Today in History

Today is Wednesday, August 27, the 239th day of 2014. There are 126 days left in the year.

Today's Highlights in History:

On August 27, 1964, President Lyndon Baines Johnson accepted his party's nomination for a term in his own right, telling the Democratic National Convention in Atlantic City, New Jersey, "Let us join together in giving every American the fullest life which he can hope for." The Walt Disney movie musical fantasy "Mary Poppins," starring Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke, premiered at Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood. Comedian Gracie Allen, the wife of George Burns, died in Los Angeles.

On this date:

In 1776, the Battle of Long Island began during the Revolutionary War as British troops attacked American forces, who ended up being forced to retreat two days later.

In 1883, the island volcano Krakatoa erupted with a series of cataclysmic explosions; the resulting tidal waves in Indonesia's Sunda Strait claimed some 36,000 lives in Java and Sumatra.

In 1908, Lyndon Baines Johnson, the 36th president of the United States, was born near Stonewall, Texas.

In 1928, the Kellogg-Briand Pact was signed in Paris, outlawing war and providing for the peaceful settlement of disputes.

In 1939, the first turbojet-powered aircraft, the Heinkel He 178, went on its first full-fledged test flight over Germany.

In 1949, a violent white mob prevented an outdoor concert headlined by Paul Robeson from taking place near Peekskill, New York. (The concert was held eight days later.)

In 1957, the USS Swordfish, the second Skate Class nuclear submarine, was launched from the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Maine.

In 1962, the United States launched the Mariner 2 space probe, which flew past Venus in December 1962.

In 1967, Brian Epstein, manager of The Beatles, was found dead in his London flat from an overdose of sleeping pills; he was 32.

In 1979, British war hero Lord Louis Mountbatten and three other people, including his 14-year-old grandson Nicholas, were killed off the coast of Ireland in a boat explosion claimed by the Irish Republican Army.

In 1989, the first U.S. commercial satellite rocket was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida -- a Delta booster carrying a British communications satellite, the Marcopolo 1.

In 2008, Barack Obama was nominated for president by the Democratic National Convention in Denver.

Ten years ago: President George W. Bush signed executive orders designed to strengthen the CIA director's power over the nation's intelligence agencies and create a national counterterrorism center. Three students were killed in a fire at a University of Mississippi fraternity house.

Five years ago: Mourners filed past the closed casket of the late Sen. Edward Kennedy at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston. Jaycee Lee Dugard, kidnapped when she was 11, was reunited with her mother 18 years after her abduction in South Lake Tahoe, California. Alex Grass, 82, founder of the Rite Aid drugstore chain, died in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

One year ago: Maj. Nidal Hasan, the Army psychiatrist who'd fatally shot 13 people at Fort Hood, Texas, in 2009, rested his case without presenting any evidence during his trial's penalty phase. (Hasan ended up being sentenced to death.)

Today's Birthdays: Author Dame Antonia Fraser is 82. Actor Tommy Sands is 77. Bluegrass singer-musician J.D. Crowe is 77. Musician Daryl Dragon is 72. Actress Tuesday Weld is 71. Actor G.W. Bailey is 70. Rock singer-musician Tim Bogert is 70. Actress Marianne Sagebrecht is 69. Country musician Jeff Cook is 65. Actor Paul Reubens is 62. Rock musician Alex Lifeson (Rush) is 61. Actor Peter Stormare is 61. Actress Diana Scarwid is 59. Rock musician Glen Matlock (The Sex Pistols) is 58. Golfer Bernhard Langer is 57. Country singer Jeffrey Steele is 53. Gospel singer Yolanda Adams is 53. Country musician Matthew Basford (Yankee Grey) is 52. Writer-producer Dean Devlin is 52. Rock musician Mike Johnson is 49. Rap musician Bobo (Cypress Hill) is 46. Country singer Colt Ford is 45. Actress Chandra Wilson is 45. Rock musician Tony Kanal (No Doubt) is 44. Actress Sarah Chalke is 38. Actor RonReaco (correct) Lee is 38. Rapper Mase is 37. Actress-singer Demetria McKinney is 36. Actor Aaron Paul is 35. Rock musician Jon Siebels (Eve 6) is 35. Actor Shaun Weiss is 35. Contemporary Christian musician Megan Garrett (Casting Crowns) is 34. Actor Kyle Lowder is 34. Actor Patrick J. Adams is 33. Singer Mario is 28. Actress Alexa Vega is 26. Actress Savannah Paige Rae (TV: "Parenthood") is 11.

Thought for Today: "Reality can destroy the dream; why shouldn't the dream destroy reality?" -- G.E. Moore, British philosopher (1873-1958).

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