August 20
1858 - Charles Darwin's theory of evolution was first published, in the "Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society."
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 enslaved people and end the South's rebellion.
1866 - President Andrew Johnson declared an official end to the U.S. Civil War.
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 more than 3 million acres.
1940 - Exiled Communist revolutionary Leon Trotsky was attacked in Coyoacan, Mexico by assassin Ramon Mercader. (Trotsky died the next day.)
1964 - As part of his Great Society policies, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Economic Opportunity Act, a $1 billion anti-poverty measure which, among other things, established the Head Start program.
1968 - The Soviet Union and other Warsaw Pact nations invaded Czechoslovakia to crush the "Prague Spring" liberalization movement.
1977 - The space probe Voyager 2 was launched. 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 the first without the use of supplemental 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.
1989 - Fifty-one people died when the pleasure boat Marchioness sank in the River Thames (tehmz) in London after being struck by a dredger.
1998 - The United States launched cruise missiles on suspected terrorist bases in Afghanistan and Sudan.
2023 - Tropical Storm Hilary struck Baja California, killing three and causing $15 million in damages.
Birthdays
29 - Liana Liberato (actress)
32 - Demi Lovato (actress/singer)
32 - Neslihan Atagul (actress)
41 - Andrew Garfield (actor)
43 - Ben Barnes (actor)
50 - Misha Collins (actor)
50 - Amy Adams (actress)
51 - Todd Helton (baseball player)
54 - Fred Durst (singer)
55 - Billy Gardell (actor)
57 - Colin Cunningham (actor)
68 - Joan Allen (actress)
70 - Al Roker (TV weatherman)
71 - Peter Horton (actor)
72 - John Hiatt (singer)
72 - Rudy Gatlin (singer)
76 - Robert Plant (singer)
78 - Connie Chung (broadcast journalist)
93 - Don King (boxing promoter)
================================
Today in Sports History - August 20
1920 - The American Professional Football Association was established by representatives of four professional football teams; two years later, with 18 teams, it would be renamed the National Football League.
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.
1948 - Cleveland’s Indians and Chicago’s White Sox played at Municipal Stadium in Cleveland before a crowd of 78,382 people. It was the largest crowd to see a nighttime major-league baseball game to date.
1974 - Nolan Ryan throws the fastest recorded pitch in MLB history to date at 100.4 mph.
1991 - Miami Dolphins quarterback Dan Marino surpasses Joe Montana as the NFL's highest-paid player, signing a five-year contract worth $25 million.
2000 - In winning the PGA Championship, Tiger Woods became the first golfer 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.
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.
2012 - After 80 years in existence, Georgia's Augusta National Golf Club (home of the annual Masters tournament) invited former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and South Carolina financier Darla Moore to become its first female members; both accepted.
2016 - In Rio de Janeiro, the U.S. women's basketball team won the gold medal for the sixth consecutive Olympics.
2023 - Spain defeats England 1-0 to win the Women's World Cup.
1858 - Charles Darwin's theory of evolution was first published, in the "Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society."
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 enslaved people and end the South's rebellion.
1866 - President Andrew Johnson declared an official end to the U.S. Civil War.
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 more than 3 million acres.
1940 - Exiled Communist revolutionary Leon Trotsky was attacked in Coyoacan, Mexico by assassin Ramon Mercader. (Trotsky died the next day.)
1964 - As part of his Great Society policies, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Economic Opportunity Act, a $1 billion anti-poverty measure which, among other things, established the Head Start program.
1968 - The Soviet Union and other Warsaw Pact nations invaded Czechoslovakia to crush the "Prague Spring" liberalization movement.
1977 - The space probe Voyager 2 was launched. 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 the first without the use of supplemental 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.
1989 - Fifty-one people died when the pleasure boat Marchioness sank in the River Thames (tehmz) in London after being struck by a dredger.
1998 - The United States launched cruise missiles on suspected terrorist bases in Afghanistan and Sudan.
2023 - Tropical Storm Hilary struck Baja California, killing three and causing $15 million in damages.
Birthdays
29 - Liana Liberato (actress)
32 - Demi Lovato (actress/singer)
32 - Neslihan Atagul (actress)
41 - Andrew Garfield (actor)
43 - Ben Barnes (actor)
50 - Misha Collins (actor)
50 - Amy Adams (actress)
51 - Todd Helton (baseball player)
54 - Fred Durst (singer)
55 - Billy Gardell (actor)
57 - Colin Cunningham (actor)
68 - Joan Allen (actress)
70 - Al Roker (TV weatherman)
71 - Peter Horton (actor)
72 - John Hiatt (singer)
72 - Rudy Gatlin (singer)
76 - Robert Plant (singer)
78 - Connie Chung (broadcast journalist)
93 - Don King (boxing promoter)
================================
Today in Sports History - August 20
1920 - The American Professional Football Association was established by representatives of four professional football teams; two years later, with 18 teams, it would be renamed the National Football League.
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.
1948 - Cleveland’s Indians and Chicago’s White Sox played at Municipal Stadium in Cleveland before a crowd of 78,382 people. It was the largest crowd to see a nighttime major-league baseball game to date.
1974 - Nolan Ryan throws the fastest recorded pitch in MLB history to date at 100.4 mph.
1991 - Miami Dolphins quarterback Dan Marino surpasses Joe Montana as the NFL's highest-paid player, signing a five-year contract worth $25 million.
2000 - In winning the PGA Championship, Tiger Woods became the first golfer 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.
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.
2012 - After 80 years in existence, Georgia's Augusta National Golf Club (home of the annual Masters tournament) invited former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and South Carolina financier Darla Moore to become its first female members; both accepted.
2016 - In Rio de Janeiro, the U.S. women's basketball team won the gold medal for the sixth consecutive Olympics.
2023 - Spain defeats England 1-0 to win the Women's World Cup.
