TODAY IN HISTORY

TUESDAY AUG 24, 2021

1814

During the War of 1812, British forces invaded Washington, D.C., setting fire to the Capitol 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.

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 2002was 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.