August 18 - Definition and Overview

August 18 is the 230th day of the year (231st in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 135 days remaining.

Events

• 293 BC - Oldest known Roman temple to Venus founded, institution of Vinalia Rustica begins.
• 1587 - Virginia Dare, granddaughter of Gov. John White of the Colony of Roanoke, becomes the first English child born in the Americas.
• 1590 - John White, the governor of the Colony of Roanoke, returns from a supply-trip to England and finds his settlement deserted.
• 1864 - American Civil War: Battle of Weldon Railroad - Forces under Union General Ulysses S. Grant try to cut a vital Confederate supply-line into Petersburg, Virginia, by attacking the Weldon Railroad forcing the Confederates to use wagons.
• 1877 - Asaph Hall discovers Phobos.
• 1903 - German engineer Karl Jatho flew with his self-made motored gliding airplane, four months before the first flight of the Wright Brothers.
• 1920 - 19th Amendment to US constitution is passed, guaranteeing women's suffrage.
• 1938 - The Thousand Islands Bridge, connecting the United States with Canada, is dedicated by US President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
• 1941 - Holocaust: Adolf Hitler orders an end to the systematic euthanasia of mentally ill and handicapped persons due to protests within Germany.
• 1958 - Vladimir Nabokov's controversial novel Lolita is published in the United States.
• 1963 - American civil rights movement: James Meredith becomes the first black person to graduate from the University of Mississippi.
• 1965 - Vietnam War: Operation Starlite begins - 5,500 United States Marines destroy a Viet Cong stronghold on the Van Tuong peninsula in Quang Ngai Province in the first major American ground battle of the war. The Marines were tipped-off by a Viet Cong deserter who said that there was an attack planned against the US base at Chu Lai.
• 1971 - Vietnam War: Australia and New Zealand decide to withdraw their troops from Vietnam.
• 1976 - In North Korea at Panmunjom, two US soldiers are killed while trying to chop down part of a tree in the DMZ which had obscured their view.
• 1983 - Hurricane Alicia hits the Texas coast, killing 22 and causing over USD $1 billion in damage (1983 dollars).
• 1989 - Leading presidential hopeful Luis Carlos Galán is assassinated near Bogotá in Colombia.
• 1991 - Collapse of the Soviet Union: Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev is put under house arrest while he was vacationing in the Crimea. The coup was led by eight high-ranking hard-liners (the coup would collapse in less than 72 hours).
• 1992 - Wang Laboratories files for bankruptcy.
• 1992 - NBA basketball player Larry Bird announces his retirement after winning an Olympic gold medal as a member of the Dream Team.

Births

• 1587 - Virginia Dare, first English child born in North America (d. 1588)
• 1750 - Antonio Salieri, composer (d. 1825)
• 1774 - Meriwether Lewis, explorer (d. 1809)
• 1830 - Emperor Franz Josef I of Austria (d. 1916)
• 1896 - Jack Pickford, actor, Hollywood's first "bad boy", (d. 1933)
• 1904 - Max Factor, cosmetics entrepreneur (d. 1996)
• 1917 - Caspar Weinberger, former United States Secretary of Defense
• 1918 - Walter Joseph Hickel, former Governor of Alaska, former US Secretary of the Interior
• 1922 - Shelley Winters, actress
• 1925 - Brian Aldiss, writer
• 1927 - Rosalynn Carter, First Lady
• 1928 - Marge Schott, former owner of MLB's Cincinnati Reds (d. 2004)
• 1932 - William R. Bennett, Premier of British Columbia
• 1933 - Roman Polanski, director, actor
• 1934 - Vincent Bugliosi, prosecuting attorney in the Charles Manson case
• 1934 - Roberto Clemente, baseball Hall of Famer (d. 1972)
• 1935 - Rafer Johnson, American decathlete
• 1935 - Sir Howard Morrison, New Zealand entertainer
• 1937 - Robert Redford, actor, director
• 1943 - Martin Mull, comedian, actor
• 1943 - Carl Wayne, singer (d. 2004)
• 1945 - Barbara Harris, singer, formerly of the group the Toys
• 1952 - Elayne Boosler, comedienne
• 1952 - Patrick Swayze, actor
• 1953 - Louie Gohmert, American politician
• 1957 - Carole Bouquet, French actress
• 1957 - Denis Leary, comedian, actor
• 1958 - Madeleine Stowe, actress
• 1969 - Edward Norton, actor
• 1969 - Christian Slater, actor
• 1970 - Malcolm-Jamal Warner, actor
• 1992 - Frances Cobain, daughter of Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love

Deaths

• 472 - Ricimer, Roman general
• 1227 - Genghis Khan, Mongol leader
• 1276 - Pope Adrian V
• 1503 - Pope Alexander VI
• 1559 - Pope Paul IV
• 1809 - Matthew Boulton, pioneering industrialist and member of the Lunar Society
• 1815 - Chauncey Goodrich, U.S. Senator from Connecticut (b. 1759)
• 1850 - Honoré de Balzac, writer
• 1940 - Walter P. Chrysler, automobile mogul
• 1949 - Paul Mares, jazz musician (b. 1900)
• 1963 - Clifford Odets, playwright
• 1981 - Anita Loos, American screenwriter, playwright and author
• 1983 - Nikolaus Pevsner, art historian
• 1990 - Grethe Ingmann, Danish singer and Eurovision Song Contest winner
• 1998 - Persis Khambatta, actress
• 2004 - Elmer Bernstein, film composer

Holidays and observances

• Roman Empire - Vinalia Rustica celebrated in honor of Venus commemorating the founding of the oldest known temple to her in 293 BC on this date.

August 17 - August 19 - July 18 - September 18 -- listing of all days