August 30th in History

“The Loyalty of Torii Suneemon,” an ukiyo-e of the campaigns of Tokugawa Ieyasu

Today in History

  • Tokugawa Ieyasu enters Edo Castle, beginning the Tokugawa Shogunate (1590)
  • The Burgess Shale fossils are discovered (1909)
  • General Douglas MacArthur lands in Japan following the Japanese surrender (1945)
  • The Moscow-Washington hotline becomes active (1963)
  • Thurgood Marshall becomes the first African-American Supreme Court Justice (1967)

Birthdays

  • Samuel Whitbread, brewer (1720)
  • Mary Shelley, author of Frankenstein (1797)
  • Ernest Rutherford, physicist (1871)
  • Huey Long, Louisiana governor (1893)
  • Raymond Massey, actor (1896)
  • Shirley Booth, actress (1898)
  • Joan Blondell, actress (1906)
  • Fred MacMurray, actress (1908)
  • Ted Williams, baseball player (1918)
  • Kitty Wells, singer-songwriter (1919)
  • Laurent de Brunhoff, creator of Babar the Elephant (1925)
  • Bill Daily, actor (1927)
  • Johnny Mann, singer-songwriter (1928)
  • Warren Buffett, investor (1930)
  • Jack Swigert, astronaut (1931)
  • John Phillips, member of the Mamas and the Papas (1935)
  • Elizabeth Ashley, actress (1939)
  • Robert Crumb, comics artist (1943)
  • Jean-Claude Killy, skier (1943)
  • Molly Ivins, columnist (1944)
  • Tug McGraw, baseball player (1944)
  • Peggy Lipton, actress (1946)
  • Lewis Black, comedian (1948)
  • Timothy Bottoms, actor (1951)
  • Michael Chiklis, actor (1963)
  • Cameron Diaz, actress (1972)
  • Shaun Alexander, football player (1977)

Deaths

  • Max Factor, Sr., make-up artist (1938)
  • Charles Coburn, actor (1961)
  • Guy Burgess, spy (1963)
  • Jean Seberg, actress (1979)
  • Vera-Ellen, actress and dancer (1981)
  • Taylor Caldwell, author (1985)
  • Charles Bronson, actor (2003)
  • Fred Whipple, astronomer (2004)
  • Glenn Ford, actor (2006)
  • Killer Kowalski, wrestler (2008)
  • Wes Craven, filmmaker (2015)
  • Oliver Sacks, neurologist and author (2015)

Holidays and Observances

  • Constitution Day (Kazakhstan)
  • Constitution Day (Turks and Caicos)
  • Independence Day (Tartarstan, not formally recognized)
  • International Cabernet Sauvignon Day
  • International Whale Shark Day
  • International Day of the Disappeared
  • Popular Constitution Day (East Timor)
  • Saint Rose of Lima’s Day (Peru)
  • Victory Day(Turky)

August 30 is the 242nd day of the year (243rd in leap years). There are 123 days remaining until the end of the year.