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Aug. 19 (UPI) — On this date in history:

In 1812, the U.S. Navy frigate Constitution defeated the British ship Guerriere in a furious engagement off the coast of Nova Scotia and earned its nickname of “Old Ironsides.” Witnesses said British shots seemed to bounce off the Constitution.

In 1953, the Iranian military overthrew the government led by Premier Mohammed Mossadegh and reinstated the shah.

In 1960, U-2 spy plane pilot Francis Gary Powers was convicted in a Moscow court and sentenced to 10 years in prison. He was released 18 months later in exchange for Soviet spy Rudolf Abel.

In 1977, Julius “Groucho” Marx, leader of the Marx Brothers comedy troupe, died at the age of 87.

In 1987, gun enthusiast Michael Ryan went on a shooting rampage in Hungerford, England, killing 16 people.

In 1991, a coup orchestrated by hard-line Communists and led by Vice President Gennady Yanayev removed Mikhail Gorbachev as president of the Soviet Union. The coup would endure for three days before being put down. The action led to the dissolution of the Soviet Union which would formally occur on December 26, 1991.

In 1992, delegates to the Republican National Convention nominated President George H.W. Bush and Vice President Dan Quayle for re-election. They were defeated in November by Democrats Bill Clinton and Al Gore.

UPI File Photo

In 1995, three U.S. negotiators, including Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Robert Frasure, were killed when their vehicle plunged from a mountain road near Sarajevo in Bosnia and Herzegovina

In 1996, the Green Party nominated Ralph Nader as its presidential candidate.

In 2003, Sergio Vieira de Mello, the United Nations’ representative to Iraq, was killed in a car-bomb attack on U.N. headquarters in Iraq.

In 2008, the resignation of Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf was followed by insurgent bombing attacks that killed roughly 100 people.

File PhotoRoger L. Wollenberg/UPI

In 2009, two massive bomb attacks killed at least 95 people and injured more than 600 others in Baghdad. It was said to be the worst attack in the region since the U.S. military gave control of the country’s security back to the Iraqi government.

In 2013, an express train killed at least 37 people and injured many others crossing tracks at a remote transit station in the eastern India state of Bihar. After the accident, an angry mob severely beat the operator of the train, authorities said.

In 2015, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the so-called “female Viagra,” called Addyi to treat sexual disorder in premenopausal women.

In 2020, Apple became the first U.S. company — and second in the world — to reach a market cap of $2 trillion, doubling its valuation over the previous two years.

In 2024, six people died, including British tech billionaire Mike Lynch, died after the super yacht they were on sank while sailing in severe weather off the coast of Sicily.