This day in history

[August 19, 2008]  (AP)  Today is Tuesday, Aug. 19, the 232nd day of 2008. There are 134 days left in the year.

Today's highlight in history:

On Aug. 19, 1812, the USS Constitution defeated the British frigate Guerriere off Nova Scotia during the War of 1812.

On this date:

In 1807, Robert Fulton's North River Steamboat arrived in Albany, two days after leaving New York.

In 1918, "Yip! Yip! Yaphank," a musical revue by Irving Berlin featuring Army recruits from Camp Upton in Yaphank, N.Y., opened on Broadway.

In 1929, the radio comedy program "Amos 'n' Andy," starring Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll, made its debut on the NBC Blue Network.

In 1934, a plebiscite in Germany approved the vesting of sole executive power in Adolf Hitler.

In 1942, during World War II, about 6,000 Canadian and British soldiers launched a disastrous raid against the Germans at Dieppe, France, suffering more than 50 percent casualties.

In 1955, severe flooding in the northeastern U.S. claimed some 200 lives.

In 1960, a tribunal in Moscow convicted American U2 pilot Francis Gary Powers of espionage.

In 1976, President Ford won the Republican presidential nomination at the party's convention in Kansas City, Mo.

In 1982, Soviet cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya became the second woman to be launched into space.

In 1991, Soviet hard-liners announced to a shocked world that President Mikhail S. Gorbachev had been removed from power. (The coup collapsed two days later.)

Ten years ago: President Clinton spent a quiet 52nd birthday with his family on Martha's Vineyard, Mass., as controversy continued to swirl over his admissions to a grand jury concerning his relationship with Monica Lewinsky.

Five years ago: A suicide truck bomb struck U.N. headquarters in Baghdad, killing 22, including the top U.N. envoy, Sergio Vieira de Mello. A suicide bombing of a bus in Jerusalem killed 22 people.

One year ago: Hurricane Dean, which had already killed eight people on its destructive march across the Caribbean, pummeled Jamaica with gusting winds and torrential rains as a Category 4 storm. French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner paid an unannounced and highly symbolic visit to Baghdad - the first by a senior French official since the war started. Elvira Arellano, an illegal immigrant who'd taken refuge in a Chicago church to avoid being separated from her U.S.-born son, was deported to Mexico.

Today's birthdays: Actor L.Q. Jones is 81. Author Frank McCourt is 78. Actress Debra Paget is 75. Tennis coach Renee Richards is 74. Actress Diana Muldaur is 70. Rock musician Ginger Baker (Cream, Blind Faith) is 69. Singer Johnny Nash is 68. Actress Jill St. John is 68. Actor and former U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson is 66. Singer Billy J. Kramer is 65. Country singer-songwriter Eddy Raven is 64. Rock singer Ian Gillan (Deep Purple) is 63. Former President Clinton is 62. Tipper Gore, wife of former Vice President Al Gore, is 60. Actor Gerald McRaney is 60. Rock musician John Deacon (Queen) is 57. Actor Jonathan Frakes is 56. Actor Peter Gallagher is 53. Actor Adam Arkin is 52. Singer-songwriter Gary Chapman is 51. Actor Martin Donovan is 51. Football Hall-of-Famer Anthony Munoz is 50. Rhythm-and-blues singer Ivan Neville is 49. Actor Eric Lutes is 46. Actor John Stamos is 45. Actress Kyra Sedgwick is 43. Actor Kevin Dillon is 43. Country singer Lee Ann Womack is 42. TV reporter Tabitha Soren is 41. Country singer-songwriter Mark McGuinn is 40. Rapper Nate Dogg is 39. Actor Matthew Perry is 39. Country singer Clay Walker is 39. Rapper Fat Joe is 38. Olympic gold medal tennis player Mary Joe Fernandez is 37. Actress Tracie Thoms is 33. Country singer Rissi Palmer is 27. Actress Erika Christensen is 26. Country singer Karli Osborn (SHeDAISY) is 24. Actor J. Evan Bonifant is 23. Rapper Romeo is 19.

Thought for today: "One can live in the shadow of an idea without grasping it." -- Elizabeth Bowen, Irish author (1899-1973)

[Associated Press]

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