On This Day: August 19

Updated August 19, 2012, 2:28 pm

On Aug. 19, 1934, a plebiscite in Germany approved the vesting of sole executive power in Adolf Hitler as Fuhrer.

Go to article #187;

On Aug. 19, 1883, Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel, the influential French fashion designer, was born. Following her death on Jan. 10, 1971, her obituary appeared in The Times.

Go to obituary #187; | Other birthdays #187;

 

On This Date

By The Associated Press

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.

Current Birthdays

By The Associated Press

Actor Matthew Perry (“Friends”) turns 43 years old today.

AP Photo/Evan Agostini

Actress Kyra Sedgwick (“The Closer”) turns 47 years old today.

AP Photo/Vince Bucci

1939	Ginger Baker, Rock musician (Cream, Blind Faith), turns 73
1940	Jill St. John, Actress, turns 72
1942	Fred Thompson, Actor, former U.S. senator, R-Tenn., turns 70
1946	Bill Clinton, Former president, turns 66
1948	Jim Carter, Actor (“Downton Abbey”), turns 64
1948	Tipper Gore, Wife of former Vice President Al Gore, turns 64
1948	Gerald McRaney, Actor (“Major Dad”), turns 64
1953	Mary Matalin, Political consultant, turns 59
1955	Peter Gallagher, Actor, turns 57
1956	Adam Arkin, Actor, turns 56
1960	Morton Andersen, Football player, turns 52
1963	John Stamos, Actor (“Full House’), turns 49
1965	Kevin Dillon, Actor (“Entourage”), turns 47
1966	Lee Ann Womack, Country singer, turns 46
1967	Tabitha Soren, MTV reporter, turns 45
1970	Fat Joe, Rapper, turns 42
1975	Tracie Thoms, Actress (“Cold Case”), turns 37
1982	Erika Christensen, Actress, turns 30
1989	Romeo, Rapper, turns 23

 

Historic Birthdays

Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel 8/19/1883 – 1/10/1971 French dress designer.Go to obituary »

73	John Flamsteed 8/19/1646 – 12/31/1719 English founder of the Greenwich Observatory
50	Jeanne Becu du Barry 8/19/1743 – 12/8/1793 French mistress of Louis XV
73	Seth Thomas 8/19/1785 – 1/29/1859 American clock manufacturer; pioneered mass production
94	Bernard Baruch 8/19/1870 – 6/20/1965 American financier and adviser to United States presidents
73	Georges Enesco 8/19/1881 – 5/4/1955 Romanian violinist and composer
91	Ton Duc Thang 8/19/1888 – 3/30/1980 Vietnamese communist leader; succeeded Ho Chi Minh
84	Alfred Lunt 8/19/1892 – 8/3/1977 American actor
88	Colleen Moore 8/19/1900 – 1/25/1988 American actress
68	Ogden Nash 8/19/1902 – 5/19/1971 American poet
74	James Gould Cozzens 8/19/1903 – 8/9/1978 American novelist
70	Gene Roddenberry 8/19/1921 – 10/24/1991 American creator of the Star Trek series