What happened on your birthday?

What happened today

1994

Last Russian troops leave Estonia and Latvia.
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Famous birthdays

1949

Richard Gere, actor (Pretty Woman, An Officer and a Gentleman).

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What’s Your Vietnam War Draft Lottery Number?

The Vietnam War draft lottery ran from 1969 to 1972. If you were born on August 31, would your number have been called?

  • Vietnam War 1969 Lottery
    CalledDrafted
    11
  • Vietnam War 1970 Lottery
    Not CalledNot drafted
    275
  • Vietnam War 1971 Lottery
    Not CalledNot drafted
    111
  • Vietnam War 1972 Lottery
    Not CalledNot drafted
    218

Read on to learn more about the Vietnam war draft lottery.

more events on August 31

  • 2006

    Edvard Munch’s famed painting The Scream recovered by Norwegian police. The artwork had been stolen on Aug. 22, 2004.

  • 1997

    New York Yankees retire Don Mattingly’s #23 (first baseman, coach, manager).

  • Diana, Princess of Wales, dies in a Paris car crash along with her companion Dodi Fayed and driver Henri Paul while fleeing paparazzi.

  • 1994

    The Irish Republican Army (IRA) announces a “complete cessation of military operations,” opening the way to a political settlement in Ireland for the first time in a quarter of a century.

  • Last Russian troops leave Estonia and Latvia.

  • 1990

    Ken Griffey and Ken Griffey Jr. become first father and son to play on same team simultaneously in professional baseball (Seattle Mariners).

  • East and West Germany sign the Treaty of Unification (Einigungsvertrag) to join their legal and political systems.

  • 1987

    Longest mine strike in South Africa’s history ends, after 11 people were killed, 500 injured and 400 arrested.

  • 1986

    A Russian cargo ship collides with cruise ship Admiral Nakhimov, killing 398.

  • 1985

    Police capture Richard Ramirez, dubbed the “Night Stalker” for a string of gruesome murders that stretched from Mission Viejo to San Francisco, Cal.

  • 1980

    Polish government forced to sign Gdansk Agreement allowing creation of the trade union Solidarity.

  • 1970

    Queen Rania of Jordan (nee Rania al Yassin), wife of King Abdullah II.

  • Deborah Ann “Debbie” Gibson, singer, songwriter, record producer, actress; youngest artist ever to write, produce and perform a Billboard #1 single (“Foolish Beat”).

  • Lonnie McLucas convicted of torturing and murdering fellow Black Panther Party member Alex Rackley in the first of the New Haven Black Panther Trials.

  • 1968

    The Dasht-e Bayaz 7.3 earthquake in NE Iran completely destroys five villages and severely damages six others.

  • 1965

    US Congress creates Department of Housing & Urban Development.

  • 1961

    A concrete wall replaces the barbed wire fence that separates East and West Germany, it will be called the Berlin wall.

  • 1951

    The 1st Marine Division begins its attack on Bloody Ridge in Korea. The four-day battle results in 2,700 Marine casualties.

  • 1949

    Richard Gere, actor (Pretty Woman, An Officer and a Gentleman).

  • Six of the 16 surviving Union veterans of the Civil War attend the last-ever encampment of the Grand Army of the Republic, held in Indianapolis, Indiana.

  • 1948

    Lowell Ganz, screenwriter, (A League of Their Own) director, producer, actor.

  • 1945

    Itzhak Perlman, violinist.

  • Van Morrison, Irish singer, songwriter.

  • 1944

    The British Eighth Army penetrates the German Gothic Line in Italy.

  • 1942

    The British army under General Bernard Law Montgomery defeats Field Marshal Erwin Rommel’s Afrika Korps in the Battle of Alam Halfa in Egypt.

  • 1940

    Joseph Avenol steps down as Secretary-General of the League of Nations.

  • 1936

    Marva Collins, innovative educator who started Chicago’s one-room school, Westside Preparatory.

  • 1935

    Eldridge Cleaver, political activist and author of Soul on Fire.

  • 1928

    Kurt Weill’s The Threepenny Opera opens in Berlin.

  • 1919

    The Communist Labor Party is founded in Chicago, with the motto, “Workers of the world unite!”

  • 1918

    Daniel Schorr, journalist.

  • Alan Jay Lerner, playwright and lyricist (Brigadoon, Camelot).

  • 1908

    William Saroyan, author and playwright (The Human Comedy).

  • 1907

    William Shawn, longtime editor of The New Yorker.

  • 1905

    Sanford Meisner, influential acting teacher.

  • 1903

    Arthur Godfrey, radio and television personality.

  • 1899

    Lynn Riggs, writer, her book Green Grow the Lilacs was adapted by Rodgers and Hammerstein to become Oklahoma.

  • 1885

    Dubose Heyward, novelist, poet and dramatist best know for Porgy which was the basis for the opera Porgy and Bess.

  • 1870

    Maria Montessori, educator and founder of the Montessori schools.

  • 1864

    At the Democratic convention in Chicago, General George B. McClellan is nominated for president.

  • 1811

    Théophile Gautier, French poet, novelist and author of Art for Art’s Sake.

  • 1802

    Captain Meriwether Lewis leaves Pittsburgh to meet up with Captain William Clark and begin their trek to the Pacific Ocean.

  • 1756

    The British at Fort William Henry, New York, surrender to Louis Montcalm of France.

  • 1303

    The War of Vespers in Sicily ends with an agreement between Charles of Valois, who invaded the country, and Frederick, the ruler of Sicily.

Aug 30
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