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Highlight in History
On Aug. 18, 1920, the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, which guaranteed the right of all American women to vote, was ratified as Tennessee became the 36th state to approve it.
On this date
In 1587, Virginia Dare became the first child of English parents to be born on American soil, on what is now Roanoke Island in North Carolina. (However, the Roanoke colony ended up mysteriously disappearing.)
In 1958, the novel “Lolita” by Vladimir Nabokov was first published in New York by G.P. Putnam’s Sons, almost three years after it was originally published in Paris.
In 1963, James Meredith became the first black student to graduate from the University of Mississippi.
In 1969, the Woodstock Music and Art Fair in Bethel, N.Y., wound to a close after three nights with a mid-morning set by Jimi Hendrix.
In 1983, Hurricane Alicia slammed into the Texas coast, leaving 21 dead and causing more than a billion dollars’ worth of damage.
In 1987, American journalist Charles Glass escaped his kidnappers in Beirut after 62 days in captivity. (Glass had been abducted June 17 with two Lebanese who were released after a week.)
Ten years ago
In a tearful farewell Mass in his beloved Krakow, Pope John Paul II told more than 2 million Poles that he would like to return one day — but that “this is entirely in God’s hands.” Rich Beem beat Tiger Woods to capture the PGA Championship.
Five years ago
Alarmed tourists jammed Caribbean airports for flights out of Hurricane Dean’s path as the monster storm began sweeping past the Dominican Republic and Haiti. NASA, meanwhile, ordered space shuttle Endeavour back to Earth a day early out of fear Dean might disrupt flight operations. A seven-alarm fire ripped through an abandoned skyscraper next to ground zero in Lower Manhattan, killing two firefighters who’d responded to the blaze. Michael K. Deaver, a close adviser to President Ronald Reagan, died in Bethesda, Md., at age 69.
One year ago
President Barack Obama and European leaders demanded that Syrian President Bashar Assad resign, saying his brutal suppression of his people made him unfit to lead. Vice President Joe Biden met with Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping in Beijing.
Top News
August 18, 2012



