August 16

August 16 is the 228th day of the year (229th in leap years) in the
Gregorian Calendar. There are 137 days remaining.

Events

   * 1777 - American Revolutionary War: Battle of Bennington - British
     forces are defeated by American troops.
   * 1780 - American Revolutionary War: Battle of Camden - The British
     defeat the Americans near Camden, South Carolina.
   * 1812 - War of 1812: American General William Hull surrenders Fort
     Detroit without a fight to the British Army.
   * 1841 - US President John Tyler vetoes a bill which called for the
     establishment of the Second Bank of the United States. Engaged Whig
     party members riot outside the White House in the most violent
     demonstration on White House grounds in US history.
   * 1858 - US President James Buchanan inaugurates the new transatlantic
     telegraph cable cable by exchanging greetings with Queen Victoria of
     the United Kingdom. However, a weak signal will force a shutdown of the
     service in a few weeks.
   * 1896 - George Carmack discovers gold in the Klondike.
   * 1920 - Ray Chapman of the Cleveland Indians is hit in his head and
     fatally wounded with a fastball from Carl Mays of the New York Yankees.
     Chapman will die early the next day, becoming the only person to ever
     die from a major league baseball game (as of 2003).
   * 1928 - Murderer Carl Panzram is arrested in Washington, DC after
     killing about 20 people.
   * 1930 - First colour sound cartoon, called Fiddlesticks, was made by Ub
     Iwerks
   * 1954 - Volume 1, Issue 1 of Sports Illustrated is published.
   * 1960 - Cyprus gains its independence from the United Kingdom.
   * 1960 - Joseph Kittinger parachutes from a balloon over New Mexico at
     102,800 feet (31,330 m). He sets unbeaten (as of 2003) world records
     for: high-altitude jump; free-fall by falling 16 miles (25.7 km) before
     opening his parachute; and fastest speed by a human without an
     aircraft, 614 mph (982 kph).
   * 1962 - The Beatles fire Pete Best and replace him with Ringo Starr.
   * 1964 - Vietnam War: In a coup, General Nguyen Khanh replaces Duong Van
     Minh as South Vietnam's chief of state and establishes a new
     constitution, which the US Embassy helped draft.
   * 1966 - Vietnam War: The House Un-American Activities Committee begins
     investigations of Americans who have aided the Viet Cong with the
     intent to introduce legislation making these activities illegal.
     Anti-war demonstrators disrupt the meeting and 50 are arrested.
   * 1972 - The Royal Moroccan Air Force mistakenly fires upon, but fails to
     bring down, Hassan II of Morocco's plane while he was traveling back to
     Rabat.
   * 1984 - Carmaker John DeLorean is acquitted of all eight counts of
     possessing and distributing cocaine.
   * 1987 - A McDonnell Douglas MD-82 carrying Northwest Airlines flight 255
     crashes on takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport killing all but
     one of the 156 people on-board (sole survivor was four-year old Cecelia
     Cichan). The crew forgot to properly set the planes flaps.

Births

   * 1845 - Gabriel Lippmann, physicist (+ 1921)
   * 1862 - Amos Alonzo Stagg, college sports coach (football, basketball
     and baseball) (+ 1965)
   * 1868 - Bernarr McFadden, publisher
   * 1884 - Hugo Gernsback, editor and publisher
   * 1888 - T. E. Lawrence, writer, soldier
   * 1894 - George Meany, labor union activist (+ 1980)
   * 1902 - Georgette Heyer, novelist (+ 1975)
   * 1913 - Menachem Begin, Israeli soldier and politician (+ 1992)
   * 1920 - Charles Bukowski, poet (+ 1994)
   * 1925 - Fess Parker, actor
   * 1928 - Ann Blyth, actress
   * 1930 - Frank Gifford, pro football player, sports announcer
   * 1930 - Robert Culp, actor
   * 1931 - Eydie Gorme, singer
   * 1940 - Bruce Beresford, film director
   * 1946 - Lesley Ann Warren, actress
   * 1954 - James Cameron, director
   * 1958 - Angela Bassett, actress
   * 1959 - Madonna (Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone), singer, actress
   * 1960 - Timothy Hutton, Academy Award winning actor
   * 1967 - Pamela Smart, murderess
   * 1982 - The One and Only Jack Schitt

Deaths

   * 1864 - Confederate General John Chambliss
   * 1899 - Robert Wilhelm Bunsen, chemist
   * 1921 - King Peter I of Serbia
   * 1938 - Robert Johnson, blues singer and guitarist
   * 1948 - Babe Ruth, baseball player
   * 1949 - Margaret Mitchell, novelist
   * 1956 - Bela Lugosi, actor
   * 1977 - Elvis Presley, singer, actor
   * 1979 - John Diefenbaker, thirteenth Prime Minister of Canada
   * 1989 - Amanda Blake, actress
   * 2002 - Martin Deutsch, physicist, discoverer of positronium
   * 2003 - Idi Amin, Ugandan dictator

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