TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON: AUG 19
43 BC Octavian, later known as Augustus, compels the Roman Senate to elect him Consul
1263 King James I or Argon censors Hebrew writings
1493 Maximilian succeeds his father Frederick III as Holy Roman Emperor
1692 Five women are hanged in Salem, Massachusetts after being convicted of the crime of witchcraft. Fourteen more people are executed that year and 150 others are imprisoned.
1772 Gustavus III of Sweden eliminates the rule of parties and establishes an absolute monarchy.
1787 W Herschel discovers Enceladus, a moon of Saturn
1812 The USS Constitution earns the nickname “Old Ironsides” during the battle off Nova Scotia that saw her defeat the HMS Guerriere.
1848 The discovery of gold in California was reported by the New York Herald.
1856 Gail Borden received a patent for his process of condensing milk by vacuum.
1919 Afghanistan Gains Independence From the United Kingdom
1934 38 million Germans vote to make Adolf Hitler the official successor to President von Hindenburg.
1950 ABC begins Saturday morning kid shows (Animal Clinic & Acrobat Ranch)
1960 American U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers was convicted of espionage in Moscow.
1964 World’s First Geostationary Satellite is Launched
1974 US Ambassador to Cyrus Rodger P. Davies assassinated by a sniper of Greek Cypriot paramilitary group EOKA-B during a demonstration outside the embassy in Nicosia.
1978 422 die in an arson fire at a movie theater in Iran
1987 Hungerford Massacre in the UK; armed with semi-automatic rifles and a handgun Michael Ryan kills 16 people before committing suicide. In response, Parliament passed the Firearms (Amendment) Act of 1988 banning ownership of certain classes of firearms
1988 Cease fire begins in 8-year war between Iran and Iraq.
1991 Race riots break out in the Crown Heights area of New York city
1999 In Belgrade, thousands of Serbs attended a rally to demand the resignation of Yugoslavia’s President Slobodan Milosevic.
2003 U.N. special representative Sergio Vieira de Mello was one of 22 killed when a suicide car bomb struck the UN’s Baghdad headquarters.
2004 Google Inc. stock begins selling on the Nasdaq Stock Market, with an initial price of $85; the stock ended the day at $100.34 with more than 22 million shares traded.
2010 Operation Iraqi Freedom ends; the last US combat brigade, 4th Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, leaves the country. Six brigades remain to train Iraqi troops.
2016 A federal judge ordered Hillary Clinton to answer questions from the watchdog group Judicial Watch in writing about her use of a private email server while she was secretary of state.
REFERENCE: HISTORY.NET, ONTHISDAY.COM, TIMEANDDATE.COM, INFOPLEASE.COM, FACTMONSTER.COM, SCOPESYS.COM, ON-THIS-DAY.COM, THEPEOPLEHISTORY.COM
