Today is Sunday, Aug. 30, the 243rd day of 2020. There are 123 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On August 30, 1967, the Senate confirmed the appointment of Thurgood Marshall as the first Black justice on the U.S. Supreme Court.
On this date:
In 1797, Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, creator of “Frankenstein,” was born in London.
In 1861, Union Gen. John C. Fremont instituted martial law in Missouri and declared slaves there to be free. (However, Fremont’s emancipation order was countermanded by President Abraham Lincoln.)
In 1945, U.S. Gen. Douglas MacArthur arrived in Japan to set up Allied occupation headquarters.
In 1983, Guion (GY’-un) S. Bluford Jr. became the first Black American astronaut to travel in space as he blasted off aboard the Challenger.
In 1986, Soviet authorities arrested Nicholas Daniloff, a correspondent for U.S. News and World Report, as a spy a week after American officials arrested Gennadiy Zakharov, a Soviet employee of the United Nations, on espionage charges in New York. (Both men were later released.)
In 1993, “The Late Show with David Letterman” premiered on CBS-TV.
In 1997, Americans received word of the car crash in Paris that claimed the lives of Princess Diana, her boyfriend, Dodi Fayed (DOH’-dee FY’-ehd), and their driver, Henri (AHN’-ree) Paul. (Because of the time difference, it was August 31 where the crash occurred.)
In 2002, With just hours to spare, baseball averted a strike; it was the first time since 1970 that players and owners had agreed to a new collective bargaining agreement without a work stoppage.
In 2005, a day after Hurricane Katrina hit, floods were covering 80 percent of New Orleans, looting continued to spread and rescuers in helicopters and boats picked up hundreds of stranded people.
In 2007, in a serious breach of nuclear security, a B-52 bomber armed with six nuclear warheads flew cross-country unnoticed; the Air Force later punished 70 people.
In 2012, Mitt Romney launched his fall campaign for the White House with a rousing, personal speech to the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida, proclaiming that America needs “jobs, lots of jobs.”
In 2017, the former Hurricane Harvey completed a U-turn in the Gulf of Mexico and rolled ashore for the second time in six days, hitting southwestern Louisiana as a tropical storm with heavy rains and winds of 45 miles an hour. Floodwaters began to recede in Houston, where thousands of homes were flooded.
Ten years ago: Vice President Joe Biden flew into Baghdad, where he sought to reassure Iraq that America was not abandoning it as the U.S. military stepped back. An enormous drill began preliminary work on carving a half-mile chimney through solid rock to free 33 men trapped in a Chilean mine. Texas-born fugitive Edgar Valdez Villarreal, a suspected drug lord known as “the Barbie,” was arrested in Mexico. Seven-time Cy Young winner Roger Clemens pleaded not guilty in Washington to charges of lying to Congress about whether he’d used steroids or human growth hormone. (Clemens went on trial in July 2011; the case abruptly ended in a mistrial. He was acquitted in a retrial.)
Five years ago: The White House announced that President Barack Obama would change the name of North America’s tallest mountain peak from Mount McKinley to Denali, bestowing the traditional Alaska Native name on the eve of a historic presidential visit to Alaska. Jake Arrieta pitched the sixth no-hitter of the season and second against the Los Angeles Dodgers in 10 days, leading the Chicago Cubs to a 2-0 victory. Tokyo won the Little League World Series, defeating Lewisberry, Pennsylvania, 18-11. Movie writer-director Wes Craven, 76, who startled audiences with suburban slashers like “Nightmare on Elm Street” and “Scream,” died in Los Angeles. Neurologist Dr. Oliver Sacks, 82, author of “The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat,” died in New York.
One year ago: Valerie Harper, a breakout star on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” and then her own series, “Rhoda,” died at the age of 80; she had been battling cancer for years. Sirhan Sirhan, who’d been imprisoned for more than 50 years for the 1968 assassination of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, was hospitalized after being stabbed by a fellow inmate at a San Diego prison. Hackers briefly gained control of Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey’s account, sending racist and vulgar tweets to his 4.2 million followers. A Texas coroner’s report said Los Angeles Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs had died in July with a toxic mix of alcohol and the powerful painkillers fentanyl and oxycodone in his system.
Today’s Birthdays: Actor Elizabeth Ashley is 81. Actor Ben Jones is 79. Actor John Kani is 78. Cartoonist R. Crumb is 77. Olympic gold medal skier Jean-Claude Killy (zhahn-KLOHD’ kee-LEE’) is 77. Comedian Lewis Black is 72. Actor Timothy Bottoms is 69. Actor David Paymer is 66. Jazz musician Gerald Albright is 63. Actor Michael Chiklis is 57. Actor Michael Michele is 54. Country musician Geoff Firebaugh is 52. Country singer Sherrie Austin is 49. Rock singer-musician Lars Frederiksen (Rancid) is 49. Actor Cameron Diaz is 48. Rock musician Leon Caffrey (formerly w/Space) is 47. TV personality Lisa Ling is 47. Rock singer-musician Aaron Barrett (Reel Big Fish) is 46. Actor Raúl Castillo is 43. Actor Michael Gladis is 43. Rock musician Matt Taul (Tantric; Days of the New) is 42. MLB pitcher Adam Wainwright is 39. Tennis player Andy Roddick is 38. Singer Rachael Price (Lake Street Dive) is 35. Rock musician Ryan Ross is 34. Actor Johanna Braddy is 33. Actor Cameron Finley is 33.
