August 18 is the 230th day of the year (231st in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 135 days remaining.

Events

• 293 BC - Oldest known Roman temple to Venus founded, institution of Vinalia Rustica begins.
• 1587 - Virginia Dare, granddaughter of Gov. John White of the Colony of Roanoke, becomes the first English child born in the Americas.
• 1590 - John White, the governor of the Colony of Roanoke, returns from a supply-trip to England and finds his settlement deserted.
• 1864 - American Civil War: Battle of Weldon Railroad - Forces under Union General Ulysses S. Grant try to cut a vital Confederate supply-line into Petersburg, Virginia, by attacking the Weldon Railroad forcing the Confederates to use wagons.
• 1877 - Asaph Hall discovers Phobos.
• 1903 - German engineer Karl Jatho flew with his self-made motored gliding airplane, four months before the first flight of the Wright Brothers.
• 1904 - Chris Watson resigns as Prime Minister of Australia and is succeded by George Reid.
• 1920 - 19th Amendment to US constitution is passed, guaranteeing women's suffrage.
• 1938 - The Thousand Islands Bridge, connecting the United States with Canada, is dedicated by US President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
• 1941 - Holocaust: Adolf Hitler orders an temporary halt to the systematic euthanasia (Aktion T4) of mentally ill and handicapped persons due to protests within Germany. However, graduates of the Aktion T4 program were then transferred to the concentration camps, where they continued in their trade.
• 1958 - Vladimir Nabokov's controversial novel Lolita is published in the United States.
• 1963 - American civil rights movement: James Meredith becomes the first black person to graduate from the University of Mississippi.
• 1965 - Vietnam War: Operation Starlite begins - 5,500 United States Marines destroy a Viet Cong stronghold on the Van Tuong peninsula in Quang Ngai Province in the first major American ground battle of the war. The Marines were tipped-off by a Viet Cong deserter who said that there was an attack planned against the US base at Chu Lai .
• 1971 - Vietnam War: Australia and New Zealand decide to withdraw their troops from Vietnam.
• 1976 - In North Korea at Panmunjom, two US soldiers are killed while trying to chop down part of a tree in the DMZ which had obscured their view.
• 1983 - Hurricane Alicia hits the Texas coast, killing 22 and causing over USD $1 billion in damage (1983 dollars).
• 1989 - Leading presidential hopeful Luis Carlos Galán is assassinated near Bogotá in Colombia.
• 1991 - Collapse of the Soviet Union: Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev is put under house arrest while he was vacationing in the Crimea. The coup was led by eight high-ranking hard-liners (the coup would collapse in less than 72 hours).
• 1992 - Wang Laboratories files for bankruptcy.
• 1992 - NBA basketball player Larry Bird announces his retirement after winning an Olympic gold medal as a member of the Dream Team.

Births

• 1587 - Virginia Dare, first English child born in North America (d. 1588)
• 1750 - Antonio Salieri, composer (d. 1825)
• 1774 - Meriwether Lewis, explorer (d. 1809)
• 1830 - Emperor Franz Josef I of Austria (d. 1916)
• 1890 - Walther Funk, German Nazi politician (d. 1960).
• 1896 - Jack Pickford, actor, Hollywood's first "bad boy", (d. 1933)
• 1904 - Max Factor, cosmetics entrepreneur (d. 1996)
• 1917 - Caspar Weinberger, former United States Secretary of Defense
• 1918 - Walter Joseph Hickel, former Governor of Alaska, former US Secretary of the Interior
• 1920 - Bob Kennedy, MLB player and manager (d. 2005)
• 1922 - Shelley Winters, actress
• 1925 - Brian Aldiss, writer
• 1927 - Rosalynn Carter, First Lady
• 1928 - Marge Schott, former owner of MLB's Cincinnati Reds (d. 2004)
• 1932 - William R. Bennett, Premier of British Columbia
• 1933 - Roman Polanski, director, actor
• 1934 - Vincent Bugliosi, prosecuting attorney in the Charles Manson case
• 1934 - Roberto Clemente, baseball Hall of Famer (d. 1972)
• 1935 - Rafer Johnson, American decathlete
• 1935 - Sir Howard Morrison, New Zealand entertainer
• 1937 - Robert Redford, actor, director
• 1943 - Martin Mull, comedian, actor
• 1943 - Carl Wayne, singer (d. 2004)
• 1945 - Barbara Harris, singer, formerly of the group the Toys
• 1952 - Elayne Boosler , comedienne
• 1952 - Patrick Swayze, actor
• 1953 - Louie Gohmert, American politician
• 1955 - Dr. Taher ElGamal, American-Egyptian Scientist
• 1957 - Carole Bouquet, French actress
• 1957 - Denis Leary, comedian, actor
• 1958 - Madeleine Stowe, actress
• 1960 - Fat Lever, NBA player
• 1969 - Edward Norton, actor
• 1969 - Christian Slater, actor
• 1970 - Malcolm-Jamal Warner, actor
• 1990 - Evan Perrotta, musician
• 1992 - Frances Cobain, daughter of Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love

Deaths

• 472 - Ricimer, Roman general
• 849 - Walafrid Strabo, German monk and theologian
• 1227 - Genghis Khan, Mongol leader
• 1276 - Pope Adrian V
• 1503 - Pope Alexander VI (b. 1431)
• 1559 - Pope Paul IV (b. 1476)
• 1765 - Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1708)
• 1809 - Matthew Boulton, pioneering industrialist and member of the Lunar Society (b. 1728)
• 1815 - Chauncey Goodrich, U.S. Senator from Connecticut (b. 1759)
• 1850 - Honoré de Balzac, French writer (b. 1799)
• 1940 - Walter P. Chrysler, American automobile mogul (b. 1875)
• 1949 - Paul Mares, jazz musician (b. 1900)
• 1963 - Clifford Odets, American playwright (b. 1906)
• 1981 - Anita Loos, American screenwriter, playwright and author (b. 1889)
• 1983 - Nikolaus Pevsner, art historian (b. 1902)
• 1990 - Grethe Ingmann, Danish singer and Eurovision Song Contest winner (b. 1938)
• 1998 - Persis Khambatta, Indian actress (b. 1950)
• 2004 - Elmer Bernstein, American film composer (b. 1922)

Holidays and observances

• Roman Empire - Vinalia Rustica celebrated in honor of Venus commemorating the founding of the oldest known temple to her in 293 BC on this date.

External links

• BBC: On This Day

August 17 - August 19 - July 18 - September 18 -- listing of all days