WEDNESDAY IN HISTORY

Today is Wednesday, Aug. 10, the 223rd day of 2016. Thereare 143 days left in the year.

Highlight in History:

On Aug. 10, 1846, President James K. Polk signed a measure establishing the Smithsonian Institution.

On this date:

In 1792, during the French Revolution, mobs in Paris attacked the Tuileries Palace, where King Louis XVI resided.

In 1821, Missouri became the 24th state.

In 1921, Franklin D. Roosevelt was stricken with polio at his summer home on the Canadian island of Campobello.

In 1949, the National Military Establishment was renamed the Department of Defense.

In 1969, Leno and Rosemary LaBianca were murdered in their Los Angeles home by members of Charles Manson’s cult.

In 1988, President Ronald Reagan signed a measure providing $20,000 payments to still-living Japanese-Americans who’d been interned by their government during World War II.

In 1991, nine Buddhists were found slain at their temple outside Phoenix, Ariz. (Two teenagers were later arrested; Alessandro Garcia was sentenced to life in prison, while Jonathan Doody received 281 years.)

In 1993, Ruth Bader Ginsburg was sworn in as the second female justice on the U.S. Supreme Court.

In 1995, Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols were charged with 11 counts in the Oklahoma City bombing.

Ten years ago: British authorities announced they had thwarted a terrorist plot to simultaneously blow up 10 aircraft heading to the U.S. using explosives smuggled in hand luggage.

Five years ago: Marine Corps Gen. John Allen, the top American commander in Afghanistan, said international forces had slain the Taliban insurgents responsible for shooting down a U.S. helicopter, killing 30 Americans and seven Afghan commandos.

One year ago: A draft of a secret study obtained by The Associated Press found that air traffic controllers’ work schedules often led to chronic fatigue, making them less alert and endangering the safety of the country’s air traffic system.

Today’s Birthdays: Actress Rhonda Fleming is 93. Singer Ronnie Spector is 73. Actress Rosanna Arquette is 57. Actor Antonio Banderas is 56. Journalist-blogger Andrew Sullivan is 53. Boxer Riddick Bowe is 49.

Thought for Today: “About the time we can make the ends meet, somebody moves the ends.” — President Herbert Hoover (1874-1964).