Thursday, August 27th
The 239th day of 2009.
There are 126 days left in the year.
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Today's Highlights in History
On Aug. 27, 1962, the United States launched the Mariner 2 space probe, which flew past Venus the following December. (Go to article.)
On Aug. 27, 1908, Lyndon B. Johnson, the 36th president of the United States, was born. Following his death on Jan. 22, 1973, his obituary appeared in The Times. (Go to obit. | Other Birthdays)
Editorial Cartoon of the Day
On August 27, 1870, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about Napoleon III and the Franco-Prussian War. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.)
On this date in:
1770 German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel was born in Stuttgart.
1859 Edwin L. Drake drilled the first successful U.S. oil well near Titusville, Pa.
1883 The island volcano Krakatoa erupted; the resulting tidal waves claimed some 36,000 lives on the Indonesian islands of Java and Sumatra.
1892 Fire seriously damaged New York City's original Metropolitan Opera House at Broadway and 39th Street.
1928 The Kellogg-Briand Pact was signed in Paris, outlawing war and providing for the peaceful settlement of disputes.
1945 American troops began landing in Japan following the surrender of the Japanese government in World War II.
1967 The Beatles' manager, Brian Epstein, was found dead from an overdose of sleeping pills.
1975 Haile Selassie, the last emperor of Ethiopia's 3,000-year-old monarchy, died in Addis Ababa almost a year after being overthrown.
1979 British war hero Lord Louis Mountbatten was killed off the coast of Ireland in a boat explosion; the Irish Republican Army claimed responsibility.
2001 Israeli helicopters fired a pair of rockets through office windows in the West Bank town of Ramallah and killed senior PLO leader Mustafa Zibri.
2003 A granite monument of the Ten Commandments that became a lightning rod in a legal storm over church and state was wheeled from the rotunda of the Alabama Supreme Court building in Montgomery.
2007 Attorney General Alberto Gonzales announced his resignation after a controversy over the firings of nine U.S. attorneys.
2007 Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick pleaded guilty in Richmond, Va., to a federal dogfighting charge.
2007 The Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call reported that Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, had been arrested by a plainclothes officer investigating complaints of lewd conduct in a Minneapolis airport restroom.
2008 Barack Obama was nominated for president by the Democratic National Convention in Denver.
Current Birthdays
Sarah Chalke turns 33 years old today.
AP Photo/Evan Agostini Actress Sarah Chalke ("Scrubs") turns 33 years old today.
82 Jimmy C. Newman
Country singer
72 J.D. Crowe
Bluegrass singer, musician
72 Tommy Sands
Actor
67 Daryl Dragon
Musician (The Captain and Tennille)
66 Bob Kerrey
Former U.S. senator, D-Neb.
66 Tuesday Weld
Actress
65 Tim Bogert
Rock singer, musician (Vanilla Fudge)
64 Marianne Sagebrecht
Actress
62 Barbara Bach
Actress
60 Jeff Cook
Country musician (Alabama)
57 Paul Reubens
Actor ("Pee-Wee's Playhouse")
56 Willy DeVille
Rock singer
56 Alex Lifeson
Rock musician (Rush)
54 Diana Scarwid
Actress
53 Glen Matlock
Rock musician (The Sex Pistols)
48 Jeffrey Steele
Country singer
47 Yolanda Adams
Gospel singer
47 Matthew Basford
Country musician (Yankee Grey)
47 Dean Devlin
Writer, producer
44 Mike Johnson
Rock musician
41 Bobo
Rap musician (Cypress Hill)
40 Colt Ford
Country singer
40 Chandra Wilson
Actress ("Grey's Anatomy")
39 Tony Kanal
Rock musician (No Doubt)
39 Jim Thome
Baseball player
33 RonReaco Lee
Actor
33 Carlos Moya
Tennis player
32 Mase
Rapper
30 Aaron Paul
Actor
30 Jon Siebels
Rock musician (Eve 6)
23 Mario
R&B singer
21 Alexa Vega
Actress ("Spy Kids" films)
Historic Birthdays
Lyndon B. Johnson
8/27/1908 - 1/22/1973
36th president of the United States
(Go to obit.)
73 Sophia Smith
8/27/1796 - 6/12/1870
American philanthropist; founded Smith College
81 Hannibal Hamlin
8/27/1809 - 7/4/1891
American vice-president (1861-5)
85 Charles Dawes
8/27/1865 - 4/23/1951
American vice-president (1925-9) and diplomat; awarded Nobel Peace Prize (1925)
74 Theodore Dreiser
8/27/1871 - 12/28/1945
American novelist
65 Carl Bosch
8/27/1874 - 4/26/1940
German Nobel Prize-winning industrial chemist (1931)
86 Man Ray
8/27/1890 - 11/18/1976
American photographer, painter and filmmaker
66 C. S. Forester
8/27/1899 - 4/2/1966
English novelist and journalist
64 Frank Leahy
8/27/1908 - 6/21/1973
American Notre Dame football coach (1941-53)
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SOURCE: The Associated Press
Front Page Image Provided by UMI
Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
