| Events, popular culture, and strange information that happened throughout history on August 20 |
| 1794 | Gen Mad Anthony Wayne routes Indians at Fallen Timbers, Ohio |
| 1852 | Steamer "Atlantic" collided with fishing boat, sinks with 250 aboard |
| 1865 | Pres Johnson proclaims an end to "insurrection" in Tx |
| 1866 | Pres Andrew Johnson formally declares Civil War over |
| 1895 | Start of Sherlock Holmes "Adventure of Norwood Builder" (BG) |
| 1896 | Dial telephone patented |
| 1908 | Congo Free State becomes the Belgian Congo |
| 1912 | Plant Quarantine Act goes into effect |
| 1912 | Wash Senator Carl Cushion no-hits Cleve Indians, 2-0 in 6 innings |
| 1913 | 1st pilot to parachute from an aircraft (Adolphe P‚goud-France) |
| 1914 | German forces occupy Brussels, Belgium during WW I |
| 1918 | Britain opens offensive on Western front during WW I |
| 1920 | 1st US coml radio, 8MK (WWJ), Detroit began daily broadcasting |
| 1920 | Allen Woodring wins Oympic 200 m dash wearing borrowed shoes |
| 1920 | Preliminary meeting in Akron to form American Pro Football League |
| 1925 | WJR-AM in Detroit MI begins radio transmissions |
| 1929 | 1st airship flight around the Earth flying eastward completed |
| 1930 | Dumont's 1st TV broadcast for home reception (NYC) |
| 1939 | 1st black bowling league formed (National Bowling Assoc) |
| 1940 | British PM Churchill says of the Royal Air Force, "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few" |
| 1940 | Leon Trotsky, assassinated in Mexico City by Stalin agents, dies 8/21 |
| 1942 | Dim-out regulations implemented in SF |
| 1944 | "Anna Lucasta," opens on Broadway |
| 1945 | Tommy Brown, Bkln Dodger becomes youngest HR hitter (17) |
| 1947 | Turner Caldwell in D-558-I sets aircraft speed record, 1131 kph |
| 1948 | US expels Soviet Consul General in New York, Jacob Lomakin |
| 1949 | 78,382 watch the White Sox play the Indians at Cleveland |
| 1949 | Hungary (Magyar People's Republic) accepts constitution |
| 1953 | Russia publicly acknowledges hydrogen bomb test detonation |
| 1955 | 1st airplane to exceed 1800 mph (2897 kph)-HA Hanes, Palmdale Ca |
| 1955 | Hundreds killed in anti-French rioting in Morocco & Algeria |
| 1956 | Republicans convene at Cow Palace |
| 1957 | Chic White Sox Bob Keegan no-hits Wash Senators, 6-0 |
| 1957 | USAF ballon breaks an altitude record at 102,000' (310,896 m) |
| 1957 | White Sox Bob Keegan no-hits Senators 6-0 |
| 1958 | Dale Long becomes 1st major league lefty catcher in 52 years |
| 1958 | Detroit Tiger Jim Bunning no-hits Boston Red Sox, 3-0 |
| 1960 | Senegal breaks from the Mali federation; declaring independence |
| 1960 | USSR recovers 2 dogs; 1st living organisms to return from space |
| 1961 | Phillies set then dubious record of 23 straight losses |
| 1964 | President Johnson signs Economic Opportunity Act (totaling nearly $1 billion) |
| 1965 | Rolling Stones release "Satisfaction" (their 1st #1 US hit) |
| 1968 | 650,000 Warsaw Pact troops invade Czechoslovakia |
| 1971 | FBI begins covert investigation of journalist Daniel Schorr |
| 1974 | Nolan Ryan pitch measured at record 161.6 kph (100.4 mph) |
| 1975 | Il-62 crashes south of Damascus, Syria, killing 126 |
| 1975 | Viking 1 launched toward orbit around Mars, soft landing |
| 1977 | NASA launches Voyager 2 towards Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus & Neptune |
| 1978 | Gunmen open fire on an Israeli El Al Airline bus in London |
| 1978 | Mark Vinchesi of Amherst Mass keeps a frisbee aloft 15.2 seconds |
| 1979 | Singer Vikki Carr & Michael Nilsson wed |
| 1980 | NY Yankee Bob Watson hits Seattle Kingdome speaker, 2nd straight day |
| 1980 | Reinhold Messner of Italy is 1st to solo ascent Mt Everest |
| 1980 | UN Security Council condemns (14-0, US abstains) Israeli declaration that all of Jersualem is its capital |
| 1982 | Don Lever becomes the 1st captain of the NJ Devils |
| 1985 | 1st NL pitcher to strike out 200+ in 1st 2 seasons (Dwight Goodin) |
| 1985 | Israel ships 96 TOWs to Iran on behalf of the US |
| 1985 | Hanspeter Beck of South Australia, finishes a 3,875 mile, 51 day trip from Western Australia to Melbourne on a unicycle |
| 1986 | Mail carrier Patrick Sherrill, Edmond Ok, shot 14 fellow workers dead |
| 1986 | Phils Don Carmen perfect game bid is broken in the 9th |
| 1988 | Yordanka Donkova of Bulgaria sets 100m hurdle woman's record (12.21) |
| 1990 | George Steinbrenner steps down as NY Yankee owner |
| 1990 | Iraq moves Western hostages to military installations (human shields) |
| 1990 | NY Yankee Kevin Mass is quickest to reach 15 HRs (approx 132 at bat) |