August 19
1812
The U.S. frigate Constitution, Old Ironsides, defeated the British ship Guerriere during the War of 1812.
1934
Germans voted to make Adolf Hitler Fuhrer.
1936
Spanish poet and playwright Federico Garcia Lorca was shot by Franco’s soldiers during the Spanish Civil War.
1960
American U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers was convicted of espionage in Moscow.
1977
Comedian Groucho Marx died in Los Angeles at age 86.
2003
U.N. special representative Sergio Vieira de Mello was one of 22 killed when a suicide car bomb struck the UN’s Baghdad headquarters.
Birthdays
William Jefferson Clinton
William Jefferson Clinton was born William Jefferson Blythe III in Hope, Ark., on August 19, 1946.
John Dryden
poet, dramatist, and critic (1631)
Orville Wright
aviation pioneer (1871)
Coco Chanel
fashion designer (1883)
Ogden Nash
poet (1902)
Malcolm Forbes
publisher/multimillionaire (1919)
Willie Shoemaker
jockey (1931)
Matthew Perry
actor (1969)