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Aug 19| HISTORY
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Events, deaths, births, of AUG 20 [For Aug 20 Julian go to Gregorian date: 1583~1699: Aug 30 1700s: Aug 31 1800s: Sep 01 1900~2099: Sep 02] |
On a 20 August:
2000 Elections in Chiapas. For the first time in living memory the PRI candidate is expected to lose. 8 opposition parties are united behind one candidate for governor. 2000 Russian parliamentary elections in Chechnya. Insisting that the independence-seeking Chechen Republic is an integral part of the Russian Federation, the Putin regime is conducting a show of elections, in which the occupying Russian troops have the vote, and the candidates are considered traitors by the legitimate Chechen authorities, which are at present reduced to guerilla warfare. 2000 Verizon Communications and unions representing 50'000 workers reached a tentative agreement on a new three-year-contract as a two-week strike neared an end.
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1998 US cruise missiles hit
alleged bin Ladin assets. The 07 August 1998 US embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania, which killed 224 persons, including 12 US citizens, occurred just after a six month period in which Osama bin Ladin had issued repeated and open threats, including a February 1998 pronouncement calling for the killing of US civilians and servicemen worldwide. On 20 August 1998, the US launches cruise missiles on bin Ladin’s training camps in eastern Afghanistan, based on US evidence of his network’s involvement in the bombings. US cruise missiles also strikes Al Shifa, a pharmaceutical plant in Khartoum. US intelligence claims that Al Shifa is producing chemical weapons agents for bin Laden. The Sudanese government vehemently denied these claims. US officials announce that the US strikes are intended to disrupt planning for a new attack. For their alleged role in the 07 August bombings, 17 alleged members of the fundamentalist Islamic terrorist syndicate al-Qaida would be indicted by a US court, including its head, bin Ladin. Four of the six in US custody have been tried and convicted; three are in custody in Britain. The US adds bin Laden's name to list of terrorists whose funds are targeted for seizure by US Treasury in order to shut down the financial pipelines that allegedly subsidize bin Laden's terrorist activities. On 23 September 1998, US senior officials would admit that they had no evidence that directly linked bin Laden to the Al Shifa factory at the time of retaliatory strikes on 20 August. But intelligence officials found financial transactions between bin Laden and the Military Industrial Corporation a company run by the Sudan's government. |
1996 US President Bill Clinton approves the first minimum-wage
increase in five years, raising the hourly minimum by 90 cents to $5.15
per hour over 13 months.
1994 Benjamin Chavis Jr. was fired as head of the NAACP after a turbulent 16-month tenure. 1992 El Parlamento jordano legaliza el multipartidismo, en la primera reunión de ambas cámaras en 28 años. 1991 More than 100'000 people rally outside the Russian Parliament building as protests against the Soviet coup increase. 1991 El Soviet Supremo de Estonia proclama su independencia de la URSS. 1991 The Mazda Motor Corporation of Japan announces that it plans to enter the luxury car market in 1994 with the Amati. Several other high-end brands from Japan had already been introduced: Lexus, Infiniti, and Acura. 1990 Iraq moves Western hostages to military installations (human shields). 1990 Sadam Husein declara a Kuwait provincia iraquí y da la orden de cierre de todas las embajadas occidentales en el emirato. 1989 El marroquí Said Aouita logra su quinto récord mundial, el de los 3000 ms., en 7.29.45 minutos, en los Campeonatos de Colonia. 1988 A cease-fire ends the Iran-Iraq war started on 22 September 1980, after Iran accepts United Nations Security Council Resolution 598. 1985 Iran-Contra: Israel ships 96 TOW missiles to Iran on behalf of the US. 1985 Hanspeter Beck of South Australia, finishes a 6236~km, 51~day trip from Western Australia to Melbourne on a unicycle. 1982 Se aprueba el Estatuto de Autonomía de Aragón. |
1980 UN Security Council condemns (14-0, US abstains) Israeli declaration that all of Jerusalem is its capital 1980 Se declara el estado de emergencia en Lima ante la nueva campaña de los guerrilleros de Sendero Luminoso. 1979 Swimmer Diana Nyad succeeds in her third attempt at swimming from the Bahamas to Florida. 1977 The US launches unmanned spacecraft Voyager 2 carrying a 12-inch copper phonograph record containing greetings in dozens of languages, samples of music, and sounds of nature.
1971 The Cambodian military starts a series of attacks against the Khmer Rouge. 1971 FBI begins covert investigation of journalist Daniel Schorr, who is targeted by the Nixon administration because of his critical reporting of the president's handling of the situation in Vietnam. |
1968 Soviets invade Czechoslovakia:
^top^ Alexander Dubcek, 46, leader of Czechoslovakia, is forced to abandon his liberal reforms as 650'000 Warsaw Pact troops invade his nation just before midnight. Dubcek's efforts to establish "communism with a human face" had been celebrated across the country, and the brief period of freedom was known as the "Prague Spring." When the Soviet invasion came, Prague was not eager to give way, but scattered student resistance was no match for the Soviet tanks. Dubcek's reforms were repealed and the leader himself was replaced with the staunchly pro-Soviet Gustav Husak, 55, who reestablished an authoritarian Communist regime in the country. In the face of rising anti-Soviet protests in Czechoslovakia, Soviet troops (backed by troops from other Warsaw Pact nations) intervene to crush the protest and restore subservience to the USSR. The brutal Soviet action shocked the West and dealt a devastating blow to US-Soviet relations. The troubles in Czechoslovakia began when Alexander Dubcek took over as secretary general of the nation's Communist Party in January 1968. It was immediately apparent that Dubcek wanted a major overhaul of Czechoslovakia's political and economic system he called his particular ideology "Socialism with a human face." He called for greater political freedom, including more participation by noncommunist parties. Dubcek also pressed for economic policies that would ensure less state control and more reliance on free market economics. Finally, he insisted on greater freedom from Soviet domination, although he reiterated his nation's allegiance to the Warsaw Pact, the Soviet bloc's counterpart to NATO. Dubcek's policies shocked the Soviets and leaders in other Eastern European nations. Throughout early and mid-1968, negotiations took place between Dubcek and representatives from Russia and other Soviet bloc nations in an attempt to have the Czechoslovakian leader soften his reforms. Dubcek refused, and tensions with the Soviet Union steadily increased. Meanwhile, the sudden atmosphere of freedom that Dubcek was encouraging took root, and Czech citizens embraced and celebrated the new tolerance for free exchange of ideas and open discussion in what came to be known as the "Prague Spring." On the night of 20 August 1968, more than 200'000 Warsaw Pact soldiers crossed into Czechoslovakia and headed for Prague. In just over a day, the entire country was occupied; within a week nearly three-quarters of a million foreign troops were in Czechoslovakia. Anti-Soviet riots broke out in Prague, but these were viciously crushed and thousands of Czechs fled the country. The Soviet action in August 1968 shocked the West. Not since 1956, when Soviet troops intervened in Hungary, had the Russian government resorted to such force to bring one of its communist allies into line with its own policies. The Czech invasion was particularly damaging to US-Soviet relations. In June 1967, President Lyndon B. Johnson met with Soviet Premier Aleksei Kosygin to begin discussions related to a number of issues, including arms control. It was agreed that Johnson would visit the Soviet Union in October 1968 to continue the talks. The Soviet intervention in Czechoslovakia caused Johnson to cancel his visit abruptly. On the night of 20 August 1968, approximately 200'000 Warsaw Pact troops and 5000 tanks invade Czechoslovakia to crush the "Prague Spring" a brief period of liberalization in the communist country. Czechoslovakians protested the invasion with public demonstrations and other non-violent tactics, but they were no match for the Soviet tanks. The liberal reforms of First Secretary Alexander Dubcek were repealed and "normalization" began under his successor Gustav Husak. Pro-Soviet communists seized control of Czechoslovakia's democratic government in 1948. Soviet leader Joseph Stalin imposed his will on Czechoslovakia's communist leaders, and the country was run as a Stalinist state until 1964, when a gradual trend toward liberalization began. However, modest economic reform was not enough for many Czechoslovakians, and beginning in 1966 students and intellectuals began to agitate for changes to education and an end to censorship. First Secretary Antonín Novotný's problems were made worse by opposition from Slovakian leaders, among them Alexander Dubcek and Gustav Husak, who accused the central government of being dominated by Czechs. In January 1968, Novotný was replaced as first secretary by Alexander Dubcek, who was unanimously elected by the Czechoslovakian Central Committee. To secure his power base, Dubcek appealed to the public to voice support for his proposed reforms. The response was overwhelming, and Czech and Slovak reformers took over the communist leadership. In April, the new leadership unveiled its "Action Program," promising democratic elections, greater autonomy for Slovakia, freedom of speech and religion, the abolition of censorship, an end to restrictions on travel, and major industrial and agricultural reforms. Dubcek declared that he was offering "socialism with a human face." The Czechoslovakian public greeted the reforms joyously, and Czechoslovakia's long stagnant national culture began to bloom during what became known as the Prague Spring. In late June, a much-signed petition called the "Two Thousand Words" was published calling for even more rapid progress to full democracy. The Soviet Union and its satellites Poland and East Germany were alarmed by what appeared to be the imminent collapse of communism in Czechoslovakia. Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev warned Dubcek to halt his reforms, but the Czechoslovakian leader was buoyed by his popularity and dismissed the veiled threats. Dubcek declined to attend a special meeting of the Warsaw Pact powers in July, but on August 2 he agreed to meet with Brezhnev in the Slovakian town of Cierná. The next day, representatives of European Europe's communist parties met in the Slovakian capital of Bratislava, and a communiqué was issued suggesting that pressure would be eased on Czechoslovakia in exchange for tighter control over the press. However, on the night of 20 August nearly 200'000 Soviet, East German, Polish, Hungarian, and Bulgarian troops invaded Czechoslovakia in the largest deployment of military force in Europe since the end of World War II. Armed resistance to the invasion was negligible, but protesters immediately took to the streets, tearing down streets signs in an effort to confuse the invaders. In Prague, Warsaw Pact troops moved to seize control of television and radio stations. At Radio Prague, journalists refused to give up the station and some 20 persons were killed before it was captured. Other stations went underground and succeeded in broadcasting for several days before their locations were discovered. Dubcek and other government leaders were detained and taken to Moscow. Meanwhile, widespread demonstrations continued on the street, and more than 100 protesters were shot to death by Warsaw Pact troops. Many foreign nations, including China, Yugoslavia, and Rumania, condemned the invasion, but no major international action was taken. Much of Czechoslovakia's intellectual and business elite fled en masse to the West. On 27 August, Dubcek returned to Prague and announced in an emotional address that he had agreed to curtail his reforms. Hard-line communists assumed positions in his government, and Dubcek was forced gradually to dismiss his progressive aides. He became increasingly isolated from both the public and his government. After anti-Soviet rioting broke out in April 1969, he was removed as first secretary and replaced by Gustav Husak, a "realist" who was willing to work with the Soviets. Dubcek was later expelled from the Communist Party and made a forest inspector based in Bratislava. In 1989, as communist governments collapsed across Eastern Europe, Prague again became the scene of demonstrations for democratic reform. In December 1989, Gustav Husak's government conceded to demands for a multiparty parliament. Husak resigned, and for the first time in nearly two decades Dubcek returned to politics as chairman of the new parliament, which subsequently elected playwright and former dissident Václav Havel as president of Czechoslovakia. Havel had come to fame during the Prague Spring, and after the Soviet crackdown his plays were banned and his passport confiscated. |
1964 US President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the anti-poverty Economic
Opportunity Act (totaling nearly $1 billion) 1963 La ONU impone un alto el fuego entre Siria e Israel. 1960 Senegal breaks from the Mali federation; declaring independence 1960 USSR recovers 2 dogs; 1st living organisms to return from space 1957 USAF ballon breaks an altitude record at 31'000 m. 1955 La India clausura su legación en Goa y pide al Gobierno portugués que cierre sus consulados en territorio indio. 1955 First airplane to exceed 1800 mph (2897 k/h)HA Hanes, Palmdale Ca
1949 Hungary (Magyar People's Republic) accepts constitution 1946 World War II civilian truck restrictions are lifted in the US 1944 II Guerra Mundial. El mariscal Pétain es arrestado por los alemanes y conducido a Belfort. 1944 United States and British forces close the pincers on German units in the Falaise-Argentan pocket in France.
1940 Radar is used for the first time, by the British during the Battle of Britain. 1940 British Prime Minister Winston Churchill says, "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few" about the Royal Air Force fighter pilots in the Battle of Britain. 1940 British PM Churchill says of the Royal Air Force, "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few"
1930 Dumont's 1st TV broadcast for home reception (NYC) 1929 1st airship flight around the Earth flying eastward completed 1920 The first commercial radio station, owned by the Detroit News, begins broadcasting, in Detroit, with a show called Tonight's Dinner 1918 Britain opens offensive on Western front during World War I. 1914 Russia wins an early victory over Germany at Gumbinnen. 1914 German forces occupy Brussels, Belgium during WW I. |
1913
First parachuting from an aircraft ^top^ is accomplished by Adolphe Célestin Pègoud, 24, [photos] from 200 m above Buc, France (the plane, which he had been piloting, crashed). Less than a month later, he would become the first pilot to perform a loop (this is also claimed for Gustave Hamel, and for a Russian, Piotr Nesterov). Also in 1913, Pègoud became the first pilot to fly an aircraft in sustained inverted flight. During World War I, he was, on 31 August 1915, the first ace to be killed in aerial combat, shot down by a German two-seater piloted by his former student, Unteroffizier Kandulski. Pègoud was born on 15 June 1889. He got his pilot's licence (no. 1243) on 01 March 1913, at the Blériot Company. However, according to letsfindout.com, Jacques Garnerin: The First Parachutist Leonardo da Vinci produced the first known parachute design in the 15th century and Montgolfier and other early balloonists experimented with their own styles. However, it was Jacques Garnerin who perfected the first practical parachute. Garnerin was a long-distance balloonist who flew missions for the French military and he was intrigued by military applications of the parachute. He tried a number of designs, testing them by tossing parachute-wearing dogs from his balloon at 1000 m. On 22 October 1797, he made the first human parachute jump. |
1912 Plant Quarantine Act goes into effect in the US.
1908 The American Great White Fleet arrives in Sydney, Australia, to a warm welcome. 1904 El Salvador, Honduras y Nicaragua firman un acuerdo por el que se comprometen a mantener la paz en Centroamérica.
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1866 US President Andrew Johnson declares the Civil War officially
over, months after the fighting has stopped. 1866 The newly organized National Labor Union calls on the US Congress to mandate an eight-hour workday. 1865 Pres Johnson proclaims an end to "insurrection" in Tx 1864 Cavalry combat at Lovejoy's Station on the Macon & Western Railroad in Georgia 1864 Battle of Globe Tavern (Weldon Railroad), Virginia continues 1863 Siege of Fort Wagner, Charleston Harbor, South Carolina continues
1794 American General "Mad Anthony" Wayne defeats the Ohio Indians at the Battle of Fallen Timbers in the Northwest territory, ending Indian resistance in the area. 1781 George Washington begins to move his troops south to fight Cornwallis 1741 Danish navigator Vitus Jonas Bering, commisioned by Peter the Great of Russia to find land connecting Asia and North America, reaches America. 1710 Guerra de sucesión española. Tropas del archiduque Carlos vencen al Ejército de Felipe V en la batalla de Zaragoza. 1648 El ejército francés, mandado por el príncipe de Condé, derrota a las tropas alemanas y españolas dirigidas por el archiduque Leopoldo en la batalla de Lens, lo que determinó la paz de Westfalia, que puso fin a la guerra de los 30 años.
0917 A Byzantine counter-offensive is routed by Syeon at Anchialus, Bulgaria. |
Deaths which
occurred on an 20 August: ^top^ 2001 Fred Hoyle, 86, British astronomer, science and science-fiction writer. He proposed the steady state cosmological theory in the 1940s, and stubbornly held to it in the face of mounting evidence for the Big Bang theory, a term Hoyle coined in 1950, intending it as denigration. Among the scientific books co-authored by Hoyle are A Different Approach to Cosmology (2000) (1957). Diseases from Space (1979), Space Travelers: The Origins of Life (1980), [these last two holding the excentric theory that life and some diseases reached earth from space, which Hoyle presented as a popularization in The Intelligent Universe (1983)]. Hoyle also wrote science fiction, including The Black Cloud (1957) about an intelligent cloud around the sun which caused an ice age, and A for Andromeda (1962) about aliens instructing humans on building a destructive machine. He also wrote the science-fiction Ossian's Ride (1959), October the First is Too Late (1966), Element 79 (short stories, 1967), Comet Halley (1985), and the autobiography The Small World of Fred Hoyle (1986).
1985 Harchand Singh Longowai Sikh leader, shot by Sikh extremists 1980 Más de 300 personas al incendiarse un avión en el aeropuerto de Ryad (Arabia Saudita). |
1972 Karp,
mathematician 1969 Más de 190 personas por el huracán "Camille" que asola la costa del sur de EE.UU.. 1960 Víctor Domingo Silva, escritor chileno. 1959 Alfred Paul Kubin, Czech Expressionist illustrator born on 10 April 1877. He wrote Die andere Seite. Ein phantastischer Roman Von verschiedenen Ebenen Dämonen und Nachtgesichte. Eine Autobiographie Vom Schreibtisch eines Zeichners Aus meiner Werkstatt. Gesammelte Prosa Aus meinem Leben. Gesammelte Prosa MORE ON KUBIN AT ART 4 AUGUST LINKS Eisbär Pl.20 from the Portfolio Wild Aninmals Die Maske des Todes second plate in the book Die Blätter mit dem Tod Innviertel Landscape Fairytale Creature 63 prints at FAMSF 1955 Hundreds in rioting against the French, in Morocco and Algeria. 1917 Adolf von Baeyer, químico alemán, Premio Nobel en 1905. 1914 Pope Pius X, saint. Born Giuseppe Melchiore Sarto on 02 June 1835. Named on 10 November 1884 and consecrated on 20 November 1884 Bishop of Mantua. Made a cardinal and patriarch of Venice in June 1893. After the death of Leo XIII, Sarto wan elected pope on 04 August 1903. 1914 Amelie Helga Lundahl, Swedish French artist born on 26 May 1850. 1912 "General" Rev. William Booth, author. BOOTH ONLINE: In Darkest England, and The Way Out 1910 Otto Piltz, German artist born on 28 June 1846. 1854 Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling, filósofo alemán. 1841 Constantinus-Fidelio Coene, Flemish artist born in 1780. 1835 Laurent Dabos, French artist born in 1761. 1823 Pope Pius VII, who both crowned Napoléon and excommunicated him. He was born Barnaba Chiaramonti on 14 August 1740. Pius VI made him a cardinal on 14 February 1785. After the 29 August 1799 death of Pius VI, Chiaramonti was elected pope as the fourth choice of a conclave that had been deadlocked for several months. He was crowned pope on 21 March 1800.
1632 Moïse Jean Valentin de Boulogne, French painter born on 03 January 1591. MORE ON VALENTIN AT ART 4 AUGUST LINKS Crowning with Thorns The Last Supper Christ Driving the Money Changers out of the Temple St John the Baptist Martyrdom of Saint Lawrence Martyrdom of Saints Processus and Martinian The Martyrdom of Saint Bartholomew The Judgment of Solomon a very slightly different The Judgment of Solomon Judith and Holofernes The Four Ages of Man The Fortune Teller The Concert Cardsharps 1572 Miguel López de Legazpi, conquistador de Filipinas.
0984 Pope John XIV, starved or murdered while held in prison by the antipope Boniface VII. |
Births
which occurred on an 20 August: ^top^ 1962 The Ford Thunderbird. The first 1963 Ford Thunderbird is produced. Originally conceived as Ford’s answer to the Corvette, the Thunderbird is promoted as a “personal” car rather than a sports car, so it never would have to compete against imports and thus would experience enormous success. 1957 Donaldson, mathematician 1951 Javier Marías, escritor español. 1946 Laurent Fabius, político francés. 1944 Rajiv Gandhi PM of India (1984- ) 1941 Slobodan Milosevic, político yugoslavo, criminal contra la humanidad.. 1933 George Mitchell, US Senator (D-Maine), at one time Senate Majority Leader.
1902 Christian Bérard, French artist who died on 11 February 1949. 1901 Salvatore Quasimodo Italy, poet/critic/translator (Nobel 1959) 1899 Bochner, mathematician 1896 Dial telephone is patented. 1893 Godfrey Clive Miller, Australian artist who died on 05 May 1964. 1890 H.P. Lovecraft US, Gothic novelist (At the Mountains of Madness) LOVECRAFT ONLINE: Selected works Supernatural Horror in Literature 1890 Fray Gregorio Arcila Robledo, historiador y lingüista colombiano. 1886 Paul Tillich, German philosophical theologian. Tillich advocated "myth" as a signpost, participating in the reality to which it points. Evangelicals generally criticize Tillich today for his pantheistic views of God. He wrote Systematic Theology. 1884 Rudolf Bultmann, German New Testament scholar. He pioneered Form Criticism with his History of the Synoptic Tradition (1921), whereby he sought to identify the devices of Hebrew speech in order to make the central Gospel message meaningful to moderns. 1882 Waclaw Sierpinski Sierpinski's most important work is in the area of set theory, point set topology and number theory. In set theory he made important contributions to the axiom of choice and to the continuum hypothesis. 1881 Edgar Albert Guest Detroit Mich, poet/newspaperman GUEST ONLINE: A Heap O' Livin', Just Folks |
1863 Corrado
Segre, mathematician.
1862 Maurice Maeterlinck, escritor belga. 1860 Raymond Poincaré‚ France, PM (1912), president. 1850 Charles Richet, científico y escritor francés. 1841 Maria Louise Pool, author. POOL ONLINE: Tenting at Stony Beach 1833 Benjamin Harrison North Bend, Ohio (R) 23rd Pres (1889-1893), grandson of 9th US President, William Henry Harrison 1807 Narcisse Virgile Diaz de la Peña, French Barbizon School painter specialized in landscapes who died on 18 November 1876. MORE ON DIAZ AT ART 4 AUGUST LINKS Forêt de Fontainbleau Three Gypsies in a Clearing Gypsies in a Forest Fleurs Wood Interior Les Maléfices de la beauté Les Folles Amoureuses Les Fous Amoureux Mother and Child The Old Windmill near Barbizon Gypsy Mother and Child Women Of The Seraglio Baigneuse 1785 Oliver Hazard Perry US Naval hero ("We have met the enemy") 1778 Bernardo O'Higgins won independence for Chile. 1775 George Tucker, author. TUCKER ONLINE: Political Economy for the People 1710 Thomas Simpson mathematician best remembered for his work on interpolation and numerical methods of integration.
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