Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/August 19
- 1848 - California Gold Rush: The New York Herald reported news to the East Coast of the United States that a gold rush was on in California.
- 1929 - The radio comedy show Amos & Andy made its debut.
- 1942 - Allied forces raided Dieppe, France in the Dieppe Raid.
- 1953 - CIA operatives and money helped overthrow the government of Mohammed Mossadegh in Iran and reinstated Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
- 1991 - Mikhail Gorbachev was announced as "ill and had been relieved of his state post as President" in a failed Soviet coup attempt.