On This Day for August 19 - Attempted coup against Gorbachev, Bill Clinton is featured, and more

This message contains graphics. If you do not see the graphics, click here to view. August 19 FEATURED BIOGRAPHY Bill Clinton READ MORE   FEATURED EVENT 1991 Attempted coup against Gorbachev READ MORE   Advertisement Advertisement   MORE EVENTS ON THIS DAY 2004: The search engine company Google Inc. raised $1.66 billion in its initial public offering; in an unusual move, the shares were sold in a public auction intended to put the average investor on an equal footing with financial industry professionals. [Test your knowledge of tech companies.] 1994: American theoretical physical chemist Linus Pauling—the only person to have won two unshared Nobel Prizes (Chemistry, 1954; Peace, 1962)—died at age 93. [Take our Nobel Prize quiz.] 1960: American pilot Francis Gary Powers was sentenced to 10 years' confinement by the Soviet Union for espionage following the U-2 Affair , but he was later released (1962) in exchange for the Soviet spy Rudolf Abel. [Read about 10 famous names in the espionage game.] 1945: A commando force formed by Vo Nguyen Giap, under Vietnamese nationalist leader Ho Chi Minh, entered the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi . 1936: Soviet officials began the Great Purge of prominent Old Bolsheviks—real or potential political rivals and critics of Joseph Stalin—as the first show trial opened, resulting in the execution of Lev Kamenev and others. [Test your knowledge of Russian history.] 1934: Some 90 percent of German voters approved a referendum that made Adolf Hitler "Führer und Reichskanzler" ("leader and chancellor"). [Nine things you may not know about Adolf Hitler.] SEE ALL EVENTS ON THIS DAY ALSO BORN ON THIS DAY 1946 Bill Clinton president of United States 1883 Coco Chanel French designer 1921 Gene Roddenberry American writer and producer 1942 Fred Thompson American politician and actor 1973 Crown Princess Mette-Marit Norwegian princess 1906 Philo Farnsworth American inventor SEE ALL BIOS ON THIS DAY   Advertisement   FOLLOW: To unsubscribe from Britannica e-mails, click here. Encyclopædia Britannica 325 N. LaSalle Street, Suite 200 Chicago, Illinois 60654 United States © 2020 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. Privacy Policy • Help