Today in History: Aug. 20

This is an undated photo of the seventeenth President of the United States Andrew Johnson. (AP Photo)
In 1866, President Andrew Johnson formally declared the Civil War over, months after fighting had stopped. (AP Photo)
FILE--Lyle, left, and Erik Menendez leave the courtroom in Santa Monica, Calif., in this Aug. 6, 1990 file photo.   The brothers were found were found guilty of first-degree murder and conspiracy Wednesday, March 20, 1996,  of the August 1989 murders of their parents in their second trial in the Van Nuys Superior Court in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Nick Ut, File)
In 1989, entertainment executive Jose Menendez and his wife, Kitty, were shot to death in their Beverly Hills mansion by their sons, Lyle and Erik. FILE–Lyle, left, and Erik Menendez leave the courtroom in Santa Monica, Calif., in this Aug. 6, 1990 file photo. The brothers were found were found guilty of first-degree murder and conspiracy Wednesday, March 20, 1996, of the August 1989 murders of their parents in their second trial in the Van Nuys Superior Court in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Nick Ut, File)
An unidentified woman kneels in front of Jo Ann Bushnell, sister of Patrick Henry Sherill, to offer a word of comfort, Sunday, August 24, 1986 in Watonga. Sherill shot fourteen of his fellow postal workers and then killed himself on Wednesday. He was cremated and the ashes placed in a family plot. (AP Photo/David Longstreath)
In 1986, postal employee Patrick Henry Sherrill went on a deadly rampage at a post office in Edmond, Okla., shooting 14 fellow workers to death before killing himself. An unidentified woman kneels in front of Jo Ann Bushnell, sister of Patrick Henry Sherill, to offer a word of comfort, Sunday, August 24, 1986 in Watonga. Sherill shot fourteen of his fellow postal workers and then killed himself on Wednesday. He was cremated and the ashes placed in a family plot. (AP Photo/David Longstreath)
Tanks and troops from the Soviet Union stand in the middle of a street in Prague after the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia on Aug. 21, 1968, putting an end to Prague Spring reform.  (AP Photo)
In 1968, the Soviet Union and other Warsaw Pact nations began invading Czechoslovakia to crush the “Prague Spring” liberalization drive. Tanks and troops from the Soviet Union stand in the middle of a street in Prague after the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia on Aug. 21, 1968, putting an end to Prague Spring reform. (AP Photo)
In 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Economic Opportunity Act, a nearly $1 billion anti-poverty measure. FILE – In this March 15, 1965 file photo, U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson addresses a joint session of Congress in Washington where he urged the passing of the Voting Rights Act and spoke of his experience as a young teacher in a segregated, Mexican-American school. Vice President Hubert Humphrey is at left and House Speaker John McCormack is at right. (AP Photo/File)
In 2009, one-time Super Bowl star Plaxico Burress accepted a plea bargain with a two-year prison sentence for accidentally shooting himself in the thigh at a Manhattan nightclub. FILE – In this Feb. 3, 2008, file photo, New York Giants receiver Plaxico Burress, left, catches the game-winning touchdown pass in front of New England Patriots’ Ellis Hobbs III during the final minute of NFL football’s Super Bowl XLII in Glendale, Ariz. The Giants won 17-14. (David Kadlubowski/The Arizona Republic via AP, File)
Don Henley of The Eagles performs at the Fox Theatre on Sunday, January 22, 2017, in Atlanta. (Photo by Robb Cohen/Invision/AP)
In 2018, the Recording Industry of America said The Eagles’ greatest hits album had surpassed Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” to become the best-selling album of all time in the U.S. Don Henley of The Eagles performs at the Fox Theatre on Sunday, January 22, 2017, in Atlanta. (Photo by Robb Cohen/Invision/AP)
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This is an undated photo of the seventeenth President of the United States Andrew Johnson. (AP Photo)
FILE--Lyle, left, and Erik Menendez leave the courtroom in Santa Monica, Calif., in this Aug. 6, 1990 file photo.   The brothers were found were found guilty of first-degree murder and conspiracy Wednesday, March 20, 1996,  of the August 1989 murders of their parents in their second trial in the Van Nuys Superior Court in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Nick Ut, File)
An unidentified woman kneels in front of Jo Ann Bushnell, sister of Patrick Henry Sherill, to offer a word of comfort, Sunday, August 24, 1986 in Watonga. Sherill shot fourteen of his fellow postal workers and then killed himself on Wednesday. He was cremated and the ashes placed in a family plot. (AP Photo/David Longstreath)
Tanks and troops from the Soviet Union stand in the middle of a street in Prague after the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia on Aug. 21, 1968, putting an end to Prague Spring reform.  (AP Photo)
Don Henley of The Eagles performs at the Fox Theatre on Sunday, January 22, 2017, in Atlanta. (Photo by Robb Cohen/Invision/AP)

Today is Tuesday, Aug. 20, the 232nd day of 2019.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On August 20, 1986, postal employee Patrick Henry Sherrill went on a deadly rampage at a post office in Edmond, Okla., shooting 14 fellow workers to death before killing himself.

On this date:

In 1862, the New York Tribune published an open letter by editor Horace Greeley calling on President Abraham Lincoln to take more aggressive measures to free the slaves and end the South’s rebellion.

In 1866, President Andrew Johnson formally declared the Civil War over, months after fighting had stopped.

In 1910, a series of forest fires swept through parts of Idaho, Montana and Washington, killing at least 85 people and burning some 3 million acres.

In 1953, the Soviet Union publicly acknowledged it had tested a hydrogen bomb.

In 1955, hundreds of people were killed in anti-French rioting in Morocco and Algeria.

In 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Economic Opportunity Act, a nearly $1 billion anti-poverty measure.

In 1968, the Soviet Union and other Warsaw Pact nations began invading Czechoslovakia to crush the “Prague Spring” liberalization drive.

In 1988, a cease-fire in the war between Iraq and Iran went into effect.

In 1989, entertainment executive Jose Menendez and his wife, Kitty, were shot to death in their Beverly Hills mansion by their sons, Lyle and Erik. Fifty-one people died when a pleasure boat sank in the River Thames in London after colliding with a dredger.

In 2005, Northwest Airlines mechanics went on strike rather than accept pay cuts and layoffs; Northwest ended up hiring replacement workers. San Francisco 49ers offensive lineman Thomas Herrion, 23, died of a heart attack shortly after a preseason game against the Denver Broncos.

In 2008, a Spanish jetliner crashed during takeoff from Madrid, killing 154 people; 18 survived.

In 2017, actor, comic and longtime telethon host Jerry Lewis died of heart disease in Las Vegas at the age of 91.

Ten years ago: The only man convicted in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 returned home to Libya after his release on compassionate grounds from a Scottish prison. (Abdel Baset al-Megrahi, said to have only months to live because of prostate cancer, died nearly three years later.) Ryan Alexander Jenkins, a contestant on the VH1 reality show “Megan Wants a Millionaire,” was charged with murdering his wife, Jasmine Fiore, whose body was found in Buena Park, California. (Jenkins was found dead three days later, an apparent suicide.) One-time Super Bowl star Plaxico Burress accepted a plea bargain with a two-year prison sentence for accidentally shooting himself in the thigh at a Manhattan nightclub.

Five years ago: The United States launched a new barrage of airstrikes against Islamic State extremists and weighed sending more troops to Iraq as President Barack Obama vowed to be relentless in pursuit of a terrorist group that beheaded American journalist James Foley. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder arrived in Ferguson, Missouri, to meet with federal investigators and reassure residents of the community torn by several nights of racial unrest since the fatal shooting of a black 18-year-old by a white police officer.

One year ago: In a letter to Catholics worldwide, Pope Francis vowed that “no effort must be spared” to root out sex abuse by priests and cover-ups by the Catholic Church. Afghan forces rescued nearly 150 people, hours after the Taliban ambushed a convoy of buses and abducted them; the militants escaped with 21 captives. The Recording Industry of America said The Eagles’ greatest hits album had surpassed Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” to become the best-selling album of all time in the U.S.

Copyright © 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.

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