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On This Day in History
August 10  1792 - King Louis XVI was taken into custody by mobs during the French Revolution. He was executed the following January after being put on trial for treason. 1821 - Missouri became the 24th state to join the Union. 1846 - The Smithsonian Institution was chartered by the U.S. Congress. The "Nation's Attic" was made possible by $500,000 given by scientist Joseph Smithson. 1856 - In Louisiana, a hurricane came ashore and killed about 400 people. 1881 - Thomas Edison's exhibit opened the Paris Electrical Exhibition. 1885 - The first electric streetcar, to be used commercially, was operated in Baltimore, MD, by Leo Daft.
1921 - Franklin D. Roosevelt was stricken with polio. 1927 - Mount Rushmore was formally dedicated. The individual faces of the presidents were dedicated later. 1944 - U.S. forces defeated the remaining Japanese resistance on Guam. 19427 - William Odom completed an around-the-world flight. He set the solo record by completing the flight in 73 hours and 5 minutes. 1949 - In the U.S., the National Military Establishment had its name changed to the Department of Defense 1954 - Construction began on the St. Lawrence Seaway.
1965 - In Austin, TX, a fire burned part of the 20th floor of the 27-story University of Texas main building. A collection that contained items once owned by escape artist Harry Houdini and circus magnate P. T. Barnum were damaged by smoke and water. 1969 - Leno and Rosemary LaBianca were murdered. Members of the Charles Manson cult committed the crimes one day after the killing of Sharon Tate and four other people.
1977 - The "Son of Sam," David Berkowitz, was arrested in Yonkers, NY. Berkowitz, a postal employee, had shot and killed six people and wounded seven others. 1981 - Pete Rose hit a single and broke the National League all-time hit record with his 3,630 hit. 1988 - U.S. President Reagan signed a measure that provided $20,000 payments to Japanese-Americans who were interned by the U.S. government during World War II.
1993 - A massive deficit-reduction bill was signed into law by U.S. President Bill Clinton. 1994 - U.S. President Clinton claimed presidential immunity when he asked a federal judge to dismiss, at least for the time being, a sexual harassment lawsuit filed by Paula Corbin Jones. 1995 - Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols were charged with 11 counts in the Oklahoma City bombing. 1995 - Michael Fortier plead guilty in a plea-bargain agreement. The agreement required that he testify for the prosecution in the Oklahoma City Federal building bombing trial. 1995 - Norma McCorvey, "Jane Roe" of the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion, announced that she had joined the anti-abortion group Operation Rescue.
2003 - Ekaterina Dmitriev and Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko were married. Malenchenko was about 240 miles above the earth in the international space station. It was the first-ever marriage from space. 2006 - In Great Britain, 24 people were arrested for their roles in a plot to blow up airliners traveling between Britain and the United States. In Pakistan, 7 people were arrested for their roles in the same plot.  |
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