Post by MacBeth on Aug 24, 2009 7:36:28 GMT -5
In 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.
In 1572, troops loyal to the French crown alongside Catholic civilians massacre the Protestant Huguenots of Paris, estimates range between 20,000 and 100,000 deaths. At news of this carnage of this St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre, Pope Gregory XIII ordered celebrations and a medal to be struck.
In 1814, Major-General Robert Ross leads 4,000 troops in attack on Washington; British burn the Capitol, White House, National Library and other government buildings; to retaliate for the American burning of York (Toronto) and Newark (Niagara) earlier in the War of 1812.
In 1857, the New York branch of the Ohio Life Insurance and Trust Co. failed, sparking the Panic of 1857.
In 1932, Amelia Earhart embarked on a 19-hour flight from Los Angeles to Newark, N.J., making her the first woman to fly solo, nonstop, from coast to coast.
In 1940, Australian-born British pathologist Howard Florey and German-born British biochemist Ernst Chain announce in The Lancet that they have developed penicillin for general clinical use as an antibiotic.
In 1949, the North Atlantic Treaty came into force.
In 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Communist Control Act, outlawing the Communist Party in the United States. Brazilian president Getulio Vargas resigns under pressure from the military and then commits suicide just hours later.
In 1958, Red China commences the shelling of the islands of Quemoy and Matsu, which hold one-third of Chiang Kai Shek's troops. The United States threatens nuclear retaliation for this, but the American people do not support the stance. A very strange compromise is worked out, permitting China to shell the islands on odd dates and Chiang Kai Shek's troops to resupply the islands on even dates.
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 1965, the first subway trains run on Montreal Métro.
In 1968, France became the world's fifth thermonuclear power as it exploded a hydrogen bomb in the South Pacific.
In 1981, Mark David Chapman was sentenced in New York to 20 years to life in prison for the murder of rock musician John Lennon.
In 1989, Baseball Commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti banned Pete Rose from the game for betting on his own team, the Cincinnati Reds. 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 1999, the Federal Reserve raised borrowing costs for millions of Americans, increasing its target for the federal funds rate by a quarter point to 5.25 percent, and hiking the discount rate a quarter point to 4.75 percent.
In 2004, an independent commission said the blame for abuses at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison lay mainly with the American soldiers who ran the jail, but said senior commanders and top-level Pentagon officials could also be faulted for failed leadership and oversight. Chechen separatists set off bombs aboard two Russian airliners that crashed after taking off from the same Moscow airport, killing 90 people. Psychiatrist Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, who famously theorized that terminally ill patients go through five stages of grief, died in Scottsdale, Ariz., at age 78.
In 2006, the International Astronomical Union declared that Pluto was no longer a planet, demoting it to the status of a "dwarf planet."
In 2007, James Ford Seale, a reputed Ku Klux Klansman, was sentenced to three life terms for his role in the 1964 abduction and murder of two black teenagers in Mississippi. The NFL indefinitely suspended Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick without pay for his involvement in dogfighting. (He was reinstated with conditions in July 2009 after serving 18 months in prison.)
In 2008, a suicide bomber struck a welcome-home celebration on Baghdad's outskirts for an Iraqi detainee released from U.S. custody, killing at least 25 people.
In 1572, troops loyal to the French crown alongside Catholic civilians massacre the Protestant Huguenots of Paris, estimates range between 20,000 and 100,000 deaths. At news of this carnage of this St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre, Pope Gregory XIII ordered celebrations and a medal to be struck.
In 1814, Major-General Robert Ross leads 4,000 troops in attack on Washington; British burn the Capitol, White House, National Library and other government buildings; to retaliate for the American burning of York (Toronto) and Newark (Niagara) earlier in the War of 1812.
In 1857, the New York branch of the Ohio Life Insurance and Trust Co. failed, sparking the Panic of 1857.
In 1932, Amelia Earhart embarked on a 19-hour flight from Los Angeles to Newark, N.J., making her the first woman to fly solo, nonstop, from coast to coast.
In 1940, Australian-born British pathologist Howard Florey and German-born British biochemist Ernst Chain announce in The Lancet that they have developed penicillin for general clinical use as an antibiotic.
In 1949, the North Atlantic Treaty came into force.
In 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Communist Control Act, outlawing the Communist Party in the United States. Brazilian president Getulio Vargas resigns under pressure from the military and then commits suicide just hours later.
In 1958, Red China commences the shelling of the islands of Quemoy and Matsu, which hold one-third of Chiang Kai Shek's troops. The United States threatens nuclear retaliation for this, but the American people do not support the stance. A very strange compromise is worked out, permitting China to shell the islands on odd dates and Chiang Kai Shek's troops to resupply the islands on even dates.
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 1965, the first subway trains run on Montreal Métro.
In 1968, France became the world's fifth thermonuclear power as it exploded a hydrogen bomb in the South Pacific.
In 1981, Mark David Chapman was sentenced in New York to 20 years to life in prison for the murder of rock musician John Lennon.
In 1989, Baseball Commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti banned Pete Rose from the game for betting on his own team, the Cincinnati Reds. 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 1999, the Federal Reserve raised borrowing costs for millions of Americans, increasing its target for the federal funds rate by a quarter point to 5.25 percent, and hiking the discount rate a quarter point to 4.75 percent.
In 2004, an independent commission said the blame for abuses at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison lay mainly with the American soldiers who ran the jail, but said senior commanders and top-level Pentagon officials could also be faulted for failed leadership and oversight. Chechen separatists set off bombs aboard two Russian airliners that crashed after taking off from the same Moscow airport, killing 90 people. Psychiatrist Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, who famously theorized that terminally ill patients go through five stages of grief, died in Scottsdale, Ariz., at age 78.
In 2006, the International Astronomical Union declared that Pluto was no longer a planet, demoting it to the status of a "dwarf planet."
In 2007, James Ford Seale, a reputed Ku Klux Klansman, was sentenced to three life terms for his role in the 1964 abduction and murder of two black teenagers in Mississippi. The NFL indefinitely suspended Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick without pay for his involvement in dogfighting. (He was reinstated with conditions in July 2009 after serving 18 months in prison.)
In 2008, a suicide bomber struck a welcome-home celebration on Baghdad's outskirts for an Iraqi detainee released from U.S. custody, killing at least 25 people.