Today in History
Today is Sunday, Aug. 28, the 240th day of 2022. There are 125 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On Aug. 28, 1955, Emmett Till, a Black teen from Chicago, was abducted from his uncle’s home in Money, Mississippi, by two white men after he had supposedly whistled at a white woman; he was found brutally slain three days later.
On this date:
In 1862, the Second Battle of Bull Run (also known as Second Manassas) began in Prince William County, Virginia, during the Civil War; the result was a Confederate victory.
In 1922, the first-ever radio commercial aired on station WEAF in New York City; the 10-minute advertisement was for the Queensboro Realty Co., which had paid a fee of $100.
In 1941, Japan’s ambassador to the U.S., Kichisaburo Nomura, presented a note to President Franklin D. Roosevelt from Japan’s prime minister, Prince Fumimaro Konoye, expressing a desire for improved relations.
In 1963, more than 200,000 people listened as the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.
In 1968, police and anti-war demonstrators clashed in the streets of Chicago as the Democratic National Convention nominated Hubert H. Humphrey for president.
In 1988, 70 people were killed when three Italian stunt planes collided during an air show at the U.S. Air Base in Ramstein (RAHM’-shtyn), West Germany.
In 1996, the troubled 15-year marriage of Britain’s Prince Charles and Princess Diana officially ended with the issuing of a divorce decree.
In 2005, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin (NAY’-gin) ordered everyone in the city to evacuate after Hurricane Katrina grew to a monster storm.
In 2013, a military jury sentenced Maj. Nidal Hasan to death for the 2009 shooting rampage at Fort Hood that claimed 13 lives. On the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.‘s “I Have a Dream” speech at the Lincoln Memorial, President Barack Obama stood on the same steps as he challenged new generations to seize the cause of racial equality.
In 2016, six scientists completed a yearlong Mars simulation in Hawaii, where they emerged after living in a dome in near isolation on a Mauna Loa mountain.
In 2018, a white former police officer, Roy Oliver, was convicted of murder for fatally shooting a Black 15-year-old boy, Jordan Edwards, while firing into a car packed with teenagers in suburban Dallas; Oliver was sentenced the following day to 15 years in prison.
In 2020, Japan’s longest-serving prime minister, Shinzo Abe, said he was stepping down because a chronic illness had resurfaced. (Abe was succeeded by his right-hand man, Yoshihide Suga. Abe was assassinated in July 2022.)
Ten years ago: Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney swept to the Republican presidential nomination at a storm-delayed national convention in Tampa, Florida. Hurricane Isaac spun into the southern Louisiana coast, sending floodwaters surging and unleashing fierce winds, as residents hunkered down behind boarded-up windows.
Five years ago: Floodwaters reached the rooflines of single-story homes as Hurricane Harvey poured rain on the Houston area for a fourth consecutive day; thousands of people had been rescued from the flooding. The Navy said divers had recovered the remains of all 10 sailors who had been missing after the USS John S. McCain and an oil tanker collided near Singapore nearly a week earlier.
One year ago: Taliban forces sealed off Kabul’s airport to most Afghans hoping for evacuation, as the U.S. and its allies prepared to end a chaotic airlift. In the aftermath of a suicide attack that killed scores of Afghans and 13 American service members at the Kabul airport, President Joe Biden warned that another attack was “highly likely”; the State Department issued a new security alert instructing people to leave the airport area immediately. In retaliation for the suicide bombing, the U.S. military said it had used a drone strike to kill two “planners and facilitators” of the Islamic State Group’s Afghanistan affiliate.
Today’s Birthdays: Actor Sonny Shroyer is 87. Actor Marla Adams is 84. Actor Ken Jenkins is 82. Former Defense Secretary William S. Cohen is 82. Actor David Soul is 79. Former MLB manager and player Lou Piniella (pihn-EHL’-uh) is 79. Actor Barbara Bach is 76. Actor Debra Mooney is 75. Singer Wayne Osmond (The Osmonds) is 71. Actor Daniel Stern is 65. Olympic gold medal figure skater Scott Hamilton is 64. Actor John Allen Nelson is 63. Actor Emma Samms is 62. Actor Jennifer Coolidge is 61. Movie director David Fincher is 60. Actor Amanda Tapping is 57. Country singer Shania (shah-NY’-uh) Twain is 57. Actor Billy Boyd is 54. Actor Jack Black is 53. Actor Jason Priestley is 53. Actor Daniel Goddard (TV: “The Young and the Restless”) is 51. Olympic gold medal swimmer Janet Evans is 51. Actor J. August Richards is 49. Rock singer-musician Max Collins (Eve 6) is 44. Actor Carly Pope is 42. Country singer Jake Owen is 41. Country singer LeAnn Rimes is 40. Actor Kelly Thiebaud is 40. Actor Alfonso Herrera is 39. Actor Sarah Roemer is 38. Actor Armie Hammer is 36. Rock singer Florence Welch (Florence and the Machine) is 36. Actor Shalita Grant is 34. Country-pop singer Cassadee Pope (TV: “The Voice”) is 33. Actor Katie Findlay is 32. Actor/singer Samuel Larsen is 31. Actor Kyle Massey is 31. Actor Quvenzhane (kwuh-VEHN’-zhah-nay) Wallis is 19. Reality TV star Alana Thompson, AKA “Honey Boo Boo,” is 17.