Today in HISTORY

YEAR DAY EVENT 636 Aug 15 At the Battle at Yarmuk, east of the Sea of Galilee, Islamic forces beat a Byzantine army and gained control of Syria. 778 Aug 15 At the Battle at Roncesvalles the Basques beat Charlemagne. 1040 Aug 15 In Scotland Donnchad led an army into Moray, where he was killed by Mac Bethad at Pitgaveny near Elgin. 1261 Aug 15 Constantinople fell to Michael VIII of Nicea and his army. 1519 Aug 15 Panama City was founded. 1537 Aug 15 Juan de Salazar, Spanish pioneer, founded Asuncion, the capital of Paraguay. 1548 Aug 15 Mary Queen of the Scots (6), who was engaged to the Dauphin, landed in France. 1549 Aug 15 Francis Xavier, Portuguese Jesuit missionary, landed in Kagoshima, Japan, and began spreading the Catholic faith there. 1598 Aug 15 Hugh O’Neill, the Earl of Tyrone, led an Irish force to victory over the British at Battle of Yellow Ford. 1665 Aug 15 The London weekly “Bill of Mortality” recorded 5,568 fatalities with teeth holding the no. 5 spot. 4,237 were killed by the plague. 1748 Aug 15 United Lutheran Church of US was organized. 1760 Aug 15 Frederick II (1712-1786), king of Prussia, defeated the Austrians at the Battle of Liegnitz. 1769 Aug 15 Napoleon Bonaparte (d.1821), Emperor of France (1804-1813, 1814-1815) and continental Europe, was born on the island of Corsica. 1795 Aug 15 Franz Joseph Haydn left England for the last time. 1824 Aug 15 Freed American slaves formed the country of Liberia. 1828 Aug 15 In San Francisco the daughter (5) and son (1) of Presidio soldier Ignacio Olivas were killed as he and his wife attended a dance party near Mission Dolores. Suspicion fell on fellow soldier Francisco Rubio, who was found guilty and executed on August 1, 1831. Rubio claimed innocence to the end. 1843 Aug 15 National black convention met in Buffalo, NY. 1848 Aug 15 M. Waldo Hanchett patented a dental chair. 1861 Aug 15 Lincoln directed reinforcements to be sent to Missouri. 1864 Aug 15 The Confederate raider Tallahassee captured six Federal ships off New England. 1865 Aug 15 Sir Joseph Lister discovered the antiseptic process. 1885 Aug 15 Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (d.1912), composer (Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast), was born in London, England. 1888 Aug 15 The British soldier T.E. Lawrence, better known as Lawrence of Arabia for his military exploits against the Turks in World War I, was born in Tremadoc, Wales. 1890 Aug 15 Jacques Ibert, composer (Escales), was born in Paris, France. 1899 Aug 15 Henry Ford (36) quit his job with the Edison Illuminating Company. He soon found backers and started the Detroit Automobile Company, with himself as chief engineer. 1906 Aug 15 The 1st freight delivery tunnel system began underneath Chicago. 1907 Aug 15 Joseph Joachim (76), German violinist, composer, died. 1910 Aug 15 Hugo Winterhalter, composer, was born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. 1911 Aug 15 Procter and Gamble unveiled its Crisco shortening. 1914 Aug 15 Anatol K. Liadov (59), Russian composer (Baba Yaga), died. 1918 Aug 15 Russia severed diplomatic ties with US. 1922 Aug 15 Lukas Foss, [Fuchs], composer (Prairie), was born in Berlin, Germany. 1923 Aug 15 Simon Peres [Persky], premier of Israel, was born in Belarus. 1924 Aug 15 Robert Oxton Bolt, English screenwriter and playwright, was born. He is best known for “A Man for all Seasons.” 1931 Aug 15 Roy Wilkins joined NAACP as asst. secretary. 1933 Aug 15 Drug Inc., and Int’l. shoe were removed from the DJIA. Corn Products Refining and United Aircraft were added. 1938 Aug 15 Maxine Waters, congresswoman from California, second African-American woman to be elected to congress, was born. 1939 Aug 15 The MGM musical “The Wizard of Oz” premiered at Grauman’s Chinese Theater in Hollywood. 1941 Aug 15 Lithuanian Jews in Kaunas were herded into the Slobodka ghetto. 1942 Aug 15 The Japanese submarine I-25 departed Japan with a floatplane in its hold. It was assembled upon arriving off 1943 Aug 15 Allies landed on Kiska in the Aleutians. 1944 Aug 15 Linda Ellerbee, newscaster (Weekend, NBC Overnight), was born in Bryan, Texas. 1945 Aug 15 Gasoline and fuel oil rationing ended in the United States. 1948 Aug 15 The Republic of Korea (South Korea) declared independence. 1950 Aug 15 A magnitude 8.6 earthquake in Assam, Tibet, killed at least 780 people. 1951 Aug 15 Artur Schnabel (b.1882), Austrian born US pianist (Reflections on Music), died in Switzerland. 1953 Aug 15 In Iran a CIA plot, masterminded by Kermit Roosevelt, to unseat PM Mossadeq failed. A 2nd attempt succeeded on August 19. 1954 Aug 15 Alfredo Stroessner (b.1912) named himself president of Paraguay. This ended a 27-year chaotic period in which 22 presidents came and went. 1960 Aug 15 Congo (formerly Congo/Brazzaville) declared Independence from France 1961 Aug 15 East German workers began building the Berlin Wall. 1962 Aug 15 Shady Grove Baptist Church was burned in Leesburg, Georgia. 1964 Aug 15 A race riot took place in Dixmoor, a suburb of Chicago, Ill. 1965 Aug 15 Beatles played to 55,000 at Shea Stadium. 1968 Aug 15 Pirate Radio Free London began transmitting. 1972 Aug 15 The Italian town of Grazie di Curtatone began its Int’l. Street Painting Festival. This revived a 16th century practice by itinerant artists who traveled from village to village for religious and folk festivals. 1974 Aug 15 South Korean President Park Chung-hee escaped an assassination attempt in which his wife was killed. Park’s daughter took over as 1st lady. 1976 Aug 15 Former SS Colonel Herbert Kappler dramatically escaped from prison hospital in Rome with the aid of his wife and taken to Germany. 1985 Aug 15 Iraq launched its first air raid on Iran’s Kharg oil-island. 1987 Aug 15 Thousands of people marched past the grave of Elvis Presley in Memphis, Tenn., as they began an all-night vigil marking the 10th anniversary of his death. 1988 Aug 15 President Reagan bade a sentimental farewell on the first night of the Republican national convention in New Orleans, and praised the man destined to succeed him, Vice President George Bush. 1989 Aug 15 In NYC Darryl Rush was shot to death. Jonathan Fleming, a friend of Rush, was later arrested and convicted, despite proof that he was in Disney World on vacation. On April 8, 2014, Fleming (51) was released from jail and cleared of the murder charges. 1990 Aug 15 In an attempt to gain support against the US-led coalition in the Persian Gulf, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein offered to make peace with longtime enemy Iran. 1992 Aug 15 While Republicans gathered in Houston for their national convention, President Bush spent the weekend at Camp David, his renomination secure. 1993 Aug 15 Pope John Paul II ended his four-day U.S. visit with a farewell address at Denver’s Stapleton International Airport in which he denounced the “culture of death” of abortion and euthanasia. 1994 Aug 15 Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, the terrorist known as “Carlos the Jackal,” was jailed in France after being captured in Sudan. By his own count he had killed 83 people before being captured. Bernard Violet is the author of “Carlos – The Secret networks of Int’l. Terrorism.” 1995 Aug 15 The Justice Department agreed to pay 3.1 million dollars to white separatist Randy Weaver and his family to settle their claims over the killing of Weaver’s wife and son during a 1992 siege by federal agents at Ruby Ridge, Idaho. 1996 Aug 15 A botulism outbreak began killing birds at the Salton Sea in California. The sea is 278 feet below sea level and is now 10% more salty than the Pacific Ocean. Extensive pollution with sewage from Mexico and pesticides from farms in the Coachella valley plagued the big lake. 1997 Aug 15 The US government expanded its recall of ground beef sold under the Hudson brand name to 1.1 million pounds because of new evidence of possible contamination by E. coli bacteria. 1998 Aug 15 Some 34,000 union workers went on strike against US West. 1999 Aug 15 Tiger Woods won the PGA Championship, becoming the youngest player to win two majors since Seve Ballesteros. 2000 Aug 15 US warplanes bombed air defense sites in northern Iraq. 2001 Aug 15 The Air Force gave the go-ahead to build its new F-22 fighter, but said it would build fewer planes for more money than it had once planned. 2002 Aug 15 President Bush, using Mount Rushmore as a dramatic backdrop, pressed Congress to give him a flexible, fast-moving homeland security department. 2003 Aug 15 Bouncing back from the largest blackout in U.S. history, cities from the Midwest to Manhattan restored power to millions of people ”” only to confront a second series of woes created in the aftermath of the enormous outage. 2004 Aug 15 In NY Spencer Tunick, photographer, gathered 1,826 people at Buffalo’s old Central Terminal for a group session of nude photographs. 2005 Aug 15 US prosecutors said 4 former Wall Street brokers have been indicted for a scheme allowing day traders to eavesdrop on internal communications and profit by trading ahead of large share orders and subsequent price movements. 2006 Aug 15 US federal agents arrested 138 alleged drug traffickers in 15 cities. They seized over 47 pounds of Mexican black tar heroin and confiscated over $500,000 in illegal profits. 2007 Aug 15 Ex-NBA referee Tim Donaghy pleaded guilty to felony charges in an NBA betting scheme. He faced up to 25 years in prison and a $500,000 fine. A federal judge later sentenced Donaghy to 15 months behind bars. 2008 Aug 15 Cookie retailer Mrs. Fields Famous Brands LLC said it plans to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection to help restructure its business. 2009 Aug 15 In Georgia former college professor Lothar Karl Schweder (77) and his wife Sherry (65) were found mauled to death by dogs near their home in Lexington. 2010 Aug 15 In San Francisco the 2-day Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival drew close to 80,000 people to 4 concert stages in Golden Gate Park. 2011 Aug 15 Paul “Doug” Peters, a man wanted in Australia for allegedly strapping a fake bomb to the neck of a teenage girl in a suburban Sydney home on August 3, was arrested near Louisville, Kentucky. 2013 Aug 15 A CIA history was released that referred to Area 51 in Nevada by name and described some of the activities that took place there. 2014 Aug 15 In Indiana William Clyde Gibson III (56) was sentenced to death in the strangling of Stephanie Kirk (35) of Charlestown. Gibson was sentenced to death last year for the murder of Christine Whitis (75), whose body was discovered in his garage days before Kirk’s body was found.