August 18
“The past is strapped to our backs. We do not have to see it; we can always feel it.”
1590 – John White, the governor of the Roanoke Island colony in present-day North Carolina, returned from a supply-trip to England to find the settlement deserted. White and his men found no trace of the 100 or so colonists he had left behind, and there was no sign of violence. Among the missing were Ellinor Dare, White’s daughter; and Virginia Dare, White’s granddaughter and the first English child born in America. August 18 was to have been Virginia’s third birthday.
White reported that the word “CROATOAN” in “fayre Capitall letters was graven” on one of the chief trees or posts of a palisade or stockade structure that had been built on Roanoke Island. Earlier in the day’s search, White had seen “CRO” carved into a tree on the bluff of the sound shore. In neither place did he discover a cross, the secretly agreed upon sign that the colony, now known as the Lost Colony, was in distress.
White took the letters to mean that the colonists had moved to Croatoan Island, some 50 miles away, but a later search of the island found none of the settlers.
1920 – The 19th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, guaranteeing women the right to vote, was ratified by Tennessee, giving it the two-thirds majority of state ratification necessary to make it the law of the land. The amendment was the culmination of more than 70 years of struggle by woman suffragists.
1931 – The Yangtze River in China peaked during a horrible flood that killed 3.7 million people directly and indirectly over the next several months. The Yangtze flooded over a 500-square-mile area. The rising waters drove 500,000 people from their homes. Rice fields that dominated the landscape were swamped, destroying the crop. Major cities such as Wuhan and Nanjing depended on this rice and, without it, people in the cities starved to death.
1940 – “The Hardest Day” air battle, part of the Battle of Britain, took place. At that point, it was the largest aerial engagement in history with heavy losses sustained on both sides. The Luftwaffe lost approximately 69 aircraft and the RAF lost 68.
1941 – Adolf Hitler ordered that the systematic murder of the mentally ill and handicapped be brought to an end because of protests within Germany.
In 1939, Dr. Viktor Brack, head of Hitler’s Euthanasia Department, had created the T.4 program, which began as the systematic killing of children deemed “mentally defective.” Children were transported from all over Germany to a Special Psychiatric Youth Department and killed. Jewish children were automatically subject to the program. The victims were either injected with lethal substances or were led to “showers” where the children sat as gas flooded the room through water pipes. The program was then expanded to adults.
On this date, Bishop Count Clemens von Galen denounced the euthanasia program from his pulpit. Hitler did not need such publicity. He ordered the program suspended, at least in Germany. But 50,000 people had already fallen victim to it, and as we all know, the program would soon be revived in occupied Poland.
Brack was executed by hanging in 1948.
1963 – James Meredith became the first black person to graduate from the University of Mississippi. It had not been an easy journey. Following Meredith’s application to the university in 1962, Ross Barnett, the Democratic Governor of Mississippi, had declared “no school will be integrated in Mississippi while I am your governor”. The state legislature quickly passed a law that denied admission to any person “who has a crime of moral turpitude against him” or who had been convicted of any felony offense or not pardoned. The law was directed at Meredith, who was accused and convicted of “false voter registration” in Jackson County.
After a series of tense telephone conversations with Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and President John F. Kennedy, Governor Barnett reluctantly agreed to let Meredith enroll in the university. Attorney General Kennedy ordered 500 U.S. Marshals to accompany Meredith during his arrival and registration. On September 29, 1962, President Kennedy issued a proclamation commanding all persons engaged in the obstruction of the laws and the orders of the courts to “cease and desist there from and to disperse and retire peaceably forthwith.”
1967 – Boston Red Sox outfielder Tony Conigliaro was beaned by Angels pitcher Jack Hamilton at Fenway Park; injuries including a fractured cheekbone, dislocated jaw, and eye damage kept him from returning for a year and a half, and led to improvements in batting helmets.
1969 – The Woodstock festival closes after morning performances by The Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Sha Na Na and finally, at 9AM, Jimi Hendrix, who performed his rendition of The Star Spangled Banner.
1977 – Steve Biko was arrested at a police roadblock under the Terrorism Act No. 83 of 1967 in King William’s Town, South Africa. He later died from injuries sustained during this arrest bringing attention to South Africa’s apartheid policies.
1991 – Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev was placed under house arrest during a coup by high-ranking members of his own government, military and police forces. Gorbachev had pursued comprehensive reforms of the Soviet system, including a greater emphasis on free-market policies and transparency in diplomacy, particularly with the United States.
Meanwhile, though, within the USSR, Gorbachev faced powerful critics, including conservative, hard-line politicians and military officials who thought he was driving the Soviet Union toward its downfall and making it a second-rate power.
Detained at his vacation villa in the Crimea, he was placed under house arrest and pressured to give his resignation, which he refused to do. Claiming Gorbachev was ill, the coup leaders, headed by former vice president Gennady Yanayev, declared a state of emergency and attempted to take control of the government.
Surprisingly, Boris Yeltsin, president of the most powerful socialist republic, Russia – a Gorbachev opponent – stepped in, calling on the Russian people to strike and protest the coup, calling it a “new reign of terror.” After thousands took the streets to demonstrate, the coup collapsed after only three days.
1992 – Larry Bird retired after 13 seasons with the Boston Celtics. Bird was a 12-time NBA All-Star and was named the league’s Most Valuable Player three consecutive times (1984–1986). He played his entire professional career for Boston, winning three NBA championships and two NBA Finals MVP awards.
His career stats place him into the upper echelon of the greatest players in NBA history: 21,791 points, 8,974 rebounds, and 5,695 assists. He was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1998.
2003 – Tony Jackson, bass guitarist and singer with The Searchers (sang lead on Don’t Throw Your Love Away and Sweets For My Sweet) died of cirrhosis of the liver at the age of 65.
2005 – Judge Gregory Waller sentenced BTK (“Bind, Torture, Kill”) serial killer Dennis Rader to 10 consecutive life terms. Rader had murdered ten people in Sedgwick County, Kansas, between 1974 and 1991. Because Kansas had no death penalty at the time the murders were committed, life imprisonment was the maximum penalty allowed by law.
There was a glimmer of good news for Rader. He is eligible for parole after serving 175 years in prison.
2012 – Scott McKenzie (sang San Francisco (Be Sure To Wear Flowers In Your Hair), a #4 hit single in 1967) died at the age of 73. He had been suffering from Guillain–Barré syndrome, a rapid-onset muscle weakness caused by the immune system damaging the peripheral nervous system.
Compiled by Ray Lemire ©2023 RayLemire.com / Streamingoldies.com. All Rights Reserved.