August 18
The 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution to guarantee women the right to vote, is ratified by Tennessee, for a two-thirds majority of state ratification necessary to make it the law of the land. – 1920.
The Yangtze River in China peaks during a horrible flood that kills 3.7 million individuals directly and indirectly over the next several months. Rice fields that dominated the landscape are destroyed and many perished from starvation and disease. It was perhaps the worst natural disaster of the 20th Century. – 1931.
August 19
The Iranian military, with the support and financial assistance of the United States government, overthrows the government of premier Mohammed Mosaddeq and reinstates the Shah of Iran. Iran remained a solid Cold War ally of the United States until a revolution ended the Shah’s rule in 1979. – 1953.
August 20
A dispatcher in the New York Times office sends the first telegram around the world by way of commercial service. After it goes more than 28,000 miles and relayed by 16 operators, the reply was received by the same operator 16.5 minutes later. – 1911.
A NASA rocket launches Voyager II, an unmanned 1,820-pound spacecraft, from Cape Canaveral, Fla.. It was to tour Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Aboard Voyager II was a 12-inch copper phonograph record called “Sounds of Earth.” It was intended as an introductory time capsule of Earth. – 1977.
August 21
Slave revolt led by Nat Turner begins in Southampton County, Va.. Turner’s rebellion was the largest slave revolt in U.S. history and led to a new wave of oppressive legislation prohibiting the movement, assembly, and education of slaves. – 1831.
U.S. senator Stephen Douglas of Illinois and Abraham Lincoln, a Kentucky-born lawyer and one-time U.S. representative from Illinois, begin a series of seven famous public encounters on the issue of slavery known as the Lincoln-Douglas Debates. Lincoln lost the Senate race, but his campaign brought national attention to the young Republican Party. – 1858.
Hawaii becomes the 50th state. – 1959.
August 22
The Geneva Convention of 1864 for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded and Sick of Armies in the Field is adopted by 12 nations meeting in Geneva. The agreement calls for non-partisan care to the sick and wounded in times of war and provided for the neutrality of medical personnel. – 1864.
Five flight attendants form the Air Line Stewardesses Association, the first labor union representing flight attendants. They were reacting to an industry in which women were forced to retire at the age of 32, remain single, and adhere to strict weight, height and appearance requirements. The association later became the Association of Flight Attendants, now a division of the Communications Workers of America. – 1945.
On this day in 1989, Nolan Ryan of the Texas Rangers becomes the first pitcher in Major League Baseball history to register 5,000 career strikeouts. Ryan ended up with 5,714 strikeouts, more than 1,500 higher than any other pitcher, now more than 800 higher. – 1989.
Hurricane Andrew hits the Bahamas on this day in 1992. There and in south Florida, where it arrived two days later, the storm was responsible for the deaths of 26 residents and an estimated $35 billion in property damage. Hurricane Andrew was so concentrated that it resembled a tornado in its effects. – 1992.
August 23
Four counties in western North Carolina declare their independence as the state of Franklin. The counties lay in what eventually would become Tennessee. – 1784.
As punishment for betting on baseball, Cincinnati Reds manager Pete Rose accepts a settlement that includes a lifetime ban from the game. – 1989.
August 24
After centuries of being dormant, Mount Vesuvius erupts in southern Italy, to devastate the prosperous Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum to kill thousands. A flow of rock and ash follows to bury the dead and freeze the citizens in time, which tells the story of their every-day life. – 79 C.E..
During the War of 1812 between the United States and England, British troops enter Washington, D.C. and burn the White House in retaliation for the American attack on the city of York in Ontario, Can., in June 1812. – 1814.
The Mechanics Gazette, believed to be the first U.S. labor newspaper, is published in Philadelphia, the outgrowth of a strike by Carpenters who were demanding a shorter, 10-hour day. The strike lost, but labor journalism blossomed: Within five years there were 68 labor newspapers across the country, many of them dailies. – 1827.