went on a deadly rampage at a post office in Edmond, Oklahoma, shooting 14 fellow workers to death before killing himself.
1988 - A cease-fire in the war between Iraq and Iran went into effect.
1989 - Fifty-one people died when a pleasure boat sank in the River Thames in London after colliding with a dredger.
1998 - U.S. cruise missiles hit suspected terrorist bases in Afghanistan and Sudan.
2013 - Qatar-based Al-Jazeera Media Network launched its U.S. cable news outlet, Al-Jazeera America.
2018 - In a letter to Catholics worldwide, Pope Francis vowed that "no effort must be spared" to root out sex abuse by priests and cover-ups by the Catholic Church.
2018 - The Recording Industry of America said The Eagles' greatest hits album had surpassed Michael Jackson's "Thriller" to become the best-selling album of all time in the U.S.
Birthdays
20 - Christopher Paul Richards (actor)
28 - Liana Liberato (actress)
31 - Demi Lovato (actress/singer)
34 - Olivia Pierson (reality star)
40 - Andrew Garfield (actor)
41 - Meghan Ory (actress)
42 - Ben Barnes (actor)
48 - Monique Powell (singer)
49 - Misha Collins (actress)
49 - Amy Adams (actress)
53 - Fred Durst (singer)
54 - Billy Gardell (actor)
57 - Colin Cunningham (actor)
61 - James Marsters (actor)
67 - Joan Allen (actress)
68 - Jay Acovone (actor)
69 - Al Roker (TV weatherman)
70 - Peter Horton (actor)
71 - John Hiatt (singer)
75 - John Noble (actor)
76 - Ray Wise (actor)
77 - Connie Chung (broadcast journalist)
79 - Graig Nettles (baseball player)
92 - Don King (boxing promoter)
==============================
Today in Sports History - August 20
1920 - Representatives of four professional football clubs met in the first of two meetings in Canton, Ohio. The meetings led to the founding of the American Professional Football Association. Two years later the APFA officially became the National Football League.
1938 - Lou Gehring of the New York Yankees hits a record 23rd (and final) grand slam of his career.
1945 - Tommy Brown of the Brooklyn Dodgers became the youngest player to hit a home run in a major league ball game. Brown was 17 years, 8 months and 14 days old.
1974 - Pitching star Nolan Ryan throws a fastball measured at 100.4 mph.
1991 - Miami Dolphins quarterback Dan Marino surpasses Joe Montana as the NFL's highest-paid player with a five-year contract extension worth $25 million.
2000 - Tiger Woods won the PGA Championship and became the first player since Ben Hogan in 1953 to win three majors in one year.
2005 - Thomas Herrion (San Francisco 49ers) collapsed and died after a preseason game in Denver.
2006 - Tiger Woods wins his third PGA Championship.
2008 - Usain Bolt of Jamaica wins the Olympic gold in the men's 200 meter dash, breaking Michael Johnson's world record with a time of 19.30.
2010 - A federal grand jury indicted former baseball player Roger Clemens for lying to the U.S. Congress about steroid use. The trial ended in a mistrial.
2016 - In Rio de Janeiro, the U.S. women's basketball team won the gold medal for the sixth consecutive Olympics.
