TODAY IN HISTORY
TODAY IS SATURDAY, AUG. 10, the 222nd day of 2019. There are 143 days left in the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN HISTORY: On this date in 1993, Ruth Bader Ginsburg was sworn in as the second female justice on the U.S. Supreme Court.
In 1861, Confederate forces routed Union troops in the Battle of Wilson’s Creek in Missouri, the first major engagement of the Civil War west of the Mississippi River.
In 1921, Franklin D. Roosevelt was stricken with polio at his summer home on the Canadian island of Campobello.
In 1945, a day after the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Imperial Japan conveyed its willingness to surrender provided the status of Emperor Hirohito remained unchanged. The Allies responded the next day, saying they would determine the Emperor’s future status.
In 1969, Leno and Rosemary LaBianca were murdered in their Los Angeles home by members of Charles Manson’s cult, one day after actress Sharon Tate and four other people were slain.
In 1975, television personality David Frost announced he had purchased the exclusive rights to interview former President Richard Nixon.
In 1988, President Ronald Reagan signed a measure providing $20,000 payments to still-living Japanese Americans who were interned by their government during World War II.
In 1991, nine Buddhists were found slain at their temple outside Phoenix, Arizona. Two teenagers were later arrested; one was sentenced to life in prison, the other received 281 years.
In 1995, Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols were charged with 11 counts in the Oklahoma City bombing. McVeigh was convicted of murder and executed; Nichols was convicted of conspiracy and involuntary manslaughter, and sentenced to life in prison.
In 2004, a boat carrying Dominican migrants seeking a better life in Puerto Rico drifted back to almost the same spot where the voyage began nearly two weeks earlier; at least 55 of the 86 people on board had died.
In 2008, at the Beijing Olympics, Michael Phelps began his long march toward eight gold medals by winning the 400-meter individual medley in 4:03.84 — smashing his own world record.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Actress Rhonda Fleming is 96. Singer Ronnie Spector is 76. Actor James Reynolds is 73. Rock singer-musician Ian Anderson (Jethro Tull) is 72. Country musician Gene Johnson (Diamond Rio) is 70. Singer Patti Austin is 69. Folk singersongwriter Sam Baker is 65. Actress Rosanna Arquette is 60. Actor Antonio Banderas is 59. Singer Julia Fordham is 57. Journalist-blogger Andrew Sullivan and actor Chris Caldovino are 56. Singers Neneh Cherry and Aaron Hall are 55. Boxer Riddick Bowe, actor Sean Blakemore and rhythm-and-blues singer Lorraine Pearson (Five Star) are 52. Actor-writer Justin Theroux is 48. Actor-turned-lawyer Craig Kirkwood is 45. Actress JoAnna Garcia Swisher and singer Cary Ann Hearst (Shovels & Rope) are 40. Actor Ryan Eggold is 35. Actor Charley Koontz is 32. Actor Lucas Till is 29. Actor Jeremy Maguire is 8.