Sunday · September 27, 2026
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American history, reported as it happened
Made for the 250th
19771776 Club

Elvis Presley is found dead at Graceland, hours before a tour was set to resume

His fiancée found him in a bathroom off his bedroom; he was pronounced dead at Baptist Memorial Hospital that afternoon.

Elvis Presley was due to fly from Memphis to Portland, Maine, on August 17, 1977, to open a new concert tour. He never made the flight. On August 16, his fiancée Ginger Alden found him unresponsive in a bathroom at Graceland; he was pronounced dead at Baptist Memorial Hospital at 3:30 p.m. at age 42. Memphis coroner Dr. Jerry Francisco announced cardiac arrhythmia as the cause; fourteen drugs, including codeine in significant quantities, were later found in his system…

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More from August 16
1780

Militia flee in the dark; Cornwallis shatters Gates's army near Camden

De Kalb falls with eleven wounds while Gates rides sixty miles to safety by nightfall.
1927

Eight planes race for Honolulu; the fog barely lifts in time

Two aircraft crash before clearing Oakland's runway, and two more vanish over open water before the day is done.
1916

In Washington, the U.S. and Britain sign a treaty to save the birds crossing their shared border

Great Britain signs for Canada, binding two nations to one set of hunting rules for birds that recognize neither.
18121776 Club
Some 2,200 American troops lay down arms to a British force half their size.
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More from Cold War America
1984

A van bomb tears into the US embassy annex at Aukar, killing 23

Guards' gunfire kept the van from reaching the building; it still detonated close enough to rip off the front wall.
1979

A US spy satellite catches a double flash near Antarctica; no one will say what caused it

Vela 6911's sensors record the exact signature built to catch an atmospheric nuclear blast.
1952

Nixon goes on television and refuses to give up the dog

Facing calls to quit the ticket, the senator lays open his bank accounts and says he is keeping Checkers no matter what.
1957

Eisenhower orders troops into Little Rock to open Central High's doors

The same Arkansas Guard Governor Faubus used to bar nine Black students is now ordered to protect them.
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