TODAY IN HISTORY

In 79, an estimated 20,000 people died when long-dormant Mount Vesuvius erupted, burying the Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum in ash.

In 410, Visigoths overran Rome, a major event in the fall of the Western Roman Empire. In 1814, during the War of 1812, British forces invaded Washington, D.C., setting fire to the White House and the Capitol, which was still under construction.

In 1912, Congress took action to create the Alaska Territory.

In 1932, Amelia Earhart embarked on a 19-hour flight from Los Angeles to Newark, New Jersey, making her the first woman to fly solo, nonstop, from coast to coast.

In 1949, the North Atlantic Treaty came into force.

In 1954, President Dwight Eisenhower signed the Communist Control Act, outlawing the Communist Party in the United States.

In 1959, three days after Hawaiian statehood, Hiram L. Fong was sworn in as the first Chinese-American U.S. senator while Daniel K. Inouye was sworn in as the first Japanese-American U.S. representative.

In 1968, France exploded a hydrogen bomb in the South Pacific to become the world’s fifth thermonuclear power.

In 1981, Mark David Chapman was sentenced in New York to 20 years to life in prison for murdering John Lennon. Chapman remains imprisoned.

In 1989, the Voyager 2 space probe flew by Neptune, sending back striking photographs.

In 1992, Hurricane Andrew smashed into Florida, causing $30 billion in damage; 43 U.S. deaths were blamed on the storm.

In 2006, the International Astronomical Union declared that Pluto was no longer a full-fledged planet, demoting it to the status of a “dwarf planet.”