AUGUST 19TH

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Today is Tuesday, August 19, the 232nd day of 2008.
There are 134 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

• On August 19, 1812, the USS Constitution defeated the British frigate Guerriere off Nova Scotia during the War of 1812.

On this date:

• In 1807, Robert Fulton's North River Steamboat arrived in Albany, two days after leaving New York.
• In 1918, "Yip! Yip! Yaphank," a musical revue by Irving Berlin featuring Army recruits from Camp Upton in Yaphank, N.Y., opened on Broadway.
• In 1929, the radio comedy program "Amos 'n' Andy," starring Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll, made its debut on the NBC Blue Network.
• In 1934, a plebiscite in Germany approved the vesting of sole executive power in Adolf Hitler.
• In 1942, during World War II, about 6,000 Canadian and British soldiers launched a disastrous raid against the Germans at Dieppe, France, suffering more than 50 percent casualties.
• In 1955, severe flooding in the northeastern U.S. claimed some 200 lives.
• In 1960, a tribunal in Moscow convicted American U2 pilot Francis Gary Powers of espionage.
• In 1976, President Ford won the Republican presidential nomination at the party's convention in Kansas City, Mo.
• In 1982, Soviet cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya became the second woman to be launched into space.
• In 1991, Soviet hard-liners announced to a shocked world that President Mikhail S. Gorbachev had been removed from power. (The coup collapsed two days later.)

Ten years ago:

• President Clinton spent a quiet 52nd birthday with his family on Martha's Vineyard, Mass., as controversy continued to swirl over his admissions to a grand jury concerning his relationship with Monica Lewinsky.

Five years ago:

• A suicide truck bomb struck U.N. headquarters in Baghdad, killing 22, including the top U.N. envoy, Sergio Vieira de Mello.
• A suicide bombing of a bus in Jerusalem killed 22 people.

One year ago:

• Hurricane Dean, which had already killed eight people on its destructive march across the Caribbean, pummeled Jamaica with gusting winds and torrential rains as a Category 4 storm.
• French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner paid an unannounced and highly symbolic visit to Baghdad — the first by a senior French official since the war started.
• Elvira Arellano, an illegal immigrant who'd taken refuge in a Chicago church to avoid being separated from her U.S.-born son, was deported to Mexico.

Today's Birthdays:

• Actor L.Q. Jones is 81.
• Author Frank McCourt is 78.
• Actress Debra Paget is 75.
• Tennis coach Renee Richards is 74.
• Actress Diana Muldaur is 70.
• Rock musician Ginger Baker (Cream, Blind Faith) is 69.
• Singer Johnny Nash is 68.
• Actress Jill St. John is 68.
• Actor and former U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson is 66.
• Singer Billy J. Kramer is 65.
• Country singer-songwriter Eddy Raven is 64.
• Rock singer Ian Gillan (Deep Purple) is 63.
• Former President Clinton is 62.
• Tipper Gore, wife of former Vice President Al Gore, is 60.
• Actor Gerald McRaney is 60.
• Rock musician John Deacon (Queen) is 57.
• Actor Jonathan Frakes is 56.
• Actor Peter Gallagher is 53.
• Actor Adam Arkin is 52.
• Singer-songwriter Gary Chapman is 51.
• Actor Martin Donovan is 51.
• Football Hall-of-Famer Anthony Munoz is 50.
• Rhythm-and-blues singer Ivan Neville is 49.
• Actor Eric Lutes is 46.
• Actor John Stamos is 45.
• Actress Kyra Sedgwick is 43.
• Actor Kevin Dillon is 43.
• Country singer Lee Ann Womack is 42.
• TV reporter Tabitha Soren is 41.
• Country singer-songwriter Mark McGuinn is 40.
• Rapper Nate Dogg is 39.
• Actor Matthew Perry is 39.
• Country singer Clay Walker is 39.
• Rapper Fat Joe is 38.
• Olympic gold medal tennis player Mary Joe Fernandez is 37.
• Actress Tracie Thoms is 33.
• Country singer Rissi Palmer is 27.
• Actress Erika Christensen is 26.
• Country singer Karli Osborn (SHeDAISY) is 24.
• Actor J. Evan Bonifant is 23.
• Rapper Romeo is 19.

Thought for Today:

"One can live in the shadow of an idea without grasping it."
Elizabeth Bowen, Irish author (1899-1973).

"Let's all be careful out there!"