Today in History
Today is Monday, Aug. 14, the 226th day of 2017. There are 139 days left in the year.
Today's Highlight in History:
On August 14, 1947, Pakistan became independent of British rule.
On this date:
In 1848, the Oregon Territory was created.
In 1900, international forces, including U.S. Marines, entered Beijing to put down the Boxer Rebellion, which was aimed at purging China of foreign influence.
In 1917, China declared war on Germany and Austria during World War I.
In 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act into law.
In 1945, President Harry S. Truman announced that Imperial Japan had surrendered unconditionally, ending World War II.
In 1951, newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst, 88, died in Beverly Hills, California.
In 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.
In 1969, British troops went to Northern Ireland to intervene in sectarian violence between Protestants and Roman Catholics.
In 1973, U.S. bombing of Cambodia came to a halt.
In 1980, workers went on strike at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdansk (guh-DANSK'), 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.
In 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.
In 1997, an unrepentant Timothy McVeigh was formally sentenced to death for the Oklahoma City bombing.
Ten years ago: Teacherastronaut Barbara Morgan transformed the space shuttle Endeavour and space station into a classroom for her first educational session from orbit, fulfilling the legacy of Christa McAuliffe, who died in the Challenger disaster in 1986.
Five years ago: Vice President Joe Biden sparked a campaign commotion, telling an audience in southern Virginia that included hundreds of black voters that Republican Mitt Romney wanted to put them "back in chains" by deregulating Wall Street. (Biden later mocked Republican criticism over the remark while conceding he'd meant to use different words.) Ron Palillo, the actor best known as the nerdy high school student Arnold Horshack on the 1970s sitcom "Welcome Back, Kotter," died in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, at age 63.
One year ago: At the Rio Olympics, U.S. swimmer Ryan Lochte and three teammates reported being robbed at gunpoint; police later said the men were not robbed, and instead vandalized a gas station bathroom. (Lochte was charged with filing a false robbery report, but a Brazilian court dismissed the case.) Usain Bolt of Jamaica became the first person to win three straight Olympic 100-meter titles, blowing down the straightaway in 9.81 seconds. Actor Fyvush Finkel, 93, died in New York City.