August 18

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

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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.
• 1877 – Asaph Hall discovers Phobos.
• 1903 – German engineer Karl Jatho flew with his self-made motored gliding airplane, four months before the first flight of the Wright Brothers.
• 1904 – Chris Watson resigns as Prime Minister of Australia and is succeded by George Reid.
• 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 – Adolf Hitler orders a temporary halt to Nazi Germany's systematic euthanasia of mentally ill and handicapped due to protests. However, graduates of the T-4 Euthanasia Program were then transferred to the conentration camps, where they continued in their trade.
• 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 USD $1 billion in damage (1983 dollars).
• 1989 – Leading presidential hopeful Luis Carlos Galán is assassinated near Bogotá in Colombia.
• 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 would collapse in less than 72 hours).
• 1992 – Wang Laboratories files for bankruptcy.
• 1992  – NBA basketball player Larry Bird announces his retirement after winning an Olympic gold medal as a member of the Dream Team.

Births

• 1587 – Virginia Dare, first English child born in North America (d. 1588)
• 1750 – Antonio Salieri, composer (d. 1825)
• 1774 – Meriwether Lewis, explorer (d. 1809)
• 1830 – Emperor Franz Josef I of Austria (d. 1916)
• 1890 – Walther Funk, German Nazi politician (d. 1960).
• 1896 – Jack Pickford, actor, Hollywood's first "bad boy", (d. 1933)
• 1904 – Max Factor, cosmetics entrepreneur (d. 1996)
• 1917 – Caspar Weinberger, former United States Secretary of Defense
• 1918 – Walter Joseph Hickel, former Governor of Alaska, former US Secretary of the Interior
• 1920 – Bob Kennedy, MLB player and manager (d. 2005)
• 1922 – Shelley Winters, actress
• 1925 – Brian Aldiss, writer
• 1927 – Rosalynn Carter, First Lady
• 1928 – Marge Schott, former owner of MLB's Cincinnati Reds (d. 2004)
• 1932 – William R. Bennett, Premier of British Columbia
• 1933 – Roman Polanski, director, actor
• 1934 – Vincent Bugliosi, prosecuting attorney in the Charles Manson case
• 1934  – Roberto Clemente, baseball Hall of Famer (d. 1972)
• 1935 – Rafer Johnson, American decathlete
• 1935  – Sir Howard Morrison, New Zealand entertainer
• 1937 – Robert Redford, actor, director
• 1943 – Martin Mull, comedian, actor
• 1943  – Carl Wayne, singer (d. 2004)
• 1945 – Barbara Harris, singer, formerly of the group the Toys
• 1952 – Elayne Boosler, comedienne
• 1952  – Patrick Swayze, actor
• 1953 – Louie Gohmert, American politician
• 1955 – Dr. Taher ElGamal, American-Egyptian Scientist
• 1957 – Carole Bouquet, French actress
• 1957  – Denis Leary, comedian, actor
• 1958 – Madeleine Stowe, actress
• 1960 – Fat Lever, NBA player
• 1969 – Edward Norton, actor
• 1969  – Christian Slater, actor
• 1970 – Malcolm-Jamal Warner, actor
• 1990 – Evan Perrotta, musician
• 1992 – Frances Cobain, daughter of Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love

Deaths

• 472 – Ricimer, Roman general
• 849 – Walafrid Strabo, German monk and theologian
• 1227 – Genghis Khan, Mongol leader
• 1276 – Pope Adrian V
• 1503 – Pope Alexander VI (b. 1431)
• 1559 – Pope Paul IV (b. 1476)
• 1765 – Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1708)
• 1809 – Matthew Boulton, pioneering industrialist and member of the Lunar Society (b. 1728)
• 1815 – Chauncey Goodrich, U.S. Senator from Connecticut (b. 1759)
• 1850 – Honoré de Balzac, French writer (b. 1799)
• 1940 – Walter P. Chrysler, American automobile mogul (b. 1875)
• 1949 – Paul Mares, jazz musician (b. 1900)
• 1963 – Clifford Odets, American playwright (b. 1906)
• 1981 – Anita Loos, American screenwriter, playwright and author (b. 1889)
• 1983 – Nikolaus Pevsner, art historian (b. 1902)
• 1990 – Grethe Ingmann, Danish singer and Eurovision Song Contest winner (b. 1938)
• 1998 – Persis Khambatta, Indian actress (b. 1950)
• 2004 – Elmer Bernstein, American film composer (b. 1922)

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.
• Afghanistan – Independence Day (1919)

External links

• BBC: On This Day

August 17 – August 19 – July 18 – September 18 — listing of all days