Main Page | See live article | Alphabetical index August 18 is the 230th day of the year (231st in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 135 days remaining. Table of contents 1 Events 2 Births 3 Deaths 4 Holidays and observances Events 293 BC - Oldest known Roman temple to Venus founded, institution of Vinalia Rustica begins. 1587 - Virginia Dare, granddaughter of Gov. John White of the Colony of Roanoke, becomes the first English child born in the Americas. 1590 - John White, the governor of the Colony of Roanoke, returns from a supply-trip to England and finds his settlement deserted. 1864 - American Civil War: Battle of Weldon Railroad - Forces under Union General Ulysses S. Grant try to cut a vital Confederate supply-line into Petersburg, Virginia, by attacking the Weldon Railroad forcing the Confederates to use wagons. 1920 - 19th Amendment to US constitution is passed, guaranteeing women's suffrage. 1938 - The Thousand Islands Bridge, connecting the United States with Canada, is dedicated by US President Franklin D. Roosevelt. 1941 - Holocaust: Adolf Hitler orders an end to the systematic euthanasia of mentally ill and handicapped persons due to protests within Germany. 1958 - Vladimir Nabokov's controversial novel Lolita is published in the United States. 1963 - American civil rights movement: James Meredith becomes the first black person to graduate from the University of Mississippi. 1965 - Vietnam War: Operation Starlite begins - 5,500 United States Marines destroy a Viet Cong stronghold on the Van Tuong peninsula in Quang Ngai Province in the first major American ground battle of the war. The Marines were tipped-off by a Viet Cong deserter who said that there was an attack planned against the US base at Chu Lai. 1971 - Vietnam War: Australia and New Zealand decide to withdraw their troops from Vietnam. 1976 - In North Korea at Panmunjom, two US soldiers are killed while trying to chop down part of a tree in the DMZ which had obscured their view. 1982 - Wang Laboratories files for bankruptcy. 1983 - Hurricane Alicia hits the Texas coast, killing 22 and causing over US$1 billion in damage (1983 dollars). 1989 - Leading presidential hopeful Luis Carlos Galan is assassinated near Bogota in Columbia. 1991 - Collapse of the Soviet Union: Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev is put under house arrest while he was vacationing in the Crimea. The coup was led by eight high-ranking hard-liners (the coup will collapse in less than 72 hours). 1992 - After 13 years with the Boston Celtics, basketball player Larry Bird announces his retirement citing back problems. Births 1587 - Virginia Dare, first English child born in North America († 1588) 1750 - Antonio Salieri, composer († 1825) 1774 - Meriwether Lewis, explorer († 1809) 1830 - Emperor Franz Josef I of Austria († 1916) 1896 - Jack Pickford, actor, Hollywood's first "bad boy", († 1933) 1904 - Max Factor, cosmetics entrepreneur († 1996) 1917 - Caspar Weinberger, former United States Secretary of Defense 1918 - Walter Joseph Hickel, former Governor of Alaska, former US Secretary of the Interior 1922 - Shelley Winters, actress 1925 - Brian Aldiss, writer 1927 - Rosalynn Carter, First Lady 1932 - William R. Bennett, Premier of British Columbia 1933 - Roman Polanski, director, actor 1934 - Roberto Clemente, baseball Hall of Famer 1934 - Vincent Bugliosi, prosecuting attorney in the Charles Manson case 1935 - Rafer Johnson, Olympic Games gold medalist 1937 - Robert Redford, actor, director 1943 - Martin Mull, comedian, actor 1945 - Barbara Harris, singer, formerly of the group the Toys 1952 - Patrick Swayze, actor 1952 - Elayne Boosler, comedienne 1957 - Denis Leary, comedian, actor 1958 - Madeleine Stowe, actress 1969 - Christian Slater, actor 1969 - Edward Norton, actor 1970 - Malcolm-Jamal Warner, actor Deaths 472 - Ricimer, Roman general 1227 - Genghis Khan, Mongol leader 1276 - Pope Adrian V, newly elected pope 1809 - Matthew Boulton, pioneering industrialist and member of the Lunar Society 1850 - Honoré de Balzac, writer 1940 - Walter P. Chrysler, automobile mogul 1963 - Clifford Odets, playwright 1983 - Nikolaus Pevsner, art historian Holidays and observances Roman Empire - Vinalia Rustica celebrated in honor of Venus commemorating the founding of the oldest known temple to her in 293 BC on this date. See Also: August 17 - August 19 - July 18 - September 18 -- listing of all days January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December This article is from Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.