Wikipedia: August 18

August 18
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

August 18 is the 230th day of the year (231st in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 135 days remaining.

Events

293 BC - Oldest known Roman temple to Venus founded, institution of Vinalia Rustica begins.
1587 - Virginia Dare, granddaughter of Gov. John White of the Colony of Roanoke, becomes the first English child born in the Americas.
1590 - John White, the governor of the Colony of Roanoke, returns from a supply-trip to England and finds his settlement deserted.
1864 - American Civil War: Battle of Weldon Railroad - Forces under Union General Ulysses S. Grant try to cut a vital Confederate supply-line into Petersburg, Virginia, by attacking the Weldon Railroad forcing the Confederates to use wagons.
1920 - 19th Amendment to US constitution is passed, guaranteeing women's suffrage.
1938 - The Thousand Islands Bridge, connecting the United States with Canada, is dedicated by US President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
1941 - Holocaust: Adolf Hitler orders an end to the systematic euthanasia of mentally ill and handicapped persons due to protests within Germany.
1958 - Vladimir Nabokov's controversial novel Lolita is published in the United States.
1963 - American civil rights movement: James Meredith becomes the first black person to graduate from the University of Mississippi.
1965 - Vietnam War: Operation Starlite begins - 5,500 United States Marines destroy a Viet Cong stronghold on the Van Tuong peninsula in Quang Ngai Province in the first major American ground battle of the war. The Marines were tipped-off by a Viet Cong deserter who said that there was an attack planned against the US base at Chu Lai.
1971 - Vietnam War: Australia and New Zealand decide to withdraw their troops from Vietnam.
1976 - In North Korea at Panmunjom, two US soldiers are killed while trying to chop down part of a tree in the DMZ which had obscured their view.
1983 - Hurricane Alicia hits the Texas coast, killing 22 and causing over US$1 billion in damage (1983 dollars).
1989 - Leading presidential hopeful Luis Carlos Galan is assassinated near Bogota in Columbia.
1991 - Collapse of the Soviet Union: Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev is put under house arrest while he was vacationing in the Crimea. The coup was led by eight high-ranking hard-liners (the coup will collapse in less than 72 hours).
1992 - After 13 years with the Boston Celtics, basketball player Larry Bird announces his retirement citing back problems.
1992 - Wang Laboratories files for bankruptcy.

Births

1587 - Virginia Dare, first English child born in North America († 1588)
1750 - Antonio Salieri, composer († 1825)
1774 - Meriwether Lewis, explorer († 1809)
1830 - Emperor Franz Josef I of Austria († 1916)
1896 - Jack Pickford, actor, Hollywood's first "bad boy", († 1933)
1904 - Max Factor, cosmetics entrepreneur († 1996)
1917 - Caspar Weinberger, former United States Secretary of Defense
1918 - Walter Joseph Hickel, former Governor of Alaska, former US Secretary of the Interior
1922 - Shelley Winters, actress
1925 - Brian Aldiss, writer
1927 - Rosalynn Carter, First Lady
1932 - William R. Bennett, Premier of British Columbia
1933 - Roman Polanski, director, actor
1934 - Roberto Clemente, baseball Hall of Famer
1934 - Vincent Bugliosi, prosecuting attorney in the Charles Manson case
1935 - Rafer Johnson, Olympic Games gold medalist
1937 - Robert Redford, actor, director
1943 - Martin Mull, comedian, actor
1945 - Barbara Harris, singer, formerly of the group the Toys
1952 - Patrick Swayze, actor
1952 - Elayne Boosler, comedienne
1957 - Denis Leary, comedian, actor
1958 - Madeleine Stowe, actress
1969 - Christian Slater, actor
1969 - Edward Norton, actor
1970 - Malcolm-Jamal Warner, actor

Deaths

472 - Ricimer, Roman general
1227 - Genghis Khan, Mongol leader
1276 - Pope Adrian V, newly elected pope
1809 - Matthew Boulton, pioneering industrialist and member of the Lunar Society
1850 - Honoré de Balzac, writer
1940 - Walter P. Chrysler, automobile mogul
1963 - Clifford Odets, playwright
1983 - Nikolaus Pevsner, art historian

Holidays and observances

Roman Empire - Vinalia Rustica celebrated in honor of Venus commemorating the founding of the oldest known temple to her in 293 BC on this date.

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