This Day in History

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August 20

1000 – The foundation of the Hungarian state by Saint Stephen, celebrated as a National Day in Hungary.

1775 – The Spanish establish the Presidio San Augustin del Tucson in the town that became Tucson, Arizona.

1794 – Battle of Fallen Timbers: American troops force a confederacy of Shawnee, Mingo, Delaware, Wyandot, Miami, Ottawa, Chippewa, and Potawatomi warriors into a disorganized retreat.

1858 – Charles Darwin first publishes his theory of evolution through natural selection in The Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society of London, alongside Alfred Russel Wallace's same theory.

1866 – President Andrew Johnson formally declares the American Civil War over.

1882 – Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture debuts in Moscow, Russia.

1920 – The first commercial radio station, 8MK (now WWJ), begins operations in Detroit.

1938 – Lou Gehrig hits his 23rd career grand slam, a record that stood for 75 years until it was broken by Alex Rodriguez.

1940 – In Mexico City, Mexico exiled Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky is fatally wounded with an ice axe by Ramón Mercader. He dies the next day.

World War II: British Prime Minister Winston Churchill makes the fourth of his famous wartime speeches, containing the line "Never was so much owed by so many to so few".

1962 – The NS Savannah(<--Interesting read), the world's first nuclear-powered civilian ship, embarks on its maiden voyage.

1986 - Rick Allen, drummer with Def Leppard made his first live appearance with the band after losing an arm in a car accident, when they appeared at the Monsters Of Rock Festival, Castle Donington, England.

1988 – "Black Saturday" of the Yellowstone fire in Yellowstone National Park.

1992 - A US Doctor filed a $35m lawsuit against the Southwest Bell phone company. He alleged that his wife died because he could not reach 911 due to all lines being jammed by demand of Garth Brooks concert tickets.

Births

1833 – Benjamin Harrison (23rd POTUS); 1873 – Eliel Saarinen; 1890 – H. P. Lovecraft; 1910 – Eero Saarinen; 1923 – Jim Reeves♪ ♫; 1931 – Don King; 1935 – Ron Paul; 1942 – Isaac Hayes♪ ♫; 1946 – Connie Chung; 1947 – James Pankow♪ ♫(Chicago), Ray Wise; 1948 – Robert Plant♪ ♫(Led Zeppelin); 1949 – Phil Lynott(Thin Lizzy); 1951 – Mohamed Morsi; 1952 – Doug Fieger:shred(The Knack); 1952 – John Hiatt♪ ♫; 1954 – Al Roker; 1956 – Joan Allen; 1965 – KRS-One♪ ♫; 1966 – Dimebag Darrell(Pantera); 1969 – Billy Gardell (Mike & Molly); 1970 – Fred Durst♪ ♫(Limp Bizkit); 1992 – Demi Lovato♪ ♫

Deaths

1384 – Geert Groote (He was Groote.); 1974 – Buford Pusser; 2006 – Joe Rosenthal (took the Raising The Flag At Iwo Jima photo); 2007 – Leona Helmsley, The Queen of Mean; 2012 – Phyllis Diller; 2013 – Elmore Leonard