Important Events From This day in History August 19th

1958 Packard Cars End Production

1958 : Production of the luxury Packard automobiles is ended shortly after Packard is merged with Studebaker. The Ohio Automobile Company had begun production of the distinct cars in 1899 in Warren, Ohio. The company name was changed to the Packard Motor Car Company in 1902 following investment from outside. For the next 50 years Packard produced some of the highest quality and highest priced cars in the US, but following some poor designs which dated the models the company got in financial difficulty in the early 50's and never recovered.

1902 Chain of Fire Volcanoes

1902 : There have been volcanic eruptions affecting Oregon, Washington, and Alaska. The “chain of fire,” which is a series of volcanoes, starts at Tierra del Fuego and extends for 25,000 miles. The Newark Advocate explains, “The burning craters in Alaska, one of which began to work, unites the chain of fire of the new world with the old, including Japan, Korea, Formosa, and the Philippines.”

1929 1,000 Immigrate from US to Angola

1929 : One thousand single, young men from California have immigrated to the Portuguese colony of Angola which is in West Africa. Portugal is quickly developing infrastructure there. It has already laid down 17,000 kilometers of railways and 100 kilometers of roads. Those with less than $1,000 don’t pay taxes and farmers are given an allowance for farm implements.

1934 Germany Adolph Hitler

1934 : The German people vote to give Adolph Hitler complete power combining the positions of chancellor and president into the position of the Fuehrer.

1939 Jamaica Tobacco

1939 : Mr. F.W. Winckley, who was in charge of tobacco development in the British colony of Jamaica, told the English government that it should continue its efforts to expand this industry of “cigar leaf” tobacco. He said that in three years this kind of tobacco had increased five times the original amount. Jamaica earned the British 10,000 pounds a year.

1942 France Dieppe

1942 : Allied troops attempt to gain control of the French port of Dieppe in Operation Jubilee, but are forced to retreat after 8 hours of suffering terrible casualties, the toll is believed to be as high as 4,000 dead or injured from the 6,000 who attempted to land on the beaches.

1944 France Liberation of Paris

1944 : Liberation of Paris starts following the invasion by allied troops during Operation Overlord.

1944 Germany Surrender Restrictions

1944 : The United Nations was considering what restrictions should be placed on Nazi Germany after its surrender. It was a given that allied soldiers would occupy Germany as long as the youth needed to be re-educated in democracy and anti-Nazi thinking. Holland, Denmark, Belgium, and France would keep all Nazi military equipment and guard Germany from waging war again. Also, the goods plundered by the Nazis were to be returned and the Jews compensated for their losses.

1953 Iran Military Coup

1953 : A military coup supported and financed by the United States overthrows the government of Premier Mohammed Mosaddeq and reinstates the Shah of Iran.

1955 U.S.A. Hurricane Diane

1955 : Hurricane Diane hits the Carolinas leaving over 170 people dead in it's wake with massive damage to homes and property in the area affected.

1955 Morocco Protesters Against Europeans

1955 : Protesters in Kenifra, Morocco went on the rampage setting fires and killing in a rampage against Europeans. It was the one year anniversary of the previous sultan’s exile which sparked the outburst of violence. In Casablanca 10 individuals were killed and 20 injured.

1960 Soviet Union U2 Pilot Sentenced

1960 : The captured American U2 pilot Gary Powers is sentenced to 10 years imprisonment for espionage by a Soviet military court.

1967 Soviet Union Pravda Accuses China

August 19, 1967 : The Soviet Union’s communist newspaper, Pravda, accused China of making unwarranted attacks on the Soviet embassy in Peking and straining relations between Russia and China. Pravda blared, “Literally not a single day passes without a malicious invention about the Soviet Union” (by China). Russia claimed that China was launching an anti-Soviet campaign to keep the focus off of Chinese domestic problems.

1979 Switzerland Sebastian Coe

1979 : In Zurich, Switzerland track records were being broken by English runner, Sebastian Coe, who overturned legendary track stars like John Walker and Alberto Juantorena. Coe performed to a roaring audience of 22,000 Swiss fans.

1980 Saudi Arabia Plane Crash

1980 : A fire caused by a passenger using a portable butane stove as the plane started to make it's emergency landing it burst into flames killing all passengers and crew.

1987 England Hungerford Killing Spree by Michael Ryan

1987 : Michael Ryan goes on a killing spree in Hungerford, Berkshire armed with an automatic rifle, a pistol and a hand grenade. He kills 14 people including his mother and a local policeman before killing himself inside a nearby school.

1989 Lebanon U.S.A. Hostages

1989 : Eight U.S. hostages were being held in Lebanon and the Reagan government was struggling to get them back home. Iran offered to assist the American government to get the prisoners back, but wanted the U.S. to give back some Iranian resources and money.

1991 Soviet Union Attempted Coup

1991 : Leaders of the Army, the KGB and the Police in the Soviet Union are attempting a coup backed by tanks and troops and have the Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev under house arrest. The coup failed and shortly after control is back in the hands of the president and the Coup Leaders are arrested.

1997 Thailand Cambodian Refugees

August 19, 1997 : A massive influx of Cambodian refugees fled into Thailand to escape the bloody conflict between coup leader Hun Sen and Prince Norodom Ranaridh. There was a nocturnal exodus of Cambodian people and livestock who fled the violence.

2003 France Heat Wave

2003 : In France a 104 degree heat wave killed approximately 5,000 people who perished from dehydration and complications of heat related illnesses. As a result of the calamity morgues were crammed full of corpses and even warehouses with refrigeration were pressed into service to cope with all the dead bodies. In the government, different parties blamed each other for not responding correctly to the crisis and France’s director general of health, Lucien Abenhaim resigned.

2003 United Nations Baghdad Headquarters Bombed

2003 : A terrorist bomb attack on The United Nations Baghdad headquarters has left at least 17 dead including UN top envoy Brazilian Sergio Vieira de Mello. In an official statement the United Nations has said the bombing has dealt a blow to its operations in Iraq but will not stop its work in the country.

2004 U.S.A. Google IPO

2004 : The Google IPO (initial public offering) raises US$1.67 billion. Google was founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin just 6 years earlier in 1998 while they were students at Stanford University and because of the use of new ranking algorithms and it's clean uncluttered home page it quickly became the most used search engine in the world. The IPO in 2004 offered 19,605,052 shares at a price of US$85 per share (share price $482.13 August 2008, $944.27 August 2017) but they have traded up as high as $700 in 2007.

2005 U.S.A. Vioxx

2005 : A Texas jury found Merck & Co. liable for the death of of Robert Ernst, a 59-year old man who'd taken the once-popular painkiller Vioxx, awarding his widow $253.4 million in damages. This followed Merck & Co voluntary withdrawing Vioxx from the market worldwide on September 30, 2004 following concerns over increased risk of heart attack among rofecoxib ( Vioxx, Ceoxx and Ceeoxx ) users. There have been 1,000's of cases and class actions filed against Merck over the last three years with litigation still continuing.

2006 Belgium Prisoners Escape

2006 : A total of 28 prisoners escaped from the Dendermonde jail in Belgium. Six escapees were captured immediately but the others were able to scale the prison walls to get out.

2007 Jordan School Admissions Increased

2007 : The country of Jordan relaxed its rules regarding displaced Iraqi families to allow more Iraqi children an education opportunity. Up to 50,000 new Iraqi students could now join the state school systems.

2008 Zambia President Dies

2008 : The Zambian president Levy Mwanawasa died in Paris two months after having a stroke. He had the stroke in June of 2008 during an African Union summit in Egypt and was flown to France for medical care.

2012 Contaminated Pickles Kill Six People

2012 : At least six people died and another 100 people became sick after eating contaminated pickles in Japan. The government was blaming locally produced pickled Chinese cabbage that they believe was contaminated with E. Coli. Most of the people effected were elderly but one of the dead included a four year old girl.

2013 First Same-Sex Weddings in New Zealand

2013 : The first same-sex weddings take place in New Zealand after the country legalized gay marriage back in April. The country became the first in the Asia-Pacific region to legalize same-sex marriage. It is also the fourteenth in the entire world to legalize same-sex marriage.

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