Boris Yeltsin (right) with Mikhail Gorbachev after the failure of the
August 21, 1991 coup.

Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev returns to Moscow from the
Crimea on August 22, 1991 after a hardline coup failed.

It was on this day in 1940.

Nat Turner, a former slave, led a violent insurrection in Virginia on
this day in 1831. He was later executed.

Hawaii became the 50th state on this day in 1959. President Dwight
D. Eisenhower (second from left) also issued the order for the 50
star flag.

After signing Executive Order adding 50th star to US flag, for Hawaii, President Eisenhower (third from left) holds up the new flag.

Kenneth Ray Rogers is 80 years old today. He was born in Houston,
TX.

Country icon Kenny Rogers has sold more than 100 million albums over
the course of his career. His 1970s albums The Gambler and Kenny went
5x platinum and 3x platinum, respectively. In 2013, he was inducted into
the Country Music Hall of Fame.

CAMILLE BOHANNON

U.S. military forces attacked a terrorist camp in Afghanistan and a chemical plant in Sudan on this day in 1998. Both targets were
chosen for cruise missile strikes due to their connection with
Osama bin Laden.

In a speech to the nation, President Bill Clinton detailed strikes
against terrorist-related facilities in Sudan and Afghanistan.

On this day in 1968, the Soviet Union and other Warsaw Pact nations began invading Czechoslovakia to crush the "Prague Spring" liberalization.

Voyager 2 was launched by the United States on this day in 1977 and
aboard was a copper 12 inch phonograph record containing greetings
in dozens of languages, samples of music and sounds of nature.

A photo of the 12 inch copper record that was sent into
space on both Voyager 1 and Voyager 2.

Robert Anthony Plant is 70 years old today.

Iconic rock star Robert Plant gained fame as the vocalist and songwriter
of the classic rock band Led Zeppelin, known for such hits as "Stairway
to Heaven" and "When the Levee Breaks." He was named the #1 Lead
Singer of All Time by Rolling Stone Magazine in 2011. Plant was once 
training as a chartered accountant, but quit to become part of the
English Midlands blues scene. 

Aretha Louise Franklin (March 25, 1942 – August 16, 2018)

Aretha Franklin, the “Queen of Soul” has died after a battle with advanced
pancreatic cancer.

Flowers and tributes are placed on the star for Aretha Franklin on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. (AFP)

CAMILLE BOHANNON

Madonna Louise Ciccone is 60 years young today.

Pop icon and diva Madonna was one of the most prominent faces in
music during the 1980’s. She has sold over 300 million albums across
the world. Her best known songs include "Like A Virgin," "Papa Don’t
Preach," and "4 Minutes."  

She grew up in an Italian-American household and was a straight A
student, as well as a cheerleader, in high school. After earning a degree
from the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance, she
moved to New York City to pursue dance.

SANDY KOZEL

On this day in 1945, the U.S. B-29 bomber, known as the Enola Gay, dropped the first atomic bomb on an inhabited area. The bomb
named "Little Boy"(pictured below) was dropped over the center
of Hiroshima, Japan. An estimated 140,000 people were killed.

The above August 6, 1945 file photos shows the destruction from the atomic bomb explosion on Hiroshima, Japan.

The Voting Rights Act was signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson 
on this day in 1965.

President Lyndon B. Johnson and Martin Luther King Jr. at the
Capitol after the signing of the Voting Rights Act.

Pope Paul VI (Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini)

Pope Paul VI reigned from 21 June 1963 to his death in 1978 at age 80.

Sir Alexander Fleming  (6 August 1881 – 11 March 1955) He died
in London of a heart attack.

Fleming was a Scottish physician, microbiologist, and pharmacologist. His
best-known discoveries are the enzyme lysozyme in 1923 and the world’s
first antibiotic substance benzylpenicillin (Penicillin G) from the mold
Penicillium notatum in 1928, for which he shared the Nobel Prize in
Physiology or Medicine in 1945 with Howard Florey and Ernst Boris
Chain. Modern antibiotics are tested using a method similar to Fleming’s
discovery.