TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON: AUGUST 10
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.
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 was chartered by the U.S. Congress. The “Nation’s Attic” was made possible by $500,000 given by scientist Joseph Smithson.
1911 The House of Lords in Great Britain gives up its veto power, making the House of Commons the more powerful House.
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 Postal employee David Berkowitz arrested in Yonkers, NY, accused of being “Son of Sam” the 44 caliber killer
1988 President Reagan signed a bill that awarded $20,000 to each survivor of the Japanese-American internment.
1990 Magellan Space Probe is Inserted in Orbit Around Venus
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.
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 killing 250
2006 All toiletries are banned from commercial airplanes after Scotland Yard disrupts a a major terrorist plot involving liquid explosives. After a few weeks, the toiletries ban was modified.
REFERENCE: history.net, onthisday.com, thepeopleshistory.com, timeanddate.com, scopesys.com, on-this-day.com
