TODAY IN HISTORY
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT
On August 10, 1792, during the French Revolution, mobs in Paris attacked the Tuileries (TWEE’-luh-reez) Palace, where King Louis XVI resided. (The king was later arrested, put on trial for treason, and executed.)
ON THIS DATE
In 1821, Missouri became the 24th state.
In 1846, President James K. Polk signed a measure establishing the Smithsonian Institution.
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 1949, the National Military Establishment was renamed the Department of Defense.
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 1977, postal employee David Berkowitz was arrested in Yonkers, New York, accused of being “Son of Sam,” the gunman who killed six people and wounded seven others in the New York City area. (Berkowitz is serving six consecutive 25-years-to-life sentences.)
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 teen-agers were later arrested; one was sentenced to life in prison, while the other received 281 years.)
In 1993, Ruth Bader Ginsburg was sworn in as the second female justice on the U.S. Supreme Court.
TEN YEARS AGO: 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. The U.S. women’s 400-meter freestyle relay team, anchored by 41-yearold Dara Torres, took the silver behind the Netherlands. Stephanie Rice of Australia won the gold in the women’s 400-meter individual medley in a world record time of 4:29.45. Padraig Harrington rallied from three shots behind to win the PGA Championship in Bloomfield Township, Mich. Soul crooner Isaac Hayes, 65, died in Memphis, Tenn.
FIVE YEARS AGO: In an address at the Disabled American Veterans’ convention in Orlando, Florida, President Barack Obama assured disabled veterans that his administration was making progress on reducing a backlog of disability claims. A harrowing weeklong search for a missing California teenager ended when FBI agents rescued 16-year-old Hannah Anderson and shot and killed 40-year-old James Lee DiMaggio at a campsite deep in the Idaho wilderness. (Authorities say in addition to kidnapping Hannah, DiMaggio killed her brother and mother at his home east of San Diego.) Singer Edyie Gorme, 84, died in Las Vegas.