TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON – AUG 10
955 Otto organizes his nobles and defeats the invading Magyars at the Battle of Lechfeld in Germany.
610 In Islam, the traditional date of the Laylat al-Qadr, when Muhammad began to receive the Qur’an
1539 King Francis of France declares that all official documents are to be written in French, not Latin.
1582 Russia ends its 25-year war with Poland.
1628 The Swedish warship Vasa capsizes and sinks in Stockholm harbor on her maiden voyage.
1675 King Charles II and John Flamsteed lay the foundation stone of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, London
1779 Louis XVI of France frees the last remaining serfs on royal land.
1792 King Louis XVI was taken into custody by mobs during the French Revolution. He was executed the following January after being put on trial for treason.
1821 Missouri became the 24th state in the United States.
1831 William Driver of Salem, Massachusetts, is the first to use the term “Old Glory” in connection with the American flag, when he gives that name to a large flag aboard his ship, the Charles Daggett.
1846 The Smithsonian Institution is established in Washington through the bequest of James Smithson.
1911 The House of Lords in Great Britain gives up its veto power, making the House of Commons the more powerful House.
1921 Franklin D. Roosevelt was stricken with polio at his summer home on Campobello island.
1945 Following the Atomic bombs Japan announced its willingness to surrender to Allies provided that the status of their Emperor Hirohito remains unchanged.
1949 National Military Establishment renamed Department of Defense.
1950 President Harry S. Truman calls the National Guard to active duty to fight in the Korean War.
1970 Rocker Jim Morrison tried in Miami on “lewd & lascivious behavior.” Although convicted and sentenced to jail, he was free on bond while his case was being appealed when he dies in Paris, July 3, 1971.
1975 David Frost purchases the exclusive rights to interview Richard Nixon.
1977 The ” Son Of Sam ” Serial killer David Berkowitz, a 24-year-old postal worker, was arrested after admitting that he was Son of Sam, the New York City serial killer.
1988 U.S. President Reagan signed a measure that provided $20,000 payments to Japanese-Americans who were interned by the U.S. government during World War II.
1994 U.S. President Clinton claimed presidential immunity when he asked a federal judge to dismiss, at least for the time being, a sexual harassment lawsuit filed by Paula Corbin Jones.
1995 Norma McCorvey, “Jane Roe” of the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion, announced that she had joined the anti-abortion group Operation Rescue.
1997 The last British troops leave Hong Kong. After 156 years of British rule, the island is returned to China.
1990 The Magellan spacecraft begins it’s orbit of the planet Venus after a 15-month journey from Earth. The space craft spent the next four years mapping Venus, producing a detailed map of 99% of the planet.
2001 Rebels from the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) in Angola derailed a train using an anti-tank mine and opened fire on the passengers.
2002 Stock market losses, corporate corruption, and a sagging economy have hit senior citizens hard and have become an election issue. After retiring a couple of years ago Michael Dalal, a lawyer and businessman, lost half of his savings and had to go back to work.
2006 British police have announced the arrest of 24 suspects on suspicion of a terrorist plot to blow up 10 aircraft bound for US Airports. The terrorists had planned to blow up the aircraft with liquid explosives ( acetone peroxide (TATP) or hexamethylene triperoxide diamine (HMTD) ) which would be in Lucozade or similar other innocuous bottles carried in hand luggage
** history.net, onthisday.com, infoplease.com, timeanddate.com, thepeoplehistory.com, on-this-day.com **
