Epic Idiot's what happened
On This Day

August 20

1998
Al-Qaeda: The U.S. fires 66 missiles at six Al-Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan and 13 missiles at a pharmaceutical factory in Khartoum, Sudan, in retaliation for the US embassy bombings. About 30 people are killed in the Afghanistan attacks, but no important al-Qaeda figures are killed.

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1988
End of war between Iran and Iraq.

1977
Voyager II is launched.

1975
Viking I launched towards Mars.

1960
First living organisms to return from space: Soviet Sputnik 5 - which had been launched the previous day - is recovered. Its payload included two dogs, two mice, 40 rats, and various insects and plants.

1920
First commercial radio station: WWJ of Detroit begins operating.

1866
Civil War: Pres. Johnson declares the war ended, including Texas.

1844
First U.S. President not to run for a second term: Pres. Tyler withdraws from the presidential race.

1955
Jay Acovone, actor. TV: Beauty and the Beast (D.A. Joe Maxwell).

1954
Theresa Saldana, American actress. TV: Commish (Rachel).

1946
Connie Chung (Constance Yu-Hwa), American anchorwoman for CBS.

1944
Graig Nettles, American baseball player, during a 1974 game the tip of his bat came off exposing an illegal cork center.

1942
Isaac Hayes, American Oscar-Grammy-winning singer, composer, actor. Film: Shaft (1971, won Oscar and Grammy for the Score).

1940
Gary Collins, American football wide receiver. He scored the first touchdown of Monday Night Football (1970).

1924     d. 1964
Jim Reeves, American Country Music Hall of Famer (1967). Music: Mexican Joe (1953, #1). He had 17 top 10 hits after his death.

1921     d. 1974
Jacqueline Susann, American actress, author, wrote Valley of the Dolls (1966), selling 17,000,000 copies and becoming the all-time best-selling novel.

1907     d. 1977
Alan Reed (Teddy Bergman), American actor. TV: The Flintstones (voice of Fred).

1833     d. 1901
Benjamin Harrison, 23rd U.S. President (1889-93). His support of spending programs during his term earned Congress the name "The Billion Dollar Congress." He was the first U.S. President to a attend a major league baseball game (June 6, 1892 Cincinnati beat Washington 7-4).

2001     b. 1915
Sir Fred Hoyle, British astronomer, mathematician, a proponent of the "steady-state" theory, in which the universe has no definite beginning. In 1950 he coined the term "big bang" as a derogatory description of the alternate theory in which the universe was created 10 to 20 billion years ago when a single point expanded. (more...)

1989     b. 1906
George Adamson, Kenyan environmentalist, protector of lions, featured in the movie Born Free (1966). He was killed by poachers.

1982     b. 1916
Alfred Bloomingdale, launched Diner's Club credit card co. (1950).

1970     b. 1914
Mickey Daniels (Richard Daniels, Jr.), American actor, appeared in 49 of the Our Gang films.

1961     b. 1882
Percy Williams Bridgman, American Nobel prize-winning physicist. He was the first Harvard physicist to win the Nobel Prize for Physics (1946 for his work in high pressure). He was able to reach presssure of 400,000 atmospheres.

1940     b. 1879
Leon Trotsky (Lev Davidovich Bronstein), Russian revolutionary leader. He and Lenin organized the October Revolution. He also appeared in the American silent film My Official Wife (1916) using the name Mr. Brown.

1915     b. 1854
Paul Ehrlich, German Nobel-winning bacteriologist, immunologist. He discovered the first cure for syphilis (1910).

1914     b. 1835
Saint Pius X, Italian religious leader, 257th Pope (1903-14), canonized in 1954.

1912     b. 1829
William Booth, English preacher, he and his wife Catherine founded the Salvation Army (1865).

1823     b. 1740
Pius VII, Italian religious leader, 251st Pope (1800-23).

984     b. ????
John XIV, religious leader, 136th Pope (983-984).

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