Today in History

Today is Thursday, August 14, the 226th day of 2014. There are 139 days left in the year. Today's Highlight in History: On August 14, 1944, the federal government allowed the manufacture of certain domestic appliances, such as electric ranges and vacuum cleaners, to resume on a limited basis. 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 1909, the newly opened Indianapolis Motor Speedway held its first event, a series of motorcycle races.

In 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act into law.

In 1945, President Harry S. Truman announced that Japan had surrendered unconditionally, ending World War II. In 1947, Pakistan became independent of British rule. In 1951, newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst, 88, died in Beverly Hills, California.

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. Ten years ago: A visibly weak Pope John Paul II joined thousands of other ailing pilgrims at a cliffside shrine in Lourdes, France, telling them he shared in their physical suffering and assuring them the burden was part of God's "wondrous plan."

Nobel Prize-winning poet Czeslaw Milosz died in Krakow, Poland, at age 93. Fifteen-term congressman William D. Ford died in Ypsilanti Township, Michigan, at age 77.