Thursday, Aug 20, 2026
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1975 - American Viking 1 launched toward orbit around Mars.
1986 - In Edmond, Oklahoma, United States Postal Service employee Patrick Sherrill guns down 14 of his co-workers before committing suicide.
1992 - The Republican National Convention in Houston, Texas renominates U.S. President George H.W. Bush and Vice President Dan Quayle. Pat Buchanan, one of Bush's opponents in the primaries, delivers a controversial convention speech, in which he refers to a "religious war" in the country.
1994 - In Honolulu, Hawaii, during a circus international performance at the Neal Blaisdell Arena, a female elephant named Tyke crushes her trainer Allen Campbell to death before hundreds of horrified spectators.
1998 - The United States military launches cruise missile attacks against alleged Al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan and a suspected chemical plant in Sudan in retaliation for the August 7 bombings of American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. The al-Shifa pharmaceutical factory in Khartoum is destroyed in the attack.
2007 - NASDAQ announces its intention to sell its 31 percent stake in the London Stock Exchange.
2009 - The US Mint releases the 2009 James Polk Presidential dollar to circulation.