On This Day in History - August 19th - Almanac

Today is Friday, Aug. 19, the 232nd day of 2016 with 134 to follow.

The moon is waning. Morning stars are Neptune and Uranus. Evening stars are Venus, Mercury, Mars, Saturn and Neptune.

Those born on this date are under the sign of Leo. They include English poet John Dryden in 1631; clockmaker Seth Thomas in 1785; statesman Bernard Baruch in 1870; aviation pioneer Orville Wright in 1871; French fashion designer Coco Chanel in 1883; actor Alfred Lunt in 1892; humorist Ogden Nash in 1902; pioneer television engineer Philo Farnsworth in 1906; singing Mills Brother Harry Mills in 1913; writer Ring Lardner Jr. in 1915; publisher Malcolm Forbes in 1919; "Star Trek" creator Gene Roddenberry in 1921; writer Frank McCourt in 1930; jockey Willie Shoemaker in 1931; actor Diana Muldaur in 1938 (age 78); actor Jill St. John in 1940 (age 76); drummer Ginger Baker (Cream) in 1939 (age 77); singer Johnny Nash in 1940 (age 76); Bill Clinton, 42nd president of the United States, in 1946 (age 70); political commentator Mary Matalin in 1953 (age 63); actor Gerald McRaney in 1947 (age 69); actor Jonathan Frakes in 1952 (age 64); actor Peter Gallagher in 1955 (age 61); actor Adam Arkin in 1956 (age 60); actor John Stamos in 1963 (age 53); actor Kyra Sedgwick in 1965 (age 51); actor Matthew Perry in 1969 (age 47).

On this date in history:

In 1812, the U.S. Navy frigate Constitution defeated the British ship Guerriere in a furious engagement off the coast of Nova Scotia and earned its nickname of "Old Ironsides." Witnesses said British shots seemed to bounce off the Constitution.

In 1960, U-2 spy plane pilot Francis Gary Powers was convicted in a Moscow court and sentenced to 10 years in prison. He was released 18 months later in exchange for Soviet spy Rudolf Abel.

In 1977, Julius "Groucho" Marx, leader of the Marx Brothers comedy troupe, died at the age of 87.

In 1987, gun enthusiast Michael Ryan went on a shooting rampage in Hungerford, England, killing 16 people.

In 1991, a coup orchestrated by hard-line Communists and led by Vice President Gennady Yanayev removed Mikhail Gorbachev as president of the Soviet Union. The coup would endure for three days before being put down. The action led to the dissolution of the Soviet Union which would formally occur on December 26, 1991.

In 1992, delegates to the Republican National Convention nominated President George H.W. Bush and Vice President Dan Quayle for re-election. They were defeated in November by Democrats Bill Clinton and Al Gore.

In 1995, three U.S. negotiators, including Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Robert Frasure, were killed when their vehicle plunged from a mountain road near Sarajevo in Bosnia and Herzegovina

In 1996, the Green Party nominated Ralph Nader as its presidential candidate.

In 2003, Sergio Vieira de Mello, the United Nations' representative to Iraq, was killed in a car-bomb attack on UN headquarters in Iraq.

In 2008, the resignation of Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf was followed by insurgent bombing attacks that killed roughly 100 people.

In 2009, two massive bomb attacks killed at least 95 people and wounded more than 600 others in Baghdad. It was said to be the worst attack in the region since the U.S. military gave control of the country's security back to the Iraqi government.

In 2013, an express train killed at least 37 people and injured many others crossing tracks at a remote transit station in the eastern India state of Bihar. After the accident, an angry mob severely beat the operator of the train, authorities said.

In 2014, police in St. Louis said officers shot and killed a knife-wielding 22-year-old African-American man, increasing tension in an area already rocked by violence following the police shooting of black teenager Michael Brown in suburban Ferguson 10 days earlier.

A thought for the day: "The older I get the better I used to be." -- golfer Lee Trevino