Today is Sunday, August 18, the 231st day of 2024. There are 135 days left in the year.
Today in History:
On August 18, 1920, the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, guaranteeing American women’s suffrage, was ratified, as Tennessee became the 36th state to approve it.
Also this date:
In 1590, John White, the governor of the Roanoke Island colony (in present-day North Carolina), returned to Roanoke after nearly three years abroad only to find the settlement deserted; the fate of the “lost colony” remains a mystery.
In 1914, President Woodrow Wilson issued his Proclamation of Neutrality, which aimed to keep the United States out of World War I.
In 1958, Vladimir Nabokov’s novel Lolita was published in the United States.
In 1963, James Meredith became the first black student to graduate from the University of Mississippi.
In 1969, the Woodstock Music and Art Fair in Bethel, New York closed after three nights with a mid-morning set by Jimi Hendrix.
In 1983, Hurricane Alicia slammed into the Texas coast, killing 21 and causing more than a billion dollars in damage.
In 2004, in Athens, Paul Hamm (hahm) won the men’s Olympic gold medal in the all-around gymnastics by the closest margin ever in the event; controversy followed after it was discovered that a scoring error cost Yang Tae-young of South Korea the title.
In 2005, a judge in Wichita, Kansas, sentenced BTK serial killer Dennis Rader to 10 consecutive life terms, the maximum the law would allow.
In 2014, Missouri Governor Jay Nixon ordered the National Guard to Ferguson, a suburb of St. Louis, convulsed by protests over the shooting death of a black 18-year-old, Michael Brown.
Today’s birthdays:
- Actor and director Robert Redford is 88 years old.
- The actress Carole Bouquet is 67 years old.
- Actor Denis Leary is 67 years old.
- The actress Madeleine Stowe is 66 years old.
- ABC News reporter Bob Woodruff is 63 years old.
- Actor Edward Norton is 55.
- Actor Christian Slater is 55.
- Actor Malcolm-Jamal Warner is 54.
- Actress Kaitlin Olson is 49.
- Actor-comedian Andy Samberg is 46 years old.
- Artist model Frances Bean Cobain is 32.
- Actor and singer Maia Mitchell is 31 years old.
- The actress Madelaine Petsch is 30 years old.
- Olympic gold swimmer Summer McIntosh is 18 years old.