Event:
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder flies to Ferguson, MO to inform residents that the shooting death of teenager Michael Brown will be investigated by the federal government; a separate county-appointed grand jury has already begun reviewing the case
More Notable Events on August 20:
1982 U.S. Marines land in Beirut, Lebanon
1980 Mount Everest climbed by Italian Reinhold Messner, alone
1977 NASA launches Voyager 2 towards Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune
1929 1st airship flight around Earth flying eastward completed
1741 Alaska discovered by Danish explorer Vitus Bering
