1908“In your life, we have the opportunity to move not only towards the rich society and powerful society, but upward to the great society.” Lyndon Johnson, the first American President from the south to be elected since the Civil War, is born near Stonewall Texas. Johnson’s legacy includes landmark Civil Rights Laws, Medicare and Medicaid, Antipoverty Programs and tragic escalation of the Vietnam War.

1910Mother Teresa, the missionary who earned a Nobel Peace Prize for her work on behalf of the poor, is born in present-day Macedonia.

1859Colonel Edwin Drake drills the first successful oil well in the United States near Titusville, Pennsylvania.

1979Britain’s Lord Louis Mountbatten is killed when his boat explodes off the coast of Ireland. The Irish Republican Army claims responsibility for the blast.

And 1967“I read the news today oh boy.”

Brian Epstein, manager of the Beatles, is found dead at his London flat after an overdose of sleeping pills. Epstein who help guide the Fab Four to Rock and Roll stardom was 32 years old.

Today is History, August 27th, Ed Donahue, the Associated Press.