TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON: AUG 21
1129 The warrior Yoritomo is made Shogun without equal in Japan.
1680 Pueblo Indians drove out the Spanish and took possession of Santa Fe, N.M.
1703 The Edirne Event: Turkish army removes Sultan Mustafa II, lessening the power of the sultans
1831 Nat Turner leads a slave revolt in Southampton County, Virginia that kills close to 60 whites.
1841 A patent for venetian blinds was issued to John Hampton.
1858 The first of a series of debates begins between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas. Douglas goes on to win the Senate seat in November, but Lincoln gains national visibility for the first time.
1863 Confederate raiders under William Quantrill strike Lawrence, Kansas, leaving 150 civilians dead.
1878 American Bar Association organizes at Sarasota, NY
1879 Oldsmobile is founded by Ransom Eli Olds of Olds Motor Works
1923 In Kalamazoo, Michigan, an ordinance was passed forbidding dancers from gazing into the eyes of their partner.
1944 The Dumbarton Oaks conference, which lays the foundation for the establishment of the United Nations, is held in Washington, D.C.
1945 President Harry S. Truman cancels all contracts under the Lend-Lease Act.
1959 Hawaii is admitted into the Union.
1968 Soviet forces invade Czechoslovakia because of the country’s experiments with a more liberal government.
1976 Operation Paul Bunyan: after North Korean guards killed two American officers sent to trim a poplar tree along the DMZ on Aug. 18, US and ROK soldiers with heavy support chopped down the tree.
1986 Limnic eruption in Lake Nyos in Cameroon kills about 1700 people
1989 Voyager 2 begins a flyby of planet Neptune.
1991 The hard-line coup against Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev ended. The uprising that led to the collapse was led by Russian federation President Boris Yeltsin.
1991 Latvia gains full independence from the Soviet Union
1996 The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 was signed by U.S. President Clinton. The act made it easier to obtain and keep health insurance.
2002 In Pakistan, President General Pervez Musharraf unilaterally amended the Pakistani constitution. He extended his term in office and granted himself powers that included the right to dissolve parliament.
REFERENCE: HISTORY.NET, ONTHISDAY.COM, TIMEANDDATE.COM, INFOPLEASE.COM, FACTMONSTER.COM, SCOPESYS.COM, ON-THIS-DAY.COM, THEPEOPLEHISTORY.COM
