TODAY IN HISTORY
TODAY IS MONDAY, AUG. 21, the 233rd day of 2017. There are 132 days left in the year. TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN HISTORY: On this date in 1858, the first of seven debates between Illinois senatorial contenders Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas took place.
In 1831, Nat Turner launched a violent slave rebellion in Virginia resulting in the deaths of at least 55 whites. Turner was later executed.
In 1911, Leonardo da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa” was stolen from the Louvre Museum in Paris. The painting was recovered two years later in Italy.
In 1940, exiled Communist revolutionary Leon Trotsky died in a Mexican hospital from wounds inflicted by an assassin the day before.
In 1945, President Harry S. Truman ended the Lend-Lease program that had shipped some $50 billion in aid supplies to America’s allies during World War II.
In 1959, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed an executive order making Hawaii the 50th state.
In 1963, martial law was declared in South Vietnam as police and army troops began a violent crackdown on Buddhist anti-government protesters.
In 1983, Philippine opposition leader Benigno S. Aquino Jr., ending a selfimposed exile in the United States, was shot dead moments after stepping off a plane at Manila International Airport.
In 1987, Sgt. Clayton Lonetree, the first Marine court-martialed for spying, was convicted in Quantico, Va., of passing secrets to the KGB. Lonetree served eight years in a military prison.
In 1991, the hard-line coup against Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev collapsed in the face of a popular uprising led by Russian Federation President Boris N. Yeltsin.
In 1992, an 11-day siege began at the cabin of white separatist Randy Weaver
in Ruby Ridge, Idaho, as government agents tried to arrest Weaver for failing to appear in court on charges of selling two illegal sawed-off shotguns; on the first day of the siege, Weaver’s teenage son, Samuel, and Deputy U.S. Marshal William Degan were killed.
In 2015, a trio of Americans, U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Spencer Stone, National Guardsman Alek Skarlatos and college student Anthony Sadler, and a British businessman, Chris Norman, tackled and disarmed a Moroccan gunman on a high-speed train between Amsterdam and Paris.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Former NFL player and general manager Pete Retzlaff is 86. Actor-director Melvin Van Peebles is 85. Playwright Mart Crowley is 82. Singer Kenny Rogers is 79. Actor Clarence Williams III, rockand-roll musician James Burton and singer Harold Reid (The Statler Brothers) are 78. Singer Jackie DeShannon is 76. College and Pro Football Hall-of-Famer Willie Lanier and actress Patty McCormack are 71. Pop singer-musician Carl Giammarese is 70. Actress Loretta Devine is 68. Singer Glenn Hughes is 65. Country musician Nick Kane is 63. Actress Kim Cattrall is 61. College Football Hall-of-Famer and former NFL quarterback Jim McMahon is 58. Actress Cleo King is 55. Retired MLB AllStar player John Wetteland is 51. Rock singer Serj Tankian (System of a Down) is 50. Figure skater Josee Chouinard is 48. Actress Carrie-Anne Moss and MLB player-turned-manager Craig Counsell are 47. Rock musician Liam Howlett (Prodigy) is 46. Actress Alicia Witt is 42. Singer Kelis and actor Diego Klattenhoff are 38. TV personality Brody Jenner is 34. Singer Melissa Schuman is 33. Olympic gold medal sprinter Usain Bolt, actor Carlos Pratts and actor-comedian Brooks Wheelan are 31. Actor Cody Kasch is 30. Country singer Kacey Musgraves is 29. Actress Hayden Panettiere is 28. Actor RJ Mitte is 25. Actor Maxim Knight is 18.