August 20
1964
As part of his Great Society policies, Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Economic Opportunity Act which, among other things, established the Head Start program.
1968
The Soviet Union and other Warsaw Pact nations invaded Czechoslovakia.
1977
The space probe Voyager 2 was launched. It continues to explore to this day, and is now more than 7 billion miles from Earth.
1980
Italian Reinhold Messner made the first successful solo ascent of Mount Everest and without oxygen.
1998
U.S. cruise missiles hit suspected terrorist bases in Afghanistan and the Sudan.
2000
Tiger Woods won the PGA Championship becoming the first player since Ben Hogan in 1953 to win three majors in one year.
Birthdays
Oliver Hazard Perry
1785–1819, American naval officer, born in South Kingstown, Rhode Island; brother of Matthew Calbraith Perry.
Benjamin Harrison
23rd U.S. President (1833)
Eero Saarinen
architect (1910)
George J. Mitchell
public official (1933)
Connie Chung
TV news reporter (1946)