Today in History

Today is Tuesday, Aug. 27, the 239th day of 2019. There are 126 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On August 27, 2008, Barack Obama was nominated for president by the Democratic National Convention in Denver.

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 1859, Edwin L. Drake drilled the first successful oil well in the United States, at Titusville, Pennsylvania.

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

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 1963, author, journalist and civil rights activist W.E.B. Du Bois died in Accra, Ghana, at age 95.

In 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."

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

In 1975, Haile Selassie, the last emperor of Ethiopia's 3,000-year-old monarchy, died in Addis Ababa at age 83 almost a year after being overthrown.

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 2005, Coastal residents jammed freeways and gas stations as they rushed to get out of the way of Hurricane Katrina, which was headed toward New Orleans.

In 2006, a Comair CRJ-100 crashed after trying to take off from the wrong runway in Lexington, Ky., killing 49 people and leaving the co-pilot the sole survivor.

Ten 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.

Five years ago: Both Israel's prime minister and Hamas declared victory in the Gaza war, though their competing claims left questions over future terms of their uneasy peace still lingering. The University of Southern California suspended cornerback Josh Shaw for 10 games after he confessed to lying to school officials about how he'd sprained his ankles, retracting his story about jumping off a balcony to save his drowning nephew. (Shaw reportedly jumped from the balcony of an apartment following an argument with his girlfriend; he was reinstated after authorities determined no criminal charges would be filed against him.)

One year ago: Under pressure to take part in the national remembrance of the late Arizona Sen. John McCain, with whom he had feuded, President Donald Trump tersely recognized McCain's "service to our country" and re-lowered the White House flag, which had been at half-staff only briefly after McCain's death. The Trump administration reached a preliminary deal with Mexico to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement. Simona Halep lost in the first round of the U.S. Open to Kaia Kanepi of Estonia, becoming the first top-seeded woman to lose her opening match at the tournament in the half-century of the professional era.

Today's Birthdays: Author Lady Antonia Fraser is 87. Actor Tommy Sands is 82. Bluegrass singer-musician J.D. Crowe is 82. Actress Tuesday Weld is 76. Actor G.W. Bailey is 75. Rock singer-musician Tim Bogert is 75. Actress Marianne Sagebrecht is 74. Country musician Jeff Cook is 70. Actor Paul Reubens is 67. Rock musician Alex Lifeson (Rush) is 66. Actor Peter Stormare is 66. Actress Diana Scarwid is 64. Rock musician Glen Matlock (The Sex Pistols) is 63. Golfer Bernhard Langer is 62. Country singer Jeffrey Steele is 58. Gospel singer Yolanda Adams is 58. Movie director Tom Ford (Film: "Nocturnal Animals") is 58. Country musician Matthew Basford (Yankee Grey) is 57. Writer-producer Dean Devlin is 57. Rock musician Mike Johnson is 54. Rap musician Bobo (Cypress Hill) is 52. Country singer Colt Ford is 50. Actress Chandra Wilson is 50. Rock musician Tony Kanal (No Doubt) is 49. Actress Sarah Chalke is 43. Actor RonReaco Lee is 43. Rapper Mase is 42. Actress-singer Demetria McKinney is 41. Actor Aaron Paul is 40. Rock musician Jon Siebels (Eve 6) is 40. Actor Shaun Weiss is 40. Contemporary Christian musician Megan Garrett (Casting Crowns) is 39. Actor Kyle Lowder is 39. Actor Patrick J. Adams is 38. Actress Karla Mosley is 38. Actress Amanda Fuller is 35. Singer Mario is 33. Actress Alexa PenaVega is 31. Actor Ellar Coltrane is 25. Actress Savannah Paige Rae is 16.

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

Copyright 2019, The Associated Press. All rights reserved.