TODAY IN HISTORY

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Today is Friday, Aug. 26, the 238th day of 2022. There are 127 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On Aug. 26, 1968, the Democratic National Convention opened in Chicago; the four-day event that resulted in the nomination of Hubert H. Humphrey for president was marked by a bloody police crackdown on antiwar protesters in the streets.

On this date:

In 55 B.C., Roman forces under Julius Caesar invaded Britain, with only limited success.

In 1910, Thomas Edison demonstrated for reporters an improved version of his Kinetophone, a device for showing a movie with synchronized sound.

In 1920, the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, guaranteeing American women’s right to vote, was certified in effect by Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby.

In 1939, the first televised major league baseball games were shown on experimental station W2XBS: a double-header between the Cincinnati Reds and the Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field. (The Reds won the first game, 5-2, the Dodgers the second, 6-1.)

In 1957, the Soviet Union announced it had successfully tested an intercontinental ballistic missile.

In 1958, Alaskans went to the polls to overwhelmingly vote in favor of statehood.

In 1978, Cardinal Albino Luciani of Venice was elected pope following the death of Paul VI; the new pontiff took the name Pope John Paul I. (However, he died just over a month later.)

In 1985, 13-year-old AIDS patient Ryan White began “attending” classes at Western Middle School in Kokomo, Indiana, via a telephone hook-up at his home — school officials had barred Ryan from attending classes in person.

In 2018, a gunman opened fire on fellow gamers at a video game tournament in Jacksonville, Fla., killing two men and wounding 10 others before taking his own life. Playwright Neil Simon, whose comedies included “The Odd Couple” and “Barefoot in the Park,” died at the age of 91.

Today’s Birthdays: Former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge is 77. R&B singer Valerie Simpson is 77. Pop singer Bob Cowsill is 73. Broadcast journalist Bill Whitaker is 71. Former NBA coach Stan Van Gundy is 63. Jazz musician Branford Marsalis is 62. Actor Melissa McCarthy is 52. Actor Macaulay Culkin is 42. Actor Chris Pine is 42.

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