Today in History – August 18
Today is the 230th day of 2023. There are 135 days left in the year.
By The Associated Press
Today’s Highlight in History:
On Aug. 18, 1920, the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, guaranteeing American women’s right to vote, was ratified as Tennessee became the 36th state to approve it. Tennessee Assembly Speaker Seth Walker, originally thought to be a supporter of women’s suffrage, changed his position and announced his opposition. Walker exclaimed, “This is a white man’s country!” Representative Harry T. Burn, at the urging of his mother to “be a good boy,” made history by changing his vote to support ratification and breaking the tie.
On this date:
In 1587, Virginia Dare became the first child of English parents to be born in present-day America, on what is now Roanoke Island in North Carolina.
In 1894, Congress established the Bureau of Immigration.
In 1914, President Woodrow Wilson issued his Proclamation of Neutrality, aimed at keeping the United States out of World War I.
In 1920, the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, guaranteeing American women’s right to vote, was ratified as Tennessee became the 36th state to approve it.
In 1963, James Meredith became the first Black student to graduate from the University of Mississippi.
In 1969, the Woodstock Music and Art Fair in Bethel, New York, wound to a close after three nights with a mid-morning set by Jimi Hendrix.
In 1983, Hurricane Alicia slammed into the Texas coast, leaving 21 dead and causing more than a billion dollars’ worth of damage.
In 1993, a judge in Sarasota, Florida, ruled that Kimberly Mays, the 14-year-old girl who had been switched at birth with another baby, need never again see her biological parents, Ernest and Regina Twigg, in accordance with her stated wishes. (However, Kimberly later moved in with the Twiggs.)
In 2004, in Athens, Paul Hamm (hahm) won the men’s gymnastics all-around Olympic gold medal by the closest margin ever in the event; controversy followed after it was discovered a scoring error cost Yang Tae-young of South Korea the title.
In 2005, a judge in Wichita, Kansas, sentenced BTK serial killer Dennis Rader to 10 consecutive life terms, the maximum the law would allow.
In 2011, Vice President Joe Biden met with Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping in Beijing.
In 2014, Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon ordered the National Guard to Ferguson, a suburb of St. Louis convulsed by protests over the fatal shooting of a Black 18- year-old, Michael Brown.
In 2020, Democrats formally made Joe Biden their 2020 presidential nominee at their all-virtual national convention.
For More This Day in History Visit www.zapinin.com.