This Week in History

AUGUST 15

Maryanne Ford was born.

1939 – The Wizard of Oz premiered in Hollywood.

1969 – Woodstock Music and Art Fair opened at Max Yasgur’s dairy farm in Bethel, New York.

AUGUST 16

Skylar Ronayne was born.

Jo Jo O’Grady was born.

Gerri-Lynn Morizzo was born.

James Johnson was born.

Louisa Louis was born.

1829 – The original Siamese twins, Eng and Chang, arrived in Boston.

1977 – Elvis Presley died at Graceland from heart failure at age 42.

AUGUST 17

Beth Hanning was born.

Tara Benn was born.

Rick Horan was born.

1896 – Prospectors found gold in Alaska, a discovery that set off the Klondike gold rush.

2008 – U.S. swimmer Michael Phelps won his eighth gold medal, breaking the record set by Mark Spitz in the 1972 Games.

AUGUST 18

Jon Kiebon was born.

1227 – Mongol conqueror Genghis Khan died in China.

AUGUST  19

Whitney Aycock was born.

Courtney Carroll was born.

Jimmy Mullen was born.

1934 – Germans voted to make Adolf Hitler Fuhrer.

1960 – American U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers was convicted of espionage in Moscow.

AUGUST 20

Jamie Agoglia was born.

Kendra Lane-Allen was born.

1980 – Italian Reinhold Messner made the first successful solo ascent of Mount Everest and without oxygen.

2000 – Tiger Woods won the PGA Championship becoming the first player since Ben Hogan in 1953 to win three majors in one year.

AUGUST 21

Mike Kehoe was born.

Janice Weinert was born.

1858 – The famous debates between Senator Stephen Douglas and Abraham Lincoln began in Illinois.

1911 – The Mona Lisa was stolen from the Louvre Museum in France by an Italian waiter, Vicenzo Perruggia.