^{Klondike Gold Rush prospectors ascend the Chilkoot Pass, Canada, 1898 (Photo: George G. Cantwell)}

Today in History

• US President John Tyler* vetoes the establishment of the Second Bank of the United States, triggering a Whig Party riot that becomes the most violent demonstration on White House grounds in US history (1841)
• Gold is discovered in a tributary of the Klondike river in Canada, setting off the Klondike Gold Rush (1896)
• Baseball player Ray Chapman is hit on the head by a fastball and dies the next day, becoming the second player to die of injuries from a Major League Baseball game (1920)
• The Dole Air Race from California to Hawaii begins; six of the eight planes in the race crash or disappear (1927)
• Ub Iwerks’ cartoon Fiddlesticks, the first color sound cartoon, premiers (1930)
• The first issue of Sports Illustrated is published (1954)
• The Beatles fire Pete Best, replacing him with Ringo Starr two days later (1962)

*John Tyler is my 5th generation great uncle.

Birthdays

• Gabriel Lippmann, won the 1908 Nobel Prize for Physics (1845)
• Amos Alonzo Stagg, football and basketball coach (1862)
• Hugo Gernsback, founded the first science fiction magazine, Amazing Stories (1884)
• Lawrence of Arabia, military officer, diplomat, and archaeologist (1888)
• Hal Foster, cartoonist who created Prince Valiant (1892)
• Otto Messmer, co-creator of Felix the Cat (1892)
• Georgette Heyer, author of Regency romances (1902)
• Mae Clarke, actress known for having James Cagney smash a grapefruit into her face (1910)
• Menachem Begin, Israeli prime minister and Nobel laureate (1913)
• Charles Bukowski, poet and novelist (1920)
• Fess Parker, actor known for playing Davy Crockett and Daniel Boone (1924)
• Ann Blyth, actress (1928)
• Eydie Gormé, singer (1928)
• Robert Culp, actor (1930)
• Frank Gifford, football player and sportscaster (1930)
• Julie Newmar, actress and dancer (1933)
• Diana Wynne Jones, fantasy author (1934)
• Lesley Ann Warren, actress (1946)
• Kathie Lee Gifford, talk show host (1953)
• James Cameron, filmmaker (1954)
• Madonna, singer-songwriter and actress (1958)
• Angela Bassett, actress (1958)
• Timothy Hutton, actor (1960)
• Steve Carrell, actor (1962)

Deaths

• Andrew Marvell, poet (1678)
• Jacob Bernoulli, mathematician (1705)
• John Pemberton, inventor of Coca-Cola (1888)
• Robert Bunsen, chemist who invented the Bunsen burner (1899)
• Robert Johnson, blues musician (1938)
• Babe Ruth, baseball player (1848)
• Margaret Mitchell, wrote Gone With the Wind (1949)
• Bela Lugosi, actor (1956)
• William Halsey, Jr., admiral (1959)
• Elvis Presley, singer and actor (1977)
• Amanda Blake, actress (1989)
• Stewart Granger, actor (1993)
• Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Qawwali singer (1997)
• Abu Nidal, terrorist leader (2002)
• Jeff Corey, actor (2002)
• Idi Amin, Ugandan leader (2003)
• William Windom, actor (2012)
• John McLaughlin, television host (2016)

Holidays and Observances

• Bennington Battle Day (Vermont)
• Children’s Day (Paraguay)
• Gozan no Okuribi (Kyoto)
• National Airborne Day (US)
• Restoration Day (Dominican Republic)
• Xicolatada (Palau-de-Cerdagne, France)

August 16 is the 228th day of the year (229th in leap years). There are 137 days remaining until the end of the year.