Important Events From This day in History August 20th

1940 UK Battle of Britain

1940 : After 3 months of the Battle Of Britain in the skies over the South Coast the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill paid tribute to the British Royal Air Force, saying, "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few." Find More What happened in 1940

1902 Cuba Soldiers

1902 : Militant Cuban veteran soldiers demanded $85,000,000 from the Cuban government to compensate them for their previous military service. This would take money away from the sugar industry. At Puerto Principe, 5,000 soldiers demanded that President Palma and the Congress find money to pay their salaries.

1920 First Commercial Radio Station

1920 : The first commercial radio station begins operating in Detroit, Michigan with call sign 8MK (Now WWJ - Newsradio 950). The radio station was started by The Detroit News newspaper and is now owned and run by CBS.

1927 Canada Prime Minister Baldwin

1927 : Prime Minister Baldwin of Great Britain visited Canada and toured part of the time with the Prince of Wales and Prince George. This was the first time an English Prime minister had visited a dominion while still in office.

1936 U.S.A. Franklin Delano Roosevelt

1936 : President Franklin Delano Roosevelt speech in the state of New York left Europe angry, but Latin America very pleased. The President’s comments that provoked opposite reactions were, “… the unhappy nations of the old world seem utterly unable to live amicably among themselves and we must recognize this and being ‘singularly blessed’ geographically take every possible advance preparation to keep out of their future conflicts.”

1940 Mexico Trotsky

1940 : Leon Trotsky the Russian revolutionary and Marxist theorist and one of the leaders of the Russian October Revolution in 1917, is assassinated by a Soviet agent at Coyoacán, in Mexico City. where he lived in exile.

1948 Germany Reichmark

1948 : Post war Germany’s currency, the Reichmark, was worthless, but then was reformed and economic recovery was in sight. All classes of Germans had been leveled by the economic crisis and the black market was active. The newly invented Reichmark made bankers poor and families with lots of children wealthy. Each German citizen was allowed 40 Reichmarks.

1959 Africa Dr. Albert Schweitzer

1959 : The famous Wyatt Earp, who was the actor Hugh O’Brian, finally met his idol, Dr. Albert Schweitzer in Africa. O’Brian was conveyed up the river by natives who were lepers and he met the famous doctor at his hospital. After meeting Schweitzer, O’Brian referred to him as “a living saint”. The physician strongly urged the need to abolish nuclear testing and war and O’Brian came back to the U.S. with the same views.

1965 Russia Accuses Johnson of Globalism

1965 : The communist journal, The Kommunist, blasted President Johnson of the U.S. for what it called, “Johnson globalism” and causing a threat to world peace. The journal went on to point out that this kind of globalism would allow the U.S. to be the watch dog of the capitalist world and American intervention whenever U.S. interests were impinged upon.

1968 Czechoslovakia Soviet Troops Crush Resistance

1968 : Following Anti-Communist protests in Czechoslovakia in what is called "Prague Spring", Soviet troops intervene to crush the protests and restore order. The period of the "Prague Spring" began in January 5th, 1968 when Alexander Dubček came to power, with reformist policies for the country of Czechoslovakia.

1. Grant additional rights to the citizens.

2. Loosening of restrictions on the media and allowing free speech.

3. Partial decentralization of the economy and democratization.

Due to many of these reforms taking the country in a direction in opposition to Communist Ideology the Soviet Union and its Warsaw Pact allies invaded the country to take back power and halt the reforms.

1978 Zimbabwe Brink Of Civil War

1978 : Rhodesia, a break away colony of Britain, was to be called “Zimbabwe” and the country teetered on the brink of civil war. After a year of British and American diplomacy, President Ian Smith and militant black leaders were still at odds over how the transition was going to take place. Black guerrilla leader, Robert Mugabe, insisted on having his army in control, which would mean his group would have the actual power in Zimbabwe. What else happened in 1978

1982 Lebanon Peacekeeping Force

1982 : A Multi National peacekeeping force is sent into Lebanon to try and halt the fighting between Muslim and Christian Militia groups and to oversea the Palestinian withdrawal from Lebanon.

1988 Yellowstone National Park Fire

1988 : In the worst day of fires in Yellowstone National Park firestorms destroy over 150,000 acres of the park. This was the worst day of fire destruction in the park which saw a summer where over 1/3 of the park was destroyed with the fire gaining between 5 to 10 miles a day. 1988 was a terrible year for fires around the country due to the drought and only the intervention of nature with cool and moist weather in the late autumn brought the fires to an end. Much reporting in the Media reporting mismanagement of the fires was often sensational and inaccurate even claiming most of the park and wildlife was destroyed, which was not true.

1989 Marchioness Disaster River Thames

1988 : The Thames pleasure cruiser Marchioness packed with young party goers collides with the Bowbelle dredger on the River Thames. The dredger Bowbelle ran into the Marchioness and due to the difference in sizes of the boats Bowbelle (2000 tons), Marchioness (90 tons) the pleasure cruiser was forced under the water by the larger boat and sank within a few seconds. The death toll of the disaster is put at more than 50.

1990 Argentina Beat Brazil In World Cup

1990 : Argentina’s soccer playing abilities caught the world’s attention in the World Cup as the Brazilian team was upset. Coach Carlos Bilardo commented, “Some of the (Argentinean) players played better than we expected. This was a classic South American match.” Argentina had been losing, but then Caniggia took a pass from Maradona and defeated Brazilian goal keeper Claudio Taffarel.

1996 U.S.A. Minimum Hourly Wage $5.15

1996 : The Minimum hourly wage is raised to $5.15 an hour an increase of 90 cents.

1998 Cruise Missile Attacks on al-Qaeda

1998 : The United States launch cruise missile strikes against al-Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan, this was in retaliation for US embassy bombings on August 7 of Nairobi, Kenya and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania by the Islamic fundamentalist terrorist organization al-Qaeda which left more than 200 dead.

2005 Iraq Sunnis Gunned Down

2005 : Retribution was swift against Sunnis who promoted the proposed new Iraqis constitution and encouraged Iraqis to vote in the referendum on October 15. Three Sunnis were gunned down as they were putting up posters designed to encourage Iraqis people to vote.

2007 Leona Helmsley Passed Away

2007 : United States billionaire Leona Helmsley passed away from heart failure on this day. Helmsley owned many large properties in New York including upscale hotels. She served 21 months in prison in 1992 after being convicted for tax evasion.

2008 US / Poland Missile Defense Deal

2008 : After many months of negotiation the United States and Poland signed a defense deal that would let the United States set up part of a missile defense system on Polish land. The deal upset the Russian government who took it as an act against Russia, but both Poland and the United States stated that the defense system would be for defense against attacks from the Middle East and was aimed at protecting Europe.

2009 Scotland Terrorist Released

2009 : Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi, the Lockerbie bomber, was released from prison by the Scottish government. He was released on the basis of compassion because he had been diagnosed with a terminal form of prostate cancer. The convict had been sent to prison to serve a life sentence in 2001 after being found guilty of the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 in 1988, which resulted in the deaths of 270 people.

2011 US Hikers Jailed for Eight Years in Iran

2011 : Two US Hikers who were accused of spying and illegally entering Iran were sentenced to eight years in jail by a Tehran court. Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal both deny the charges, saying they accidentally entered the country in July of 2009 while hiking near the border. A third hiker, Sarah Shourd, had been released on bail in 2010 and returned to the US.

2012 Comedian Phyllis Diller Dies

2012 : Comedian Phyllis Diller died at the age of ninety-five in Los Angeles and the cause of death was not released. Diller came into comedy in the Fifties and was known for her large hair, crazy costumes and cackling laugh.

2013 Japan Radioactive Water Leak

2013 : A radioactive water leak was found at Japan's Fukushima nuclear power plant. After being damaged by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami the plant has had several dangerous issues including melt downs, fires and other leaks. This was the largest of such incidents since 2011.

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