On this day
Revisit the music, news, notable people, and historical moments connected to this date.
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A program offering up to $1,000 for scoring well on Advanced Placement exams yielded relatively flat results, adding fuel to the debate over how to motivate students.
With the housing market in the doldrums and inflation running at a pace unseen in nearly two decades, consumers are not buying new homes. Instead they are focusing on repairs.
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg is seeking to put wind turbines on New York City’s bridges and skyscrapers and in its waters as part of a push to develop renewable energy.
Barack Obama has started a hard-hitting ad campaign against John McCain in vital states, painting Mr. McCain as disconnected from middle-class struggles.
Shares of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac declined almost 25 percent on concerns that the companies will need a bailout from the federal government.
Music on My Birthday
The Top 50 albums for the chart week of August 20, 2008, covering August 20, 2008.
Soundtrack
Miley Cyrus
Sugarland
Kid Rock
Lil Wayne
2008Ed Freeman, American soldier and pilot, Medal of Honor recipient (born 1927)[†]
Ed W. "Too Tall" Freeman was a United States Army helicopter pilot who received the United States military's highest decoration, the Medal of Honor, for his actions in the Battle of Ia Drang during the Vietnam War. During the battle, he flew through machine gunfire 14 times, bringing supplies to a trapped American battalion and flying dozens of wounded soldiers to safety. Freeman was a wingman for Major Bruce Crandall who also received the Medal of Honor for the same missions.
2008Hua Guofeng, Chinese politician, 2nd Premier of the People's Republic of China (born 1921)[†]
Hua Guofeng was a Chinese politician who served as chairman of the Chinese Communist Party and the 2nd premier of China. The designated successor of Mao Zedong, Hua held the top offices of the government, party, and the military after the deaths of Mao and Premier Zhou Enlai, but was gradually forced out of supreme power by a coalition of party leaders between December 1978 and June 1981, and subsequently retreated from the political limelight, though still remaining a member of the Central Committee until 2002.
2008Stephanie Tubbs Jones, American lawyer and politician (born 1949)[†]
Stephanie Tubbs Jones was an American politician who served as the U.S. representative for Ohio's 11th congressional district from 1999 until her death in 2008. A member of the Democratic Party, her district encompassed most of Downtown and Eastern Cleveland and many of the eastern suburbs in Cuyahoga County, including Euclid, Cleveland Heights and Shaker Heights. She was the first African American woman to be elected to Congress from Ohio.
2008Gene Upshaw, American football player (born 1945)[†]
Eugene Thurman Upshaw Jr. was an American professional football guard who played for the Oakland Raiders of the American Football League (AFL) and later the National Football League (NFL). He later served as the executive director of the National Football League Players Association (NFLPA). Upshaw was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1987 and is also the only player in NFL history to reach the Super Bowl with the same team in three different decades.
2008Spanair Flight 5022, from Madrid, Spain to Gran Canaria, skids off the runway and crashes at Barajas Airport. Of the 172 people on board, 146 die immediately, and eight more later die of injuries sustained in the crash.[†]
Spanair Flight 5022 (JK5022/JKK5022) was a scheduled domestic passenger flight from Barcelona–El Prat Airport to Gran Canaria Airport, Spain, with a stopover in Madrid–Barajas Airport that crashed just after take-off from runway 36L at Madrid-Barajas Airport at 14:24 CEST (12:24 UTC) on 20 August 2008. The aircraft was a McDonnell Douglas MD-82, registration EC-HFP. Of the 172 passengers and crew on board, 154 died and 18 survived.
In 2008, the world population was approximately 6,844,457,662 people[†]