On August 19th...

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Independence Day (Afghanistan)

1399 King Richard II of England surrendered to his cousin Henry.

1493 Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I became Archduke of Austria.

1561 Mary was proclaimed Queen of Scotland.

1662 Mathematician Blaise Pascal died.

1692 Five people were executed for practicing witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts.

1785 Clock maker Seth Thomas was born.

1787 William Herschel discovered Enceladus, a moon of Saturn.

1812 The British warship Guerrière surrendered to the United States warship Constitution.

1848 The New York Herald published news of the discovery of gold in California.

1851 Charles Elmer Hires, the creator of Hires Root Beer, was born.

1870 American statesman Bernard Baruch was born.

1871 Orville Wright, co-inventor of the airplane, was born.

1878 Manuel Quezon, second President of the Philippine Commonwealth, was born.

1881 Violinist-composer-conductor George Enescu was born.

1883 Fashion designer Coco Chanel was born.

1895 Outlaw John Wesley Hardin was killed by an off-duty policeman in El Paso, Texas.

1906 Engineer Philo T. Farnsworth was born.

1902 Poet Ogden Nash was born.

1909 The first automobile race was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

1915 Playwright Ring Lardner, Jr., was born.

1919 Afghanistan became independent of British rule.
1919 Businessman Malcolm Forbes was born.

1921 Gene Roddenberry, the creator of "Star Trek," was born.

1931 Jockey Willie Shoemaker was born.

1934 Germany gave Adolf Hitler the title of Fuhrer.
1934 The first All-American Soap Box Derby was held at Dayton, Ohio.

1935 Astronaut Story Musgrave was born.

1938 Actress Diane Muldaur was born.

1940 Actress Jill St. John was born.

1942 Actor Fred Thompson was born.

1946 William Jefferson Clinton, 42nd President of the United States, was born.

1947 Actor Gerald McRaney was born.

1952 Actor Jonathan Frakes was born.

1956 Actor Adam Arkin was born.

1963 Actor John Stamos was born.

1965 Actress Kyra Sedgwick was born.

1966 Country singer Lee Ann Womack was born.

1969 Actor Matthew Perry was born.

1977 Comedian Groucho Marx died.

1978 An arson fire claimed the lives of 430 movie theater patrons in Abadan, Iran.

1994 Chemist Linus Pauling died.

2016 Actor Jack Riley died.

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This page was last updated on August 18, 2018.