On this day, Aug. 14

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

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. 1957 The National Steel Corp. elected George M. Humphrey, former Secretary of the Treasury, as its chairman of the board. 1997 An unrepentant Timothy McVeigh was formally sentenced to death for the Oklahoma City bombing.

2003 A huge blackout hit the northeastern United States and part of Canada; 50 million people lost power

2009 Hindered by internet fraud, Dwelling House Savings & Loan Association, a 119- year- old institution in the Hill District, was seized by federal regulators and handed over to PNC Bank.

2018 A state grand jury report concluded that some 300 Roman Catholic priests in Pennsylvania had molested more than 1,000 children since the 1940s and that church officials had covered up complaints. Some items are from Stefan Lorant’s “Pittsburgh: The Story of an American City” ( digital. library. pitt. edu/ chronology). — Compiled by Alyssa Brown

Today’s birthdays: Broadway lyricist Lee Adams (“Bye Bye Birdie”) is 95. Rock singer David Crosby, 78. Country singer Connie Smith, 78. Comedian- actor Steve Martin, 74. Actress Susan Saint James, 73. Actress Marcia Gay Harden, 60. Basketball Hall of Famer Earvin “Magic” Johnson, 60. Singer Sarah Brightman, 59. Actress Halle Berry, 53. Actress Mila Kunis, 36.

Thought for today: “There is no safety in numbers, or in anything else.”

-- James Thurber, American author and cartoonist ( 1894- 1961)