This day in history

[August 17, 2010]  (AP)  Today is Tuesday, Aug. 17, the 229th day of 2010. There are 136 days left in the year.

Today's highlight in history:

On Aug. 17, 1960, the newly renamed Beatles (formerly the Silver Beetles), consisting of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Stuart Sutcliffe and just-hired drummer Pete Best, began their first gig in Hamburg, West Germany at the Indra Club.

On this date:

In 1807, Robert Fulton's North River Steamboat began heading up the Hudson River on its successful round-trip between New York and Albany.

In 1863, Federal batteries and ships began bombarding Fort Sumter in Charleston harbor during the Civil War, but the Confederates managed to hold on despite several days of pounding.

In 1915, a mob in Cobb County, Ga., lynched Jewish businessman Leo Frank, whose death sentence for the murder of 13-year-old Mary Phagan had been commuted to life imprisonment. (Frank, who'd maintained his innocence, was pardoned by the state of Georgia in 1986.)

In 1942, during World War II, U.S. 8th Air Force bombers attacked Rouen, France.

In 1943, the Allied conquest of Sicily was completed as U.S. and British forces entered Messina.

In 1960, the west African country of Gabon became independent of France.

In 1969, Hurricane Camille slammed into the Mississippi coast as a Category 5 storm that was blamed for 256 U.S. deaths, three in Cuba.

In 1978, the first successful trans-Atlantic balloon flight ended as Maxie Anderson, Ben Abruzzo and Larry Newman landed their Double Eagle II outside Paris.

In 1985, more than 1,400 meatpackers walked off the job at the Geo. A. Hormel and Co.'s main plant in Austin, Minn. in a bitter strike that lasted just over a year.

In 1987, Rudolf Hess, the last member of Adolf Hitler's inner circle, died at Spandau Prison at age 93, an apparent suicide.

Ten years ago: Al Gore accepted the Democratic nomination for president, pledging a "better, fairer, more prosperous America" at the party's convention in Los Angeles. Shortly before Gore spoke, his running mate, Joseph Lieberman, was nominated by acclamation. Word leaked out that Independent Counsel Robert Ray was assembling a new grand jury to investigate President Bill Clinton's conduct in the Monica Lewinsky scandal. (Furious Democrats charged Republicans were behind the release of information, but a federal judge said he was inadvertently responsible for the disclosure.)

Five years ago: Israeli security forces poured into four Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip, beginning the forcible removal of protesters who'd refused orders to leave the area ahead of a deadline. Three car bombs exploded in Baghdad, killing up to 43 people. Hundreds of anti-war vigils were held nationwide, part of an effort spurred by Cindy Sheehan's protest near President George W. Bush's Texas ranch in memory of her son Casey, who was killed in Iraq.

One year ago: President Barack Obama, addressing the Veterans of Foreign Wars in Phoenix, chastised the defense industry and Congress for wasting tax dollars "with doctrine and weapons better suited to fight the Soviets on the plains of Europe than insurgents in the rugged terrain of Afghanistan." The publisher of Reader's Digest announced plans to seek bankruptcy protection. (The Reader's Digest Association Inc. exited Chapter 11 protection about six months later.) An accident at Russia's largest hydroelectric plant killed 75 workers.

Today's birthdays: Actress Maureen O'Hara is 90. Former Chinese president Jiang Zemin (jahng zuh-MEEN') is 84. Author V.S. Naipaul is 78. Baseball All-Star Boog Powell is 69. Actor Robert DeNiro is 67. Movie director Martha Coolidge is 64. Rock musician Gary Talley (The Box Tops) is 63. Rock musician Sib Hashian is 61. Actor Robert Joy is 59. Tennis Hall of Famer Guillermo Vilas is 58. Rock singer Kevin Rowland (Dexy's Midnight Runners) is 57. Rock musician Colin Moulding (XTC) is 55. Country singer-songwriter Kevin Welch is 55. Olympic gold medal figure skater Robin Cousins is 53. Singer Belinda Carlisle is 52. Author Jonathan Franzen is 51. Actor Sean Penn is 50. Jazz musician Everette Harp is 49. Rock musician Gilby Clarke is 48. Singer Maria McKee is 46. Rock musician Steve Gorman (The Black Crowes) is 45. Rock musician Jill Cunniff (kuh-NIHF') is 44. Actor David Conrad is 43. Singer Donnie Wahlberg is 41. Former basketball player Christian Laettner is 41. Rapper Posdnuos (PAHS'-deh-noos) is 41. Tennis Hall of Famer Jim Courier is 40. Baseball player Jorge Posada is 39. Actor Bryton McClure is 24. Actor Brady Corbet (kohr-BAY') is 22.

Thought for today: "A river has no politics." -- David E. Lilienthal, American public official (1899-1981)

[Associated Press]

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