Today’s Highlight in History:
On Aug. 16, 1977, Elvis Presley died at his Graceland estate in Memphis, Tennessee, at age 42.
On this date:
In 1777, American forces won the Battle of Bennington in what was considered a turning point of the Revolutionary War.
In 1812, Detroit fell to British and Native American forces in the War of 1812.
In 1861, President Abraham Lincoln issued Proclamation 86, which prohibited the states of the Union from engaging in commercial trade with states that were in rebellion — i.e., the Confederacy.
In 1948, baseball legend Babe Ruth died in New York at age 53.
In 1962, the Beatles fired their original drummer, Pete Best, replacing him with Ringo Starr.
In 1978, James Earl Ray, convicted assassin of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., told a Capitol Hill hearing he did not commit the crime, saying he’d been set up by a mysterious man called “Raoul.”
In 1987, people worldwide began a two-day celebration of the “harmonic convergence,” which heralded what believers called the start of a new, purer age of humankind.
In 2002, terrorist mastermind Abu Nidal reportedly was found shot to death in Baghdad, Iraq; he was 65.
In 2003, Idi Amin, the former dictator of Uganda, died in Jiddah, Saudi Arabia; he was believed to have been about 80.
In 2014, Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon declared a state of emergency and imposed a curfew in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson, where police and protesters repeatedly clashed in the week since a Black 18-year-old, Michael Brown, was shot to death by a white police officer.
In 2018, Aretha Franklin, the undisputed “Queen of Soul,” died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 76.
In 2020, California’s Death Valley recorded a temperature of 130 degrees amid a blistering heat wave, the third-highest temperature ever measured.
Celebrity Birthdays: Aug. 16: Actor Gary Clarke (“Hondo,” ″The Virginian”) is 90. Actor Julie Newmar (TV’s “Batman”) is 90. Actor-singer Ketty Lester (“Little House on the Prairie”) is 89. Actor Anita Gillette is 87. Actor Bob Balaban (“A Mighty Wind,” ″Best In Show”) is 78. Ballerina Suzanne Farrell is 78. Actor Lesley Ann Warren is 77. Bassist Joey Spampinato (NRBQ) is 75. Actor Marshall Manesh (“How I Met Your Mother,” ″Will and Grace”) is 73. Actor Reginald VelJohnson (“Family Matters”) is 72. TV personality Kathie Lee Gifford is 70. Singer J.T. Taylor (Kool and the Gang) is 70. Director James Cameron (“Titanic,” ″The Terminator”) is 69. Actor Jeff Perry (“Scandal,” ″Grey’s Anatomy”) is 68. Guitarist Tim Farriss of INXS is 66. Actor Laura Innes (“ER”) is 66. Actor Angela Bassett is 65. Singer Madonna is 65. Actor Timothy Hutton is 63. Actor Steve Carell is 61. Actor Andy Milder (“Weeds”) is 55. Actor Seth Peterson (“Burn Notice,” “Providence”) is 53. Country singer Emily Robison of The Dixie Chicks is 51. Actor George Stults (“Seventh Heaven”) is 48. Singer Vanessa Carlton is 43. Actor Cam Gigandet (“Twilight”) is 41. Singer-guitarist Taylor Goldsmith of Dawes is 38. Actor Cristin Milioti (“How I Met Your Mother”) is 38. Actor Shawn Pyfrom (“Desperate Housewives”) is 37. Country singer Ashton Shepherd is 37. Singer Dan Smyers of Dan + Shay is 36. Rapper Young Thug is 32. Actor Cameron Monaghan (“Gotham”) is 30. Singer Greyson Chance is 26.