TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT

August 11, 1997

President Bill Clinton made the first use of the historic line-item veto, rejecting three items in spending and tax bills.

ALSO ON THIS DATE

1860

The nation’s first successful silver mill began operation near Virginia City, Nevada.

1909

The steamship SS Arapahoe became the first ship in North America to issue an S.O.S. distress signal, off North Carolina’s Cape Hatteras.

1934

The first federal prisoners arrived at Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay.

1942

During World War II, Pierre Laval, prime minister of Vichy France, publicly declared that “the hour of liberation for France is the hour when Germany wins the war.”

1954

A formal peace took hold in Indochina, ending more than seven years of fighting between the French and Communist Viet Minh.

1956

Abstract painter Jackson Pollock, 44, died in an automobile accident on Long Island, New York.

1962

Andrian Nikolayev became the Soviet Union’s third cosmonaut in space as he was launched on a 94-hour flight.

1965

Rioting and looting that claimed 34 lives broke out in the predominantly black Watts section of Los Angeles.