Events, Births and Deaths Happening on this Date
Friday, August 28, 2026
Today is the 240th day of 2026. There are 125 days left in this year.
Notable Events
1609
Henry Hudson discovered Delaware Bay.
1676
Indian chief King Philip, also known as Metacom, is killed by English soldiers, ending the war between Indians and colonists.
1862
Mistakenly believing the Confederate Army to be in retreat, Union General John Pope attacks, beginning the Battle of Groveton. Both sides sustain heavy casualties.
1914
Three German cruisers are sunk by ships of the Royal Navy in the Battle of Heligoland Bight, the first major naval battle of World War I.
1916
Italy's declaration of war against Germany took effect during World War I.
1917
Ten suffragists were arrested as they picketed the White House.
1922
The first radio commercial aired on station WEAF in New York City (the 10-minute advertisement was for the Queensboro Realty Co., which had paid a fee of $100).
1941
The German U-boat U-570 is captured by the British and renamed Graph
1944
German forces in Toulon and Marseilles, France, surrender to the Allies.
1945
Chinese communist leader Mao Tse-Tung arrived in Chunking to confer with Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-Shek in a futile effort to avert civil war.
1947
Legendary bullfighter Manolete was mortally wounded by a bull during a fight in Linares, Spain; he died the following day at age 30.
1955
Emmett Till, a black teen-ager from Chicago, was abducted from his uncle's home in Money, Miss., by white men after he had supposedly whistled at a white woman; he was found murdered three days later.
1963
200,000 people participated in a peaceful civil rights rally in Washington, D.C., where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech in front of the Lincoln Memorial.
1965
The Viet Cong are routed in the Mekong Delta by U.S. forces, with more than 50 killed.
1968
Police and anti-war demonstrators clashed in the streets of Chicago as the Democratic National Convention nominated Hubert H. Humphrey for president.
1973
An earthquake shook central Mexico, killing more than 520 people.
1979
Irish Republican Army (IRA) bomb explodes under a bandstand in Brussels' Great Market as British Army musicians prepare for a performance; four British soldiers are wounded.
1981
John W. Hinckley Jr. pleaded innocent to charges of attempting to kill President Reagan. He was later acquitted by reason of insanity.
1982
First Gay Games were held in San Francisco.
1983
Israeli's prime minister Menachem Begin announced his resignation.
1986
US Navy officer Jerry A. Whitworth was given a 365-year prison term for spying for USSR.
1986
Bolivian president Victor Paz Estenssoro declared a state of siege and used troops and tanks to halt a march by 10,000 striking tin miners.
1988
Seventy people were killed when three Italian stunt planes collided during an air show at the U.S. Air Base in Ramstein, West Germany, sending flaming debris into a crowd of spectators.
1993
Two 223 die when a dam broke at Qinghai (Kokonor), in northwest China.
1996
Democrats nominated President Clinton for a second term at their national convention in Chicago.
1996
The 15-year marriage of Britain's Prince Charles and Princess Diana ended with the issuing of a divorce decree.
2003
A power blackout affected half-million people in southeast England and halted 60% of London's underground trains.
2005
Hurricane Katrina reached Category 5 strength; Louisiana Superdome opened as a refuge in New Orleans.
2012
US Republican convention nominated Mitt Romney as the party presidential candidate.
Notable Births
1749
German author Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was born in Frankfurt.
1774
Mother Elizabeth Ann Seton, the first American-born saint, was born in New York City.
1828
Leo Tolstoy, Russian novelist (War and Peace, Anna Karenina).
1882
Belle Benchley, the first female zoo director in the world, who directed the Zoological Gardens of San Diego.
1896
Liam O'Flaherty, Irish novelist and short-story writer.
1903
Bruno Bettelheim, Austrian psychologist, educator of autistic and emotionally disturbed children.
1908
Roger Tory Peterson, author of the innovative bird book A Field Guide to Birds.
1925
Donald O'Connor, entertainer (Singin' in the Rain, Anything Goes).
1939
Catherine "Cassie" Mackin, first woman to anchor an evening newscast alone on a regular basis (NBC's Sunday Night News); NBC's first woman floor reporter at a national political convention.
1943
Lou Pinelia, American League Rookie of the Year (1969); 14th-winningest manager of all time.
1948
Daniel Seraphine, drummer with the band Chicago.
1951
Wayne Osmond, singer, songwriter, TV actor (The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters).
1982
Leann Rimes, Grammy-winning singer ("Blue"), actress, (Northern Lights).
1986
Gilad Shalit, Israeli Defense Forces corporal kidnapped by Hamas and held for five years before being exchanged for 1,027 Palestinian prisoners.
1999
Prince Nikolai of Denmark.
Notable Deaths
1987
Movie director John Huston died in Middletown, R.I., at age 81.
2020
Chadwick Boseman, American actor, known for portraying African-American historical figures and the fictional African superhero Black Panther. (b. 1976)