Today In History

Today is Monday, Aug. 14, the 226th day of 2017. There are 139 days left in the year.

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT

› 1947: Pakistan became independent of British rule.

ON THIS DATE

› 1848: The Oregon Territory was created.

› 1900: International forces, including U.S. Marines, entered Beijing to put down the Boxer Rebellion, which was aimed at purging China of foreign influence.

› 1917: China declared war on Germany and Austria during World War I.

› 1935: President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act into law.

› 1945: President Harry S. Truman announced that Imperial Japan had surrendered unconditionally, ending World War II.

› 1951: Newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst, 88, died in Beverly Hills, California.

› 1967: Folk singer Joan Baez performed a free concert on the grounds of the Washington Monument a day after she’d been denied the use of Constitution Hall by the Daughters of the American Revolution because of her opposition to U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War.

› 1969: British troops went to Northern Ireland to intervene in sectarian violence between Protestants and Roman Catholics.

› 1973: U.S. bombing of Cambodia came to a halt.

› 1980: Workers went on strike at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdansk, Poland, in a job action that resulted in creation of the Solidarity labor movement. Actress-model Dorothy Stratten, 20, was shot to death by her estranged husband and manager, Paul Snider, who then killed himself.

› 1992: The White House announced that the Pentagon would begin emergency airlifts of food to Somalia to alleviate mass deaths by starvation. Federal judge John J. Sirica, who had presided over the Watergate trials, died in Washington at age 88.

› 1997: An unrepentant Timothy McVeigh was formally sentenced to death for the Oklahoma City bombing.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS

Broadway lyricist Lee Adams (“Bye Bye Birdie”) is 93. Pulitzer Prize-winning author Russell Baker is 92. College Football Hall of Famer John Brodie is 82. Singer Dash Crofts is 79. Rock singer David Crosby is 76. Country singer Connie Smith is 76. Comedian-actor Steve Martin is 72. Movie director Wim Wenders is 72. Actor Antonio Fargas is 71. Singer-musician Larry Graham is

71. Actress Susan Saint James is 71. Actor David Schramm is 71. Author Danielle Steel is 70. Rock singer-musician Terry Adams (NRBQ) is 69. “Far Side” cartoonist Gary Larson is 67. Actor Carl Lumbly is 66. Olympic gold medal swimmer Debbie Meyer is 65. Actress Jackee Harry is

61. Actress Marcia Gay Harden is 58. Basketball Hall of Famer Earvin “Magic” Johnson is 58. Singer Sarah Brightman is 57. Actress Susan Olsen is 56. Actress-turned-fashion/interior designer Cristi Conaway is 53. Rock musician Keith Howland (Chicago) is 53. Actress Halle Berry is

51. Actor Ben Bass is 49. Actress Catherine Bell is 49. Country musician Cody McCarver (Confederate Railroad) is 49. Rock musician Kevin Cadogan is 47. Actor Scott Michael Campbell is 46. Actress Lalanya Masters is 45. Actor Christopher Gorham is

43. Actress Mila Kunis is

34. Actor Lamorne Morris is 34. TV personality Spencer Pratt is 34. NFL quarterback-turned-baseball player Tim Tebow is 30.