TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON – AUG 25
1609 Galileo demonstrates his 1st telescope to Venetian lawmakers
1718 Hundreds of French colonists arrive in Louisiana; New Orleans founded
1765 In protest over the stamp tax, American colonists sack and burn the home of Massachusetts governor Thomas Hutchinson.
1814 British capture Washington DC. The U.S. Library of Congress was destroyed by British forces.
1830 The “Tom Thumb” steam locomotive runs its famous race with a horse-drawn car. The horse wins because the engine, which had been ahead, breaks down.
1835 First Installment of the Great Moon Hoax is Published
The New York-based newspaper The Sun published a series of articles, starting on this day, that detailed the discovery of civilization on the Moon.
1894 Japanese scientist Shibasaburo Kitasato discovers the infectious agent of the bubonic plague and publishes his findings in The Lancet
1902 “Al-Hoda” began publication in New York City making it the first Arabic daily newspaper in the U.S.
1916 The National Park Service is established as part of the Department of the Interior.
1921 The United States, which never ratified the Versailles Treaty ending World War I, finally signs a peace treaty with Germany.
1944 Paris is liberated from German occupation by Free French Forces under General Jacques LeClerc.
1948 The House Un-American Activities Committee holds first-ever televised congressional hearing.
1950 President Harry Truman orders the U.S. Army to seize control of the nation’s railroads to avert a strike.
1967 George Lincoln Rockwell, the leader of the American Nazi party has been shot and killed by a sniper at a shopping center in Arlington, Virginia.
1972 In Great Britain, computerized axial tomography (CAT scan) was introduced.
1983 The U.S. and the Soviet Union signed a $10 billion grain pact.
1991 Belarus gains independence from the USSR.
1997 The tobacco industry agreed to an $11.3 billion settlement with the state of Florida.
2004 The US Census Bureau has released new figures which indicate 15.6% of the population of the United States do not have health insurance (45 million). The reasons range from companies providing less health insurance and vastly increased premiums for health insurance.
2008 An Italian priest announced plans for a beauty pageant for nuns. He asked nuns to send their pictures to him so that he may post them on the internet for web users to vote on.
2012 First Spacecraft to Enter Interstellar Space NASA’s Voyager 1, which was launched on September 5, 1977, left the heliosphere – the part of space that is not influenced by our Sun on this day.
** history.net, onthisday.com, infoplease.com, timeanddate.com, thepeoplehistory.com, on-this-day.com **
