Highlights in history

• 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 1944, during World War II, American forces overcame remaining Japanese resistance on Guam.

• 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 1962, Marvel Comics superhero Spider-man made his debut in issue 15 of “Amazing Fantasy” (cover price: 12 cents).

• In 1969, Leno and Rosemary Labianca were murdered in their Los Angeles home by members of Charles Manson’s cult, one day after actor Sharon Tate and four other people were slain.

• 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 1993, Ruth Bader Ginsburg was sworn in as the second female justice on the U.S. Supreme Court.

• In 2006, British authorities announced they had thwarted a terrorist plot to simultaneously blow up 10 aircraft heading to the U.S. using explosives smuggled in hand luggage.