On August 20, 1776, a committee that included Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and Benjamin Franklin submitted their recommendations to Congress on a Seal of The United States.

Each man entered his own design in the submission, but it also included a design (shown) by a man named Pierre Eugene du Simitiere.
It was Pierre’s design that had the motto “E pluribus unum” which is featured with the eagle on today’s Great Seal of The United States.

Image via Wikimedia Commons, public domain

Lou Gehrig swinging his bat

On August 20, 1938, Lou Gehrig hit his 23rd Grand Slam.

He would play his final major league game the following April.

Image via Alamy

Scoreboard of Japanese planes and ships sunk is being painted on the “Quarterdeck” bulkhead of The U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CV-6) on
August 20, 1944.

via Wikimedia Commons, public domain

On August 20, 1866, President Andrew Johnson issues proclamation 157 which announced that the Civil War has come to an end…

“And I do Further Proclaim, that the said insurrection is at an end, and that peace, order, and tranquility, and civil authority now exist in and throughout the whole United States of America.

In Testimony Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

⁠Done at the city of Washington this twentieth day of August, in the year of our Lord, one thousand, eight hundred and sixty-six, and of the Independence of the United States of America the ninety-first.”

Image via Wikimedia Commons, public domain

On August 20, 1804, Sergeant Charles Floyd died, the only person to die on the Lewis and Clark expedition.

Though he briefly rallied from what he described as a lingering illness, he ultimately succumbed—likely to a ruptured appendix—with remarkable composure, requested one last letter to William Clark, and was laid to rest atop the Missouri River bluff that now bears his name.

Erosion had taken away his original grave by 1857, but local citizens recovered the bones and reburied them nearby. Renewed interest in the midway point of the Lewis and Clark expedition resulted from the publication of Sergeant Floyd’s journal in 1894, and he was re-buried – again on the anniversary of his death, August 20th – in 1895.

By 1901, a 100-foot white-sandstone obelisk was erected above his remains, while in 1960 the monument became the first-ever National Historic Landmark designated by the Department of the Interior.

Image from John David Bert • CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Civil War Veteran and 23rd President of The United States Benjamin Harrison was born on August 20, 1833 in North Bend, Ohio.

Quote from Harrison’s Inaugural Address in 1889: “God has placed upon our head a diadem and has laid at our feet power and wealth beyond definition or calculation. But we must not forget that we take these gifts upon the condition that justice and mercy shall hold the reins of power and that the upward avenues of hope shall be free to all the people.”

Image: Rare view of General Benjamin Harrison in uniform, 1865 via Wikimedia Commons, public domain

The Battle of Fallen Timbers, Ohio was fought on August 20, 1794 between Native American warriors of the Western Confederacy and troops of the US Army’s Legion led by General “Mad Anthony” Wayne.

Image via Wikipedia Commons, public domain in the US

Born August 20, 1910 in Finland architect and industrial designer Eero Saarinen became a naturalized citizen of the US in 1940. Saarinen designed some of our nation’s 20th century landmarks – The St. Louis Gateway Arch, Dulles and part of New York’s JFK Airports, and the General Motors Technical Center in Warren, Michigan.

Image by B. Korab, LOC via Wikimedia Commons, no known copyright.

August 20, 1920 was an important day in the history of radio in the US as the “Detroit News Radiophone” began broadcasting with call sign 8MK. Changed to WWJ in 1922, the station has been in continuous operation for 104 years.

Image via Wikimedia Commons, public domain in the US

“Paul Revere house – lived here 1777-1800”
Boston, Massachusetts

Image created or published on August 20, 1931
via Library of Congress, no known restrictions

Tennis Hall of Fame member and first cousin of FDR, Ellen Crosby Roosevelt was born on August 20, 1868 in Rosedale, New York.

In 1890 she won the singles title at the U.S. National Championship (Now called the U.S. Open) and the doubles title with her sister Grace during the same tournament.

Image of Ellen Roosevelt c. 1890s via Wikimedia Commons, public domain

Happy Birthday to TV news anchor and journalist Connie Chung who was born on August 20, 1946 in Washington, D.C.

Image of Connie from 1964 via Wikimedia Commons, public domain

After touring many of the most impoverished areas of the U.S. that he began five months earlier to support his War on Poverty, LBJ signed the Economic Opportunity Act on August 20, 1964.

The purpose of the act was to eliminate poverty, expand educational opportunities, increase the net gain for the poor and the unemployed, and offer health and financial assistance to the elderly.

Image: President Lyndon B. Johnson signing the Poverty Bill (also known as the Economic Opportunity Act) in the Rose Garden, White House, while press and supporters of the bill look on
August 20, 1964 via Wikimedia Commons, public domain

On August 20, 1913, Roger Wolcott Sperry was born in Hartford, Connecticut.

In 1981 he was the co-recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his research on split-brain.

Split-brain occurs when the connecting center tissue (corpus callosum) is severed from the two halves of the brain.

Image via Wikimedia Commons, public domain

Slow Train Coming, which was released on August 20, 1979, was Bob Dylan’s first album since becoming a Christian.

The album contained overtly religious lyrics, ushering in a new era in Dylan’s career and moving away from his earlier secular and countercultural themes, and it was gospel music based on an arrangement.

The first single, “Gotta Serve Somebody,” won Dylan a Grammy award and created discussion among Dylan’s fans and critics about whether Dylan should have moved to a more avant-garde musical arrangement.

Nonetheless, Slow Train Coming marked a new phase in Bob Dylan’s art as an artist and as a Christian, or spiritual journey.

Image: Dylan in 1980 by Jean-Luc Ourlin via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0