Today in History

US Republican convention nominates Mitt Romney as the party’s presidential candidate.

Hurricane Katrina reaches Category 5 strength; Louisiana Superdome opened as a “refuge of last resort” in New Orleans.

Power blackout affects half-million people in southeast England and halts 60% of London’s underground trains.

Prince Nikolai of Denmark.

Two hundred twenty-three die when a dam breaks at Qinghai (Kokonor), in northwest China.

Gilad Shalit, Israeli Defense Forces corporal kidnapped by Hamas and held for five years before being exchanged for 1,027 Palestinian prisoners.

Israeli’s prime minister Menachem Begin announces his resignation.

Leann Rimes, Grammy-winning singer (“Blue”), actress, (Northern Lights).

John Hinckley Jr. pleads innocent to attempting to assassinate Pres. Ronald Reagan.

Irish Republican Army (IRA) bomb explodes under bandstand in Brussels’ Great Market as British Army musicians prepare for a performance; four British soldiers wounded.

Todd Eldredge, figure skater; Men’s World Champion (1996).

Clash between police and anti-war demonstrators during Democratic Party’s National Convention in Chicago.

Shania Twain (Eilleen Regina Edwards), five-time Grammy-winning singer (“You’re Still the One”); only female artist to have three consecutive Diamond albums (10 million units sold).

One of the largest demonstrations in the history of the United States, the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, takes place and reaches its climax at the base of the Lincoln Memorial when Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his “I have a dream” speech.

Rita Dove, poet; second African-American poet to receive the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry (1987); first African-American Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress (1993-95); Poet Laureate of Virginia (2004-06).

Wayne Osmond, singer, songwriter, TV actor (The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters).

Daniel Seraphine, drummer with the band Chicago.

Chinese communist leader Mao Tse-Tung arrives in Chunking to confer with Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-Shek in a futile effort to avert civil war.

German forces in Toulon and Marseilles, France, surrender to the Allies.

Lou Pinelia, American League Rookie of the Year (1969); 14th-winningest manager of all time.

The German U-boat U-570 is captured by the British and renamed Graph

Catherine “Cassie” Mackin, journalist; first woman to anchor an evening newscast alone on a regular basis (NBC’s Sunday Night News); NBC’s first woman floor reporter at a national political convention.

The first degree given to a ventriloquist’s dummy is awarded to Charlie McCarthy–Edgar Bergen’s wooden partner. The honorary degree, “Master of Innuendo and Snappy Comeback,” is presented on radio by Ralph Dennis, the dean of the School of Speech at Northwestern University.

Donald O’Connor, entertainer (Singin’ in the Rain, Anything Goes).

Three German cruisers are sunk by ships of the Royal Navy in the Battle of Heligoland Bight, the first major naval battle of World War I.

Roger Tory Peterson, author of the innovative bird book A Field Guide to Birds.

Bruno Bettelheim, Austrian psychologist, educator of autistic and emotionally disturbed children.

Liam O’Flaherty, Irish novelist and short-story writer.

Belle Benchley, the first female zoo director in the world, who directed the Zoological Gardens of San Diego.

Mistakenly believing the Confederate Army to be in retreat, Union General John Pope attacks, beginning the Battle of Groveton. Both sides sustain heavy casualties.

Leo Tolstoy, Russian novelist (War and Peace, Anna Karenina).

Elizabeth Ann Seton, founder of the Sisters of St. Joseph and the first U.S.-born saint.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, German poet, playwright and novelist, best known for Faust.

Indian chief King Philip, also known as Metacom, is killed by English soldiers, ending the war between Indians and colonists.