Today In History

Comedy legend Groucho Marx.
Comedy legend Groucho Marx.

Associated Press

On Aug. 19, 1934, a plebiscite in Germany approved the vesting of sole executive power in Adolf Hitler as Fuhrer.
1929- The comedy “Amos ‘n’ Andy” made its network radio debut on NBC.
1960- A tribunal in Moscow convicted American U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers of espionage.
1969- Jazz trumpeter Miles Davis began three days of recording sessions that yielded the album “Bitches Brew.”
1976- President Gerald R. Ford won the Republican presidential nomination at the party’s national convention in Kansas City.
1977- Comedian Groucho Marx died at age 86.
1994- President Bill Clinton halted the nation’s three-decade open-door policy for Cuban refugees.
1996- A judge sentenced former Arkansas Gov. Jim Guy Tucker to four years’ probation for his Whitewater crimes.
2004- The Internet search engine Google went public.
2005- A Texas jury found pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co. liable for the death of a man who’d taken the once-popular painkiller Vioxx.
2010- A federal grand jury indicted retired baseball player Roger Clemens for allegedly lying to Congress about steroid use. (Clemens’ trial this year ended in a mistrial.)
2010- The last American combat brigade exited Iraq, seven years and five months after the U.S.-led invasion began.

Today’s Birthdays:
Actor Matthew Perry (“Friends”) turns 46 years old today.
Ginger Baker, Rock musician (Cream, Blind Faith), 76
Jill St. John, Actress, 75
Fred Thompson, Actor, former U.S. senator, R-Tenn., 73
Bill Clinton, Former president, 69
Jim Carter, Actor (“Downton Abbey”), 67
Tipper Gore, Wife of former Vice President Al Gore, 67
Gerald McRaney, Actor (“Major Dad”), 67
Mary Matalin, Political consultant, 62
Peter Gallagher, Actor, 60
Adam Arkin, Actor, 59
Morton Andersen, Football player, 55
John Stamos, Actor (“Full House’), 52
Kevin Dillon, Actor (“Entourage”), 50
Lee Ann Womack, Country singer, 49
Tabitha Soren, MTV reporter, 48
Fat Joe, Rapper, 45
Tracie Thoms, Actress (“Cold Case”), 40
Erika Christensen, Actress, 33
Romeo, Rapper, 26
Actress Kyra Sedgwick (“The Closer”) turns 50 years old today.

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