Today in History 8/14/20

Published 10:47 am Friday, August 14, 2020

By The Associated Press

Today is Friday, Aug. 14, the 227th day of 2020. There are 139 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On August 14, 1997, an unrepentant Timothy McVeigh was formally sentenced to death for the Oklahoma City bombing. (McVeigh was executed by lethal injection in 2001.)

On this date:

In 1900, international forces, including U.S. Marines, entered Beijing to put down the Boxer Rebellion, which was aimed at purging China of foreign influence.

In 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act into law.

In 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill issued the Atlantic Charter, a statement of principles that renounced aggression.

In 1945, President Harry S. Truman announced that Imperial Japan had surrendered unconditionally, ending World War II.

In 1948, the Summer Olympics in London ended; they were the first Olympic games held since 1936.

In 1973, U.S. bombing of Cambodia came to a halt.

In 1980, workers went on strike at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdansk, Poland, in a job action that resulted in creation of the Solidarity labor movement.

In 1992, the White House announced that the Pentagon would begin emergency airlifts of food to Somalia to alleviate mass deaths by starvation.

In 1995, Shannon Faulkner officially became the first female cadet in the history of The Citadel, South Carolina’s state military college. (However, Faulkner quit the school less than a week later, citing the stress of her court fight, and her isolation among the male cadets.)

In 2008, President George W. Bush signed consumer-safety legislation that banned lead from children’s toys, imposing the toughest standard in the world.

In 2009, Charles Manson follower Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme, 60, convicted of trying to assassinate President Gerald Ford in 1975, was released from a Texas prison hospital after more than three decades behind bars.

In 2018, a highway bridge collapsed in the Italian city of Genoa during a storm, sending vehicles plunging nearly 150 feet and leaving 43 people dead.

Ten years ago: A day after weighing in on the issue, President Barack Obama repeated that Muslims had the right to build a mosque near New York’s ground zero, but said he was not commenting on the “wisdom” of such a choice. Eight people leaving a party at a downtown Buffalo, N.Y., restaurant were shot, four fatally, including a Texas man who’d returned to his hometown to celebrate his first wedding anniversary. (Former gang member Riccardo McCray was later convicted of first-degree murder and attempted murder, and sentenced to life without parole.) A truck overturned during an off-road race in the Mojave Desert, killing eight spectators.

Five years ago: The Stars and Stripes rose over the newly reopened U.S. Embassy in Cuba after a half century of often-hostile relations; U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry celebrated the day, but also made an extraordinary, nationally broadcast call for democratic change on the island.

One year ago: Thousands of people packed a baseball stadium in El Paso, Texas, to mourn the 22 victims of a shooting at a Walmart by a man who told police that he was targeting Mexicans. American rapper A$AP Rocky was found guilty of assault by a Swedish court, six weeks after a street brawl in Stockholm that had attracted the attention of President Donald Trump, but the court gave “conditional sentences” to the rapper and his two bodyguards, sparing them prison time unless they were to commit a similar offense in Sweden again. A former Blackwater security contractor, Nicholas Slatten, was sentenced in Washington to life in prison after a retrial for his role in the 2007 shooting of unarmed civilians in Iraq that left 14 people dead.

Today’s Birthdays: Broadway lyricist Lee Adams (“Bye Bye Birdie”) is 96. College Football Hall of Famer John Brodie is 85. Singer Dash Crofts is 82. Rock singer David Crosby is 79. Country singer Connie Smith is 79. Comedian-actor Steve Martin is 75. Movie director Wim Wenders is 75. Actor Antonio Fargas is 74. Singer-musician Larry Graham is 74. Actor Susan Saint James is 74. Author Danielle Steel is 73. Rock singer-musician Terry Adams (NRBQ) is 72. “Far Side” cartoonist Gary Larson is 70. Actor Carl Lumbly is 69. Olympic gold medal swimmer Debbie Meyer is 68. Actor Jackee Harry is 64. Actor Marcia Gay Harden is 61. Basketball Hall of Famer Earvin “Magic” Johnson is 61. Singer Sarah Brightman is 60. Actor Susan Olsen is 59. Actor-turned-fashion/interior designer Cristi Conaway is 56. Rock musician Keith Howland (Chicago) is 56. Actor Halle Berry is 54. Actor Ben Bass is 52. Actor Catherine Bell is 52. Rock musician Kevin Cadogan is 50. Actor Scott Michael Campbell is 49. Actor Lalanya Masters is 48. Actor Christopher Gorham is 46. Actor Mila Kunis is 37. Actor Lamorne Morris is 37. TV personality Spencer Pratt is 37. NFL quarterback-turned-baseball player Tim Tebow is 33. Actor Marsai Martin is 16.