This Day in History

[Gravdigr]

August 16

1328 – The House of Gonzaga seizes power in the Duchy of Mantua, and will rule until 1708.

1841 – U.S. President John Tyler vetoes a bill which called for the re-establishment of the Second Bank of the United States. Enraged Whig Party members riot outside the White House in the most violent demonstration on White House grounds in U.S. history.

1896 – Skookum Jim Mason, George Carmack and Dawson Charlie discover gold in a tributary of the Klondike River in Canada, setting off the Klondike Gold Rush.

1913 – Completion of the Royal Navy battlecruiser HMS Queen Mary.

1920 – Ray Chapman of the Cleveland Indians is hit on the head by a fastball thrown by Carl Mays of the New York Yankees, and dies early the next day. Chapman was the second player to die from injuries sustained in a Major League Baseball game, the first being Doc Powers, in 1909.

1927 – The Dole Air Race begins from Oakland, California, to Honolulu, Hawaii, during which six out of the eight participating planes crash or disappear.

1930 – The first color sound cartoon, called Fiddlesticks, is made by Ub Iwerks.

1942 – World War II: The two-person crew of the U.S. naval blimp L-8 disappears without a trace on a routine anti-submarine patrol over the Pacific Ocean. The blimp drifts without her crew and crash-lands in Daly City, California.

1954 – The first issue of Sports Illustrated is published.

1960 – Joseph Kittinger parachutes from a balloon over New Mexico at 102,800 feet (31,300 m), setting three records that held until 2012: High-altitude jump, free fall, and highest speed by a human without an aircraft.

1962 – The famous lineup of The Beatles is formed when drummer Pete Best is discharged from the band, and Ringo Starr is brought on.

1969 - Hippie leader Abbie Hoffman was knocked offstage by Pete Townshend while attempting to make a political statement during The Who's set at Woodstock. Later, Townshend said he didn't know it was Hoffman at the time.

1975 - Peter Gabriel announced that he was leaving Genesis. The group auditioned more than 400 singers during the next 18 months before deciding that Phil Collins, who had been the drummer for Genesis since 1970, could front the band.

1977 – Elvis Presley, "The King of Rock and Roll", was officially pronounced dead at Baptist Memorial Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, after he was found unresponsive on the floor of his Graceland bathroom.

1989 – A solar flare from the Sun creates a geomagnetic storm that affects micro chips, leading to a halt of all trading on Toronto's stock market.

1997 - On the 20th anniversary of Elvis Presley's death over 30,000 fans descended on Memphis Tennessee for a 10-minute mourning circuit circling his grave. A poll found that almost a third of the fans were keeping an eye out for him in the crowd.

2008 – The Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago is topped off at 1,389 feet (423 m), at the time becoming the world's highest residence above ground-level.

Births

1888 – T. E. Lawrence; 1892 – Hal Foster (created comic strip Prince Valiant); 1892 – Otto Messmer (co-created Felix the Cat); 1920 – Charles Bukowski; 1924 – Fess Parker; 1928 – Eydie Gormé♪ ♫, Eddie Kirkland♪ ♫; 1930 – Robert Culp, Frank Gifford; 1933 – Julie Newmar; 1939 – Billy Joe Shaver♪ ♫; 1940 – Bruce Beresford; 1945 – Bob Balaban; 1946 – Lesley Ann Warren; 1948 – Barry Hay♪ ♫(Golden Earring); 1953 – Kathie Lee Gifford, James "J.T." Taylor♪ ♫(Kool & The Gang); 1954 – James Cameron; 1957 – Laura Innes (ER); 1958 – Madonna♪ ♫, Angela Bassett; 1960 – Timothy Hutton; 1962 – Steve Carell; 1963 – Christine Cavanaugh (voice of 'Dexter' in Dexter's Laboratory); 1972 – Emily Robison(Dixie Chicks); 1975 – George Stults (7th Heaven)

Deaths

1705 – Jacob Bernoulli; 1888 – John Pemberton (invented Coca-Cola); 1899 – Robert Bunsen (Bunsen burner); 1938 – Robert Johnson; 1948 – Babe Ruth; 1949 – Margaret Mitchell (author Gone With The Wind); 1956 – Bela Lugosi; 1959 – William 'Bull' Halsey, Jr.; 1977 – Elvis Presley♪ ♫; 1989 – Amanda Blake ('Miss Kitty Russell' on Gunsmoke); 1993 – Stewart Granger; 2002 – Jeff Corey; 2003 – Idi Amin; 2005 – Vassar Clements; 2007 – Max Roach

[Undertoad]

Originally Posted by Gravdigr

1977 – Elvis Presley, "The King of Rock and Roll", was officially pronounced dead at Baptist Memorial Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, after he was found unresponsive on the floor of his Graceland bathroom.

In His honor