Today’s Highlight in History:
On Aug. 30, 1967, the Senate confirmed the appointment of Thurgood Marshall as the first Black justice on the U.S. Supreme Court.
On this date:
In 1861, Union Gen. John C. Fremont instituted martial law in Missouri and declared slaves there to be free. (However, Fremont’s emancipation order was countermanded by President Abraham Lincoln.)
In 1941, during World War II, German forces approaching Leningrad cut off the remaining rail line out of the city.
In 1945, U.S. Gen. Douglas MacArthur arrived in Japan to set up Allied occupation headquarters.
In 1963, the “Hot Line” communications link between Washington and Moscow went into operation.
In 1983, Guion (GY’-un) S. Bluford Jr. became the first Black American astronaut to travel in space as he blasted off aboard the Challenger.
In 1991, Azerbaijan (ah-zur-by-JAHN’) declared its independence, joining the stampede of republics seeking to secede from the Soviet Union.
In 1992, the television series “Northern Exposure” won six Emmy Awards, including best drama series, while “Murphy Brown” received three Emmys, including best comedy series.
In 1993, “The Late Show with David Letterman” premiered on CBS-TV.
In 1997, Americans received word of the car crash in Paris that claimed the lives of Princess Diana, her boyfriend, Dodi Fayed (DOH’-dee FY’-ehd), and their driver, Henri (AHN’-ree) Paul. (Because of the time difference, it was August 31 where the crash occurred.)
In 2005, a day after Hurricane Katrina hit, floods were covering 80 percent of New Orleans, looting continued to spread and rescuers in helicopters and boats picked up hundreds of stranded people.
In 2007, in a serious breach of nuclear security, a B-52 bomber armed with six nuclear warheads flew cross-country unnoticed; the Air Force later punished 70 people.
In 2021, the United States completed its withdrawal from Afghanistan, ending America’s longest war with the Taliban back in power, as Air Force transport planes carried a remaining contingent of troops from Kabul airport; officials put the number of Americans remaining in Afghanistan at under 200 and said they would keep working to get those people out. After watching the last U.S. planes disappear into the sky over Afghanistan, Taliban fighters fired their guns into the air, celebrating victory after a 20-year insurgency.
In 2022, Rescuers in boats, helicopters and high-water trucks brought to safety hundreds of people in Louisiana who were trapped by the floodwaters of Hurricane Ida. The entire resort city of South Lake Tahoe, California, was ordered evacuated as a ferocious wildfire raced toward Lake Tahoe on the California-Nevada state line; the city of 22,000 was normally filled with tens of thousands of summer tourists. (Improved weather conditions would help keep the flames out of the city.)
Aug. 30: Actor Elizabeth Ashley is 84. Actor-turned-politician Ben Jones (“The Dukes of Hazzard”) is 82. Actor John Kani (“Black Panther”) is 81. Cartoonist R. Crumb is 80. Comedian Lewis Black (“The Daily Show”) is 75. Actor Timothy Bottoms (film’s “The Last Picture Show,” TV’s “The Paper Chase”) is 72. Jazz saxophonist Gerald Albright is 66. Actor Michael Chiklis (“The Fantastic Four,” ″The Shield”) is 60. Actor Michael Michele (“ER,” ″Homicide: Life on the Street”) is 57. Country singer Sherrie Austin is 52. Guitarist Lars Frederiksen of Rancid is 52. Actor Cameron Diaz is 51. TV personality Lisa Ling (“The View”) is 50. Singer-guitarist Aaron Barrett of Reel Big Fish is 49. Actor Raul Castillo (“Looking”) is 46. Actor Michael Gladis (“Reckless,” ″Mad Men”) is 46. Drummer Matt Taul (Tantric, Days of the New) is 45. Singer Rachael Price of Lake Street Dive is 38. Actor Johanna Braddy (“Quantico”) is 36.