Today in History

NATO decides to send a peacekeeping force to the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

Tiger Woods wins golf’s PGA Championship, the first golfer to win 3 majors in a calendar year since Ben Hogan in 1953.

The new Globe theater opens in England.

Ernesto Zedillo wins Mexico’s presidential election.

Communist hardliners’ coup is crushed in USSR after just 2 days; Latvia declares independence from USSR.

Voyager 2 begins a flyby of planet Neptune.

Ceasefire in the 8-year war between Iran and Iraq.

In Cameroon 2,000 die from poison gas from a volcanic eruption.

Operation Paul Bunyan: after North Korean guards killed two American officers sent to trim a poplar tree along the DMZ on Aug. 18, US and ROK soldiers with heavy support chopped down the tree.

Sergey Brin, co-founder of Google.

US orbiting astronomy observatory Copernicus launched.

Soviet forces invade Czechoslovakia because of the country’s experiments with a more liberal government.

The South Vietnamese Army arrests over 100 Buddhist monks in Saigon.

Stephen Hillenburg, animator and cartoonist; created character of Spongebob Squarepants.

Hawaii is admitted into the Union.

Kim Cattrall, actress (Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, Sex in the City TV series).

Archie Griffin, NFL running back; only college player to win two Heisman trophies (Ohio State) and first player to start in four Rose Bowls; member, College Football Hall of Fame.

Ivan Stang (Douglass St. Clair Smith), writer, Church of the SubGenius.

Joe Strummer, lead singer of British punk band The Clash (“Rock the Casbah”).

Harry Smith, TV co-anchor (The Early Show and its predecessor CBS Morning Show, 1987–96, 2002–10).

Arthur Bremer, attempted assassin who shot segregationist Alabama governor George C. Wallace in May 1972.

President Harry S. Truman cancels all contracts under the Lend-Lease Act.

Peter Weir, film director; among the leaders of Australian New Wave cinema (Picnic at Hanging Rock, Gallipoli); Academy Award nominee (Dead Poets Society, Master and Commander).

U.S. Marines turn back the first major Japanese ground attack on Guadalcanal in the Battle of Tenaru.

Kenny Rogers, singer, actor; one of top-selling artists of all time; voted Favorite Singer of All Time in 1986 poll.

Wilt Chamberlin, four-time MVP for the National Basketball Association and only player to score 100 points in a professional basketball game.

Italy declares war on Turkey.

William “Count” Basie, American band leader and composer.

Confederate General A.P. Hill attacks Union troops south of Petersburg, Va., at the Weldon railroad. His attack is repulsed, resulting in heavy Confederate casualties.

Confederate raiders under William Quantrill strike Lawrence, Kansas, leaving 150 civilians dead.

The first of a series of debates begins between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas. Douglas goes on to win the Senate seat in November, but Lincoln gains national visibility for the first time.

Nat Turner leads a slave revolt in Southampton County, Virginia that kills close to 60 whites.

Napoleon Bonaparte‘s General Junot is defeated by Wellington at the first Battle of the Peninsular War at Vimeiro, Portugal.

Jules Michelet, French historian who wrote the 24-volume Historie de France.

France surrenders the island of Corsica to the British.

Estevao Gomes returns to Portugal after failing to find a clear waterway to Asia.

The warrior Yoritomo is made Shogun without equal in Japan.