Today in History – August 21 in History
What happened on this day in history – August 21 in History around the world
1129 | The warrior Yoritomo is made Shogun without equal in Japan. | |
1525 | Estavao Gomes returns to Portugal after failing to find a clear waterway to Asia. | |
1794 | France surrenders the island of Corsica to the British. | |
1808 | Napoleon Bonaparte’s General Junot is defeated by Wellington at the first Battle of the Peninsular War at Vimiero, Portugal. | |
1831 | Nat Turner leads a slave revolt in Southampton County, Virginia that kills close to 60 whites. | |
1858 | The first of a series of debates begins between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas. Douglas goes on to win the Senate seat in November, but Lincoln gains national visibility for the first time. | |
1863 | Confederate raiders under William Quantrill strike Lawrence, Kansas, leaving 150 civilians dead. | |
1864 | Confederate General A.P. Hill attacks Union troops south of Petersburg, Va., at the Weldon railroad. His attack is repulsed, resulting in heavy Confederate casualties. | |
1915 | Italy declares war on Turkey. | |
1942 | U.S. Marines turn back the first major Japanese ground attack on Guadalcanal in the Battle of Tenaru. | |
1944 | The Dumbarton Oaks conference, which lays the foundation for the establishment of the United Nations, is held in Washington, D.C. | |
1945 | President Harry S. Truman cancels all contracts under the Lend-Lease Act. | |
1959 | Hawaii is admitted into the Union. | |
1963 | The South Vietnamese Army arrests over 100 Buddhist monks in Saigon. | |
1968 | Soviet forces invade Czechoslovakia because of the country’s experiments with a more liberal government. | |
1972 | US orbiting astronomy observatory Copernicus launched. | |
1976 | Mary Langdon in Battle, East Sussex, becomes Britain’s first firewoman. | |
1976 | Operation Paul Bunyan: after North Korean guards killed two American officers sent to trim a poplar tree along the DMZ on Aug. 18, US and ROK soldiers with heavy support chopped down the tree. | |
1986 | In Cameroon 2,000 die from poison gas from a volcanic eruption. | |
1988 | Ceasefire in the 8-year war between Iran and Iraq. | |
1989 | Voyager 2 begins a flyby of planet Neptune. | |
1991 | Communist hardliners’ coup is crushed in USSR after just 2 days; Latvia declares independence from USSR. | |
1994 | Ernesto Zedillo wins Mexico’s presidential election. | |
1996 | The new Globe theater opens in England. | |
2000 | Tiger Woods wins golf’s PGA Championship, the first golfer to win 3 majors in a calendar year since Ben Hogan in 1953. | |
2001 | NATO decides to send a peacekeeping force to the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. | |
Born on August 21 | ||
1798 | Jules Michelet, French historian who wrote the 24-volume Historie de France. | |
1904 | William “Count” Basie, American band leader and composer. | |
1936 | Wilt Chamberlin, four-time MVP for the National Basketball Association and only player to score 100 points in a professional basketball game. | |
1938 | Kenny Rogers, singer, actor; one of top-selling artists of all time; voted Favorite Singer of All Time in 1986 poll. | |
1944 | Jackie DeShannon (Sharon Lee Meyers), singer/songwriter (“Lonely Girl,” “What the World Needs Now”); toured as The Beatles opening act in 1964; inducted into Songwriters Hall of Fame, 2010. | |
1944 | Peter Weir, film director; among the leaders of Australian New Wave cinema (Picnic at Hanging Rock, Gallipoli); Academy Award nominee (Dead Poets Society, Master and Commander). | |
1950 | Arthur Bremer, attempted assassin who shot segregationist Alabama governor George C. Wallace in May 1972. | |
1951 | Harry Smith, TV co-anchor (The Early Show and its predecessor CBS Morning Show, 1987–96, 2002–10). | |
1952 | Joe Strummer, lead singer of British punk band The Clash (“Rock the Casbah”). | |
1953 | Ivan Stang (Douglass St. Clair Smith), writer, Church of the SubGenius. | |
1954 | Archie Griffin, NFL running back; only college player to win two Heisman trophies (Ohio State) and first player to start in four Rose Bowls; member, College Football Hall of Fame. | |
1956 | Kim Cattrall, actress (Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, Sex in the City TV series). | |
1961 | Stephen Hillenburg, animator and cartoonist; created character of Spongebob Squarepants. | |
1973 | Sergey Brin, co-founder of Google. |