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Today in history

Today in History: 1920, 19th Amendment gives women the vote

Today is Monday, Aug. 18, the 230th day of 2025. There are 135 days left in the year. Today in history: On Aug. 18, 1920, the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, guaranteeing American women's right to vote, was ratified as Tennessee became the 36th state to approve it. Also on this ...

Today in History: August 16, American music loses two legends

Today is Saturday, Aug. 16, the 228th day of 2025. There are 137 days left in the year. Today in history: On Aug. 16, 1977, Elvis Presley died at his Graceland estate in Memphis, Tennessee at the age of 42; forty-one years later, in 2018, singer Aretha Franklin, known as the "Queen of ...

Today in History: 1969, Woodstock music festival begins

Today is Friday, Aug. 15, the 227th day of 2025. There are 138 days left in the year. Today in history: On Aug. 15, 1969, the Woodstock Music and Art Fair opened in upstate New York; more than 460,000 people attended the three-day festival, which would become a watershed event in American ...

Today in History: 1935, FDR signs Social Security Act

Today is Thursday, Aug. 14, the 226th day of 2025. There are 139 days left in the year. Today in history: On Aug. 14, 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act into law, ensuring income for elderly Americans and creating a federal unemployment insurance ...

Today in History: 1961, East Germany closes Berlin border

Today is Wednesday, Aug. 13, the 225th day of 2025. There are 140 days left in the year. Today in history: On Aug. 13, 1961, on what would become known as Barbed Wire Sunday, East Germany sealed the border between Berlin's eastern and western sectors before building a wall that would divide ...

Today in History: 1944, De Gaulle leads victory march through Paris

Today is Tuesday, Aug. 26, the 238th day of 2025. There are 127 days left in the year. Today in history: On Aug. 26, 1944, French Gen. Charles de Gaulle braved the threat of German snipers as he led a victory march in Paris, which had just been liberated by the Allies from Nazi ...