DAILY ALMANAC
Today is Tuesday, Aug. 24, the 236th day of 2021. There are 129 days left in the year.
On this date:
A.D. 79: Long-dormant Mount Vesuvius erupted, burying the Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum in volcanic ash; an estimated 20,000 people died.
1814: During the War of 1812, British forces invaded Washington, D.C., setting fire to the Capitol (which was still under construction) and the White House, as well as other public buildings.
1932: Amelia Earhart embarked on a 19-hour flight from Los Angeles to Newark, New Jersey, making her the first woman to fly solo, non-stop, from coast to coast.
1949: The North Atlantic Treaty came into force.
1954: President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Communist Control Act, outlawing the Communist Party in the United States.
1968: France became the world’s fifth thermonuclear power as it exploded a hydrogen bomb in the South Pacific.
1981: Mark David Chapman was sentenced in New York to 20 years to life in prison for murdering John Lennon. (Chapman remains imprisoned.)
1989: Baseball Commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti banned Pete Rose from the game for betting on his own team, the Cincinnati Reds.
1992: Hurricane Andrew smashed into Florida, causing $30 billion in damage; 43 U.S. deaths were blamed on the storm.
2001: Tom Green, a Mormon fundamentalist with five wives and 30 children, was sentenced by a court in Provo, Utah, to five years in prison for his conviction on four counts of bigamy and one count of failure to pay child support.
2003: The Justice Department reported the U.S. crime rate in 2002 was the lowest since studies began in 1973.
2008: On the final day of the Beijing Games, Kobe Bryant hit two 3-pointers in a big fourth quarter to help the United States defeat Spain 118-107 and win the men’s basketball gold medal for the first time since 2000.
2019: Police in Aurora, Colorado, responding to a report of a suspicious person, used a chokehold to subdue Elijah Mcclain, a 23-year-old Black man; he suffered cardiac arrest on the way to the hospital and was later declared brain dead and taken off life support. (Three officers were placed on leave but returned to the force after prosecutors found insufficient evidence to support charging them.)
Guitarist Mason Williams is 83. Singer Marshall Thompson of The Chilites is 79. Actor Ann Archer is 74. Actor Steve Guttenberg is 63. Actor Jared Harris (“The Crown,” “Mad Men”) is 60. Talk show host Craig Kilborn is 59. Singer John Bush (Anthrax) is 58. Actor Marlee Matlin is 56. Newsman David Gregory is 51. Country singer Kristyn Osborn of SHEDAISY is 51. Director Ava Duvernay (“Selma”) is 49. Actor-comedian Dave Chappelle is 48. Actor Carmine Giovinazzo (“CSI: New York”) is 48. Actor Alex O’loughlin (“Hawaii Five-0”) is 45. Actor Chad Michael Murray (“One Tree Hill,” “A Cinderella Story”) is 40. Actor Rupert Grint (“Harry Potter”) is 33.