Today’s Highlight in History:
On Aug. 31, 2010, President Barack Obama ended the U.S. combat mission in Iraq, declaring no victory after seven years of bloodshed and telling those divided over the war in his country and around the world: “It is time to turn the page.”
On this date:
In 1881, the first U.S. tennis championships (for men only) began in Newport, Rhode Island.
In 1886, an earthquake with an estimated magnitude of 7.3 devastated Charleston, South Carolina, killing at least 60 people, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
In 1962, the Caribbean nation of Trinidad and Tobago became independent of British colonial rule.
In 1980, Poland’s Solidarity labor movement was born with an agreement signed in Gdansk (guh-DANSK’) that ended a 17-day-old strike.
In 1992, white separatist Randy Weaver surrendered to authorities in Naples, Idaho, ending an 11-day siege by federal agents that had claimed the lives of Weaver’s wife, son and a deputy U.S. marshal. (Weaver was acquitted of murder and all other charges in connection with the confrontation; he was convicted of failing to appear for trial on firearms charges and was sentenced to 18 months in prison but given credit for 14 months he’d already served.)
In 1994, the Irish Republican Army declared a cease-fire. Russia officially ended its military presence in the former East Germany and the Baltics after half a century.
In 1996, three adults and four children drowned when their vehicle rolled into John D. Long Lake in Union, South Carolina; they had gone to see a monument to the sons of Susan Smith, who had drowned the two boys in Oct. 1994.
In 1997, Prince Charles brought Princess Diana home for the last time, escorting the body of his former wife to a Britain that was shocked, grief-stricken and angered by her death in a Paris traffic accident earlier that day.
In 2005, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin reported “a significant number of dead bodies in the water” following Hurricane Katrina; Nagin ordered virtually the entire police force to abandon search-and-rescue efforts and to instead stop increasingly hostile thieves.
In 2016, on Mexican soil for the first time as the Republican presidential nominee, a firm but measured Donald Trump defended the right of the United States to build a massive border wall along its southern flank, standing up for the centerpiece of his immigration plan during a joint press conference with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto.
In 2019, a gunman carried out a shooting rampage that stretched ten miles between the Texas communities of Midland and Odessa, leaving seven people dead before police killed the gunman outside a movie theater in Odessa.
In 2020, at a rally in Pittsburgh, Democrat Joe Biden resoundingly condemned violent protesters and called for their prosecution; he accused President Donald Trump of causing the divisions that had ignited the violence. Trump reiterated that he blamed radical troublemakers who he said were stirred up and backed by Biden.
Celebrity Birthdays
Aug. 31: Actor Warren Berlinger (“Operation Petticoat,” ’'The Joey Bishop Show”) is 82. Drummer Jerry Allison of Buddy Holly and the Crickets is 80. Singer Van Morrison is 74. Violinist Itzhak Perlman is 74. Guitarist Rudolf Schenker of Scorpions is 71. Actor Richard Gere is 70. Actor Stephen Henderson (“Fences,” ’'Manchester by the Sea”) is 70. Singer Glenn Tilbrook of Squeeze is 62. Drummer Gina Schock of The Go-Go’s is 62. Singer Tony DeFranco of The DeFranco Family is 60. Keyboardist Larry Waddell of Mint Condition is 56. Guitarist Jeff Russo of Tonic is 50. Singer Deborah Gibson is 49. Bassist Greg Richling of The Wallflowers is 49. Actor Zack Ward (“A Christmas Story,” ’'Titus”) is 49. Actor Chris Tucker (“Rush Hour”) is 47. Actress Sara Ramirez (“Grey’s Anatomy”) is 44. Singer Tamara of Trina and Tamara is 42.