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What happened in history on this day: August 20?
On August 20 in ...
- 1000 - Hungary is founded by Saint Stephen.
- 1639 - Death of Martin Opitz in Danzig; poet and theoretician (Buch von der deutschen Poeterey (1624)); considered the "father of German poetry".
- 1642 - Coventry, England, closes its gates to the King.
- 1778 - Birth of Bernardo O'Higgins; won independence for Chile.
- 1781 - US General George Washington begins to move his troops south to fight Cornwallis.
- 1785 - Birth of Oliver Hazard Perry; US Naval hero ("We have met the enemy").
- 1794 - General Mad Anthony Wayne routes Indians at Fallen Timbers, Ohio.
- 1833 - Birth of Benjamin Harrison in North Bend, Ohio, USA; brigadier general of 70th Indiana Infantry Regiment, US Senator (1881-87), 23rd US President (1889-1893).
- 1852 - Steamer Atlantic collides with fishing boat, sinks with 250 aboard.
- 1860 - Birth of Raymond Poincaré in France; Prime Minister (1912), president.
- 1865 - President Andrew Johnson proclaims an end to "insurrection" in Texas.
- 1866 - US President Andrew Johnson officially declares the American Civil War to be ended.
- 1873 - Birth of Eliel Saarinen in Finland; architect (GM Tech Institute, Michigan).
- 1882 - Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture debuts in Moscow, Russia.
- 1890 - Birth of H.P. Lovecraft; American Gothic novelist (At the Mountains of Madness).
- 1896 - The rotary dial telephone is patented.
- 1901 - Birth of Salvatore Quasimodo in Italy; poet/critic/translator (Nobel Prize 1959).
- 1907 - Birth of Alan Reed in New York City, New York, USA; actor (Mr Adams and Eve, Fred Allen Show, voice of Fred Flintstone - The Flintstones).
- 1907 - Birth of Shirley Booth in New York City, New York, USA; actress (Hazel - Hazel, A Touch of Grace).
- 1907 - Crew of the steamship Cambrian, several hundred miles south of Cape Race, Newfoundland, observe a fireball rushing across the sky "like a rocket", landing in the sea about 50 yards from the boat.
- 1908 - Birth of Alfonso Lopez; baseball player (American League Manager of the year 1959).
- 1908 - Congo Free State becomes the Belgian Congo.
- 1913 - First pilot to parachute from an aircraft (Adolphe Pégoud, France).
- 1914 - German forces occupy Brussels, Belgium.
- 1914 - Pope Pius X dies.
- 1918 - Britain opens offensive on Western front during Great War.
- 1920 - First US commercial radio, 8MK (WWJ), Detroit, Michigan begins daily broadcasting.
- 1920 - Allen Woodring wins Oympic 200m dash wearing borrowed shoes.
- 1920 - Birth of István Szivós in Hungary; water polo player (Olympic-gold-1976).
- 1920 - Preliminary meeting in Akron to form American Pro Football Association.
- 1921 - Birth of Jacqueline Susann in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; author (Valley of the Dolls).
- 1930 - Dumont's first TV broadcast for home reception (New York City).
- 1931 - Birth of Don King; boxing promoter, shocking hairstyle.
- 1933 - Birth of George Mitchell; American politician (Senator-Democrat-Maine, Senate Whip 1989-).
- 1935 - Birth of Justin Tubb in San Antonio, Texas, USA; country singer (Grand Ole Opry).
- 1937 - Birth of George Thoma in Germany; cross country ski jumper (Olympic-gold-1960).
- 1938 - Birth of Jean-Loup Chrétien; first French traveler in space (on Soyuz T-6).
- 1939 - Soviet forces under Lieutenant General Georgi Zhukov counterattack Japanese invaders at Nomanhan in the Mongolian People's Republic (Outer Mongolia) on the border with Manchukuo.
- 1940 - Birth of Sam Melville in Utah, USA; actor (Mike Danko - Rookies, Roughnecks).
- 1940 - British Prime Minister Winston Churchill says of the Royal Air Force, "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few".
- 1940 - Frank Jackson, agent of Josef Stalin, stabs Leon Trotsky with an ice pick in Mexico City.
- 1941 - Birth of Slobodan Milosevic; president of Yugoslovia (dies 2006).
- 1941 - Birth of William H Gray III in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA; American politician (Representative-Democrat-Pennsylvania, 1978-).
- 1942 - Birth of Hans-Joachim Klein in Germany; 100m swimmer (Olympic-bronze-1964).
- 1942 - Birth of Isaac Hayes; composer ("Shaft").
- 1942 - Dim-out regulations implemented in San Francisco, California.
- 1944 - Birth of Graig Nettles; third baseman (New York Yankees, San Diego Padres, Cleveland Indians).
- 1944 - Birth of Rajiv Gandhi; Prime Minister of India (1984-1991).
- 1945 - Brooklyn Dodgers' Tommy Brown becomes youngest home run hitter (age 17).
- 1946 - Birth of Connie Chung in Washington, DC, USA; TV newscaster (NBC, CBS).
- 1947 - Turner Caldwell in D-558-I sets aircraft speed record, 1131 kph.
- 1948 - Birth of Robert Plant; rocker (Led Zeppelin - "Stairway to Heaven").
- 1948 - US expels Soviet Consul General in New York, Jacob Lomakin.
- 1949 - 78,382 watch the Chicago White Sox play the Cleveland Indians at Cleveland, Ohio.
- 1949 - Hungary (Magyar People's Republic) accepts constitution.
- 1953 - Birth of Peter Horton in Bellevue, Washington, USA; actor (Gary - 30 Something).
- 1953 - The Soviet Union acknowledges that it had tested the hydrogen bomb.
- 1955 - First airplane to exceed 1800 mph (2897 kph) - HA Hanes, Palmdale, California, USA.
- 1955 - Birth of Jay Acovone in Mahopac, New York, USA; actor (Det Rado - Hollywood Beat).
- 1955 - Hundreds killed in anti-French rioting in Morocco and Algeria.
- 1956 - The Calder Hall atomic power station begins operation in Cumberland, Great Britain, generating up to 90,000 kilowatts of power and manufacturing plutonium.
- 1957 - Birth of Cindy Nicholas in Canada; swimmer, swam English Channel 19 times.
- 1957 - US Air Force balloon breaks an altitude record at 102,000 feet (310,896 metres).
- 1957 - Chicago White Sox' Bob Keegan no-hits Washington Senators 6-0.
- 1958 - Birth of Lenny Henry; British comedian (Three of a Kind).
- 1958 - Dale Long becomes first major league lefty catcher in 52 years.
- 1958 - Detroit Tigers' Jim Bunning no-hits Boston Red Sox, 3-0.
- 1960 - Birth of Elizabeth Alda, daughter of Alan Alda; actress (Beth - The Four Seasons).
- 1960 - Senegal breaks from the Mali federation, declaring independence.
- 1961 - Birth of Linda Mantz in New York City, USA; actress (Frankie - Dorothy).
- 1961 - Philadelphia Phillies set dubious record of 23 straight losses.
- 1961 - Vilhjalmur Stefansson, Arctic explorer, dies at age 82.
- 1964 - Birth of Giuseppe Giannini in Rome, Italy; soccer player (Rome A Team).
- 1964 - US President Lyndon Johnson signs Economic Opportunity Act (totaling nearly US$1 billion).
- 1966 - Birth of Courtney Gibbs; Miss USA (1988), actress (Baywatch).
- 1971 - Birth of Ke Huy Quan in Saigon, Vietnam; actor (Sam - Together We Stand).
- 1971 - FBI begins covert investigation of journalist Daniel Schorr.
- 1974 - Nolan Ryan pitch measured at record 161.6 kph (100.4 mph).
- 1975 - Soviet-made Il-62 airliner crashes south of Damascus, Syria, killing 126.
- 1975 - American Viking 1 launched toward orbit around Mars.
- 1978 - Gunmen open fire on an Israeli El Al Airline bus in London, England.
- 1978 - Mark Vinchesi of Amherst, Massachusetts keeps a frisbee aloft 15.2 seconds.
- 1979 - Grenada recognizes the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR).
- 1980 - New York Yankees' Bob Watson hits Seattle Kingdome speaker, second straight day.
- 1980 - Reinhold Messner of Italy is first to make solo ascent of Mount Everest.
- 1980 - United Nations Security Council condemns (14-0, US abstains) Israeli declaration that all of Jersualem is its capital.
- 1981 - Birth of Benjamin Barnes; English actor (Prince Caspian).
- 1982 - A multinational force lands in Beirut to oversee the PLO withdrawal from Lebanon.
- 1982 - Don Lever becomes the first captain of the New Jersey Devils.
- 1985 - First National League pitcher to strike out 200+ in first two seasons (Dwight Goodin).
- 1985 - Hanspeter Beck of South Australia finishes a 3,875-mile, 51-day trip from Western Australia to Melbourne on a unicycle.
- 1985 - Harchand Singh Longowai, Sikh leader, shot by Sikh extremists.
- 1985 - Israel ships 96 TOWs to Iran on behalf of the US.
- 1986 - Donn Bennett, TV host (The Big Idea), dies at age 76.
- 1986 - In Edmond, Oklahoma, United States Postal Service employee Patrick Sherrill guns down 14 of his co-workers before committing suicide.
- 1986 - Walter Brooke, actor (DA Scanlon - Green Hornet), dies at age 71.
- 1988 - In the Nepal-India border region, a magnitude 6.8 earthquake occurs. 721 people killed, 6,553 injured and 64,470 buildings damaged in eastern Nepal. At least 277 people killed, thousands injured and extensive damage in northern Bihar, India. Felt in large parts of northern India from Delhi to the Burma border and in much of Bangladesh.
- 1988 - Yordanka Donkova of Bulgaria sets 100m hurdle woman's record (12.21).
- 1989 - Fifty-one people die when the Marchioness pleasure boat collides with a barge on the River Thames adjacent to Southwark Bridge.
- 1989 - In Ethiopia, a magnitude 6.1 earthquake occurs.
- 1990 - George Steinbrenner steps down as New York Yankees owner.
- 1990 - Iraq moves Western hostages to military installations (human shields).
- 1990 - New York Yankees' player Kevin Mass is quickest to reach 15 home runs (approx 132 at bat).
- 1991 - The Supreme Council of the Republic of Estonia declares restoration of independence.
- 1991 - More than 100,000 people rally outside the Soviet Union's parliament building protesting the coup that deposed President Mikhail Gorbachev.
- 1991 - Estonia declares its independence (from the USSR).
- 1992 - The Republican National Convention in Houston, Texas renominates U.S. President George H.W. Bush and Vice President Dan Quayle. Pat Buchanan, one of Bush's opponents in the primaries, delivers a controversial convention speech, in which he refers to a "religious war" in the country.
- 1992 - Kristiansund's connection to the main land of Norway, Krifast, opens.
- 1994 - In Honolulu, Hawaii, during a circus international performance at the Neal Blaisdell Arena, a female elephant named Tyke crushes her trainer Allen Campbell to death before hundreds of horrified spectators.
- 1997 - Souhane massacre in Algeria; over 60 people killed, 15 kidnapped.
- 1998 - The Supreme Court of Canada states Quebec cannot legally secede from Canada without the federal government's approval.
- 1998 - The United States military launches cruise missile attacks against alleged Al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan and a suspected chemical plant in Sudan in retaliation for the August 7 bombings of American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. The al-Shifa pharmaceutical factory in Khartoum is destroyed in the attack.
- 2001 - Death of Kim Stanley at age 76 of uterine cancer; actress (Ben Casey TV show (1963, Emmy Award), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof TV show (1985, Emmy Award)).
- 2003 - Birth of Prince Gabriel of Belgium, son of Philippe, Duke of Brabant.
- 2004 - Elbegdorj Tsakhia, the peaceful democratic revolutionary leader of Mongolia, becomes Prime Minister of Mongolia for the second time.
- 2007 - Chief veterinary officer in China reports Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome in pigs had been brought under "preliminary control". The disease had infected 257,000 pigs in 26 provinces; 68,000 died, 175,000 were destroyed. 100 million re now protected through vaccination program.
- 2007 - NASDAQ announces its intention to sell its 31 percent stake in the London Stock Exchange.
- 2007 - Death of Leona Helmsley, American hotel operator and real estate investor, in New York at age 87 (born 1920).
- 2008 - In Los Angeles, Saxophonist LeRoi Moore, a founding member of the Dave Matthews Band, dies of complications from a vehicle accident in June, at age 46.
- 2008 - Spanair flight JK 5022 passenger plane taking off for the Canary Islands from Madrid's Barajas airport swerves off the runway and crashes, killing 153.
- 2008 - Jamaica's Usain Bolt wins the 200m sprint at the Beijing Olympic Games in new world record time of 19.30 seconds.
- 2008 - Death of Hua Guofeng, chairman of China's Communist Party (1976-81), at age 87, in Beijing, China (born 1921).
- 2009 - At the Athletics World Championships in Berlin, Germany, Usain Bolt of Jamaica sets a new world record in the 200m dash with a time of 19.19 seconds.
- 2009 - Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi, imprisoned for the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, is released by the Scottish government on compassionate grounds as he has terminal prostate cancer. He returns to his native Libya.
- 2011 - (to August 28) In the Battle of Tripoli, Libyan rebels take control the nation's capital, effectively overthrowing the government of Muammar Gaddafi.
- 2012 - Death of Dom Mintoff, 8th Prime Minister of Malta (born 1916).
- 2012 - Death of Meles Zenawi, 3rd President and 10th Prime Minister of Ethiopia (born 1955).
- 2020 - Death of Branko Kostic, Acting President of the Presidency of Yugoslavia (born 1939).
- 2023 - Presidential runoff election in Guatemala won by Bernardo Arévalo.
- 2023 - Tropical Storm Hillary makes landfall in Southern California, first in 84 years.
- 2023 - 5.1-magnitude earthquake strikes near Ojai, California.
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