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What happened in history on this day: August 15?
On August 15 in ...
- 1858 - Regular mail to the Pacific coast begins.
- 1861 - Meeting of 32 associated banks at New York City agree to loan US government $50 million at 7.3 percent interest.
- 1864 - Off New England coast, CSS Tallahassee captures six yankee schooners.
- 1870 - Transcontinental Railway actually completed.
- 1901 - Arch Rock, danger to San Francisco Bay shipping, is blasted with 30 tons of nitroglycerine.
- 1906 - First freight delivery tunnel system begins, underneath Chicago, Illinois, USA.
- 1914 - The Panama Canal officially opens, linking the Pacific and Atlantic oceans between North and South America. The SS Arcon is first ship to officially transit the canal, taking 9 hours 40 minutes.
- 1918 - Jewell Productions releases The Sinking of the Lusitania animated film in the USA, first full-length feature cartoon. Winsor McCoy created the film in 22 months using 25,000 drawings.
- 1930 - President Herbert Hoover presents congressional gold medal to Colonel Charles A. Lindbergh.
- 1934 - US ends occupation of Haiti (been there since 1915).
- 1935 - Wiley Post and Will Rogers (age 55, humorist) are killed in a plane crash in Alaska.
- 1942 - The United States 101st Airborne Division is officially activated, at Camp Claiborne, Louisiana.
- 1945 - US wartime rationing of gasoline and fuel oil ends.
- 1957 - US Air Force Captain Joe B Jordan reaches 31,513 metres in F-104 jet fighter.
- 1962 - Shady Grove Baptist Church burned in Leesburg, Georgia, USA.
- 1964 - Race riot in Dixmoor (Chicago suburb), Illinois, USA.
- 1971 - US President Richard Nixon's administration refuses to settle foreign debts in gold at $35 per ounce, dropping the gold standard, and allowing the dollar to float in foreign exchanges. The president also declares a state of national emergency, imposes a ten percent duty increase on many imports, and a 90-day wage and price freeze.
- 1978 - US House of Representatives approves (233-169), 39-month extension for Equal Rights Amendment.
- 1986 - US President Ronald Reagan decides to support a replacement for the space shuttle Challenger.
- 1996 - Bob Dole is nominated for President of the USA, and Jack Kemp for Vice President, at the Republican National Convention in San Diego, California.
- 1999 - The maiden voyage of the Disney Wonder cruise ship takes place.
- 2007 - Shares in large American mortgage lender Countrywide Financial fall 13 percent, following a stock analyst's rating switch from buy to sell.
- 2008 - Poland signs a deal with the US to host part of its new missile defence shield. The US will install ten interceptor missiles at a base on the Baltic coast, and help strengthen Polish air defences.
Births on August 15
- 1879 - Birth of Ethel Barrymore in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; actress (Constant Wife, Corn is Green).
- 1887 - Birth of Ferber Edna in Michigan, USA; writer (Showboat, Cimarron, Giant).
- 1904 - Birth of Richard S. Yeo ("R.S. Yeoman") in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA; Western Publishing company marketing executive, popularized coin boards, author of Handbook of United States Coins with Premium List, nicknamed the Blue Book, and A Guide Book of United States Coins, nicknamed the Red Book.
- 1904 - Birth of Bill Baird in Grand Island, Nebraska, USA: puppeteer (Kukla Fran and Ollie, The Muppet Show).
- 1909 - Birth of Hugo Winterhalter in Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania, USA; arranger (Count Basie, Tommy Dorsey, RaymondScott, Claude Thornhill, Dinah Shore, Billy Eckstein, Perry Como, Eddie Fisher, Ames Brothers), musical director at MGM Records (1948-50), RCA Victor (1950-), orchestra leader ("Blue Tango", "Vanessa", "The Little Shoemaker", "Canadian Sunset").
- 1912 - Birth of Julia Child in Pasadena, California, USA; chef (French Chef).
- 1917 - Birth of Chuck Boyajian in Ohio, USA; Disneyland worker 1955-81 as Manager of Custodial Operations.
- 1923 - Birth of Rose Marie in New York City, New York, USA; actress (Sally Rogers - Dick Van Dyke Show).
- 1924 - Birth of Phyllis Schlafly in Saint Louis, Missouri, USA; right-winger/Eagle Forum president.
- 1925 - Birth of Mike Connors in Fresno, California, USA; actor (Joe Mannix - Mannix, Night Kill).
- 1926 - Birth of Georgiann Johnson in Decorah, Iowa, USA; actress (Marge - Mr Peepers).
- 1931 - Birth of Janice Rule in Norwood, Ohio, USA; actress (Alvarez Kelly, Doctor's Wife).
- 1933 - Birth of Lori Nelson in Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA; actress (Greta - How to Marry a Millionaire).
- 1935 - Birth of Abby Dalton in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA; actress (Joey Bishop Show).
- 1941 - Birth of Don Rich in Olympia, Washington, USA; guitarist/country singer (Hee Haw).
- 1944 - Birth of Linda Ellerbee in Bryan, Texas, USA; author, newscaster (NBC News Overnight, Our World, Nick News).
- 1946 - Birth of Jimmy Webb in Elk City, Oklahoma, USA; songwriter ("MacArthur Park", "Up Up and Away").
- 1946 - Birth of Kathryn Jean Whitmire in Houston, Texas, USA; four-time Mayor of Houston.
- 1947 - Birth of Manley Lanier "Sonny" Carter Junior in Macon, Georgia, USA; US Navy/astronaut (STS 33).
- 1949 - Birth of Ann Ryerson in Wisconsin, USA; actress (Private Carol Winter - Private Benjamin).
- 1955 - Birth of Larry Mathews in Burbank, California, USA; actor (Ritchie - Dick Van Dyke Show).
- 1960 - Birth of Maureen "Peanut" Louie Harper in San Francisco, California, USA; tennis player (Denver-1985).
- 1967 - Birth of F DeLorme Roche Junior in Roanoke, Virginia, USA; bartender extrodinaire (Guru of life, love and Libation).
Deaths on August 15
- 1935 - Wiley Post and Will Rogers (age 55, humorist) are killed in a plane crash in Alaska.
- 2009 - Death of Virginia McGhee at age 90 in Corona, California; at age 4, as Virginia Davis, played the role of Alice in Walt Disney's Alice Comedies films in 1923.
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