Updated August 27, 2014, 5:33 am
On Aug. 27, 1962, the United States launched the Mariner 2 space probe, which flew past Venus the following December.
On Aug. 27, 1908, Lyndon B. Johnson, the 36th president of the United States, was born. Following his death on Jan. 22, 1973, his obituary appeared in The Times.
Go to article » | Other birthdays »
On This Date
| 1770 | German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel was born in Stuttgart. |
|---|---|
| 1859 | Edwin L. Drake drilled the first successful U.S. oil well near Titusville, Pa. |
| 1883 | The island volcano Krakatoa erupted and the resulting tidal waves claimed some 36,000 lives on the Indonesian islands of Java and Sumatra. |
| 1928 | The Kellogg-Briand Pact was signed in Paris, outlawing war and providing for the peaceful settlement of disputes. |
| 1945 | American troops began landing in Japan following the surrender of the Japanese government in World War II. |
| 1962 | The United States launched the Mariner 2 space probe, which flew past Venus the following December. |
| 1967 | The Beatles' manager, Brian Epstein, was found dead from an overdose of sleeping pills. |
| 1975 | Haile Selassie, the last emperor of Ethiopia's 3,000-year-old monarchy, died in Addis Ababa almost a year after being overthrown. |
| 1979 | British war hero Lord Louis Mountbatten was killed off the coast of Ireland in a boat explosion; the Irish Republican Army claimed responsibility. |
| 2007 | Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick pleaded guilty in Richmond, Va., to a federal dogfighting charge. |
| 2008 | Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois was nominated for president by the Democratic National Convention in Denver. |
Historic Birthdays
Lyndon B. Johnson
8/27/1908 - 1/22/1973
36th president of the United States.Go to article »
| 73 |
Sophia Smith 8/27/1796 - 6/12/1870 American philanthropist; founded Smith College |
|---|---|
| 81 |
Hannibal Hamlin 8/27/1809 - 7/4/1891 American vice-president (1861-5) |
| 85 |
Charles Dawes 8/27/1865 - 4/23/1951 American vice-president (1925-9) and diplomat; awarded Nobel Peace Prize (1925) |
| 74 |
Theodore Dreiser 8/27/1871 - 12/28/1945 American novelist |
| 65 |
Carl Bosch 8/27/1874 - 4/26/1940 German Nobel Prize-winning industrial chemist (1931) |
| 86 |
Man Ray 8/27/1890 - 11/18/1976 American photographer, painter and filmmaker |
| 66 |
C. S. Forester 8/27/1899 - 4/2/1966 English novelist and journalist |
| 64 |
Frank Leahy 8/27/1908 - 6/21/1973 American Notre Dame football coach (1941-53) |
Correction:
The version of the article linked above about President Johnson's death refers incorrectly to Southwest Texas State University. President Johnson went to college there, not Mrs. Johnson. (She graduated from the University of Texas at Austin.)