Today is Thursday, Aug. 10, the 222nd day of 2006. There are 143 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On Aug. 10, 1846, Congress chartered the Smithsonian Institution, named after English scientist James Smithson, whose bequest of $500,000 had made it possible.
On this date:
In 1821, Missouri became the 24th state.
In 1874, Herbert Clark Hoover, the 31st president of the United States, was born in West Branch, Iowa.
In 1921, Franklin D. Roosevelt was stricken with polio at his summer home on the Canadian island of Campobello.
In 1944, during World War II, American forces overcame remaining Japanese resistance on Guam.
In 1948, Allen Funt’s “Candid Microphone,” later titled “Candid Camera,” made its television debut on ABC.
In 1949, the National Military Establishment was renamed the Department of Defense.
In 1969, Leno and Rosemary LaBianca were murdered in their Los Angeles home by members of Charles Manson’s cult, one day after actress Sharon Tate and four other people were slain.
In 1977, postal employee David Berkowitz was arrested in Yonkers, N.Y., accused of being “Son of Sam,” the gunman responsible for six slayings and seven woundings.
In 1988, President Reagan signed a measure providing 20,000 payments to Japanese-Americans who’d been interned during World War II.
In 1993, Ruth Bader Ginsburg was sworn in as the second female justice on the U.S. Supreme Court.
Ten years ago: Bob Dole completed the Republican ticket by announcing he’d chosen former Housing Secretary Jack Kemp to be his running mate. Cascading power outages hit parts of nine western states.
Five years ago: Space shuttle Discovery roared into orbit on a mission to deliver a fresh crew to the international space station. Britain stepped in to save Northern Ireland’s power-sharing government by taking away its powers for a day — a legal maneuver that removed a deadline to elect a new leader of the Catholic-Protestant government.
One year ago: A defiant Iran resumed full operations at its uranium conversion plant. President Bush signed a $286 billion transportation bill. Tennessee prison inmate George Hyatte and his wife, Jennifer, surrendered in Columbus, Ohio, a day after she’d allegedly ambushed two prison guards at a courthouse, killing one of them, to help her husband escape.
Today’s Birthdays: Singer Al Alberts is 84. Actress Rhonda Fleming is 83. Singer Jimmy Dean is 78. Singer Eddie Fisher is 78. Actress Kate O’Mara is 67. Singer Ronnie Spector is 63. Actor James Reynolds (“Days of our Lives”) is 60. Rock singer-musician Ian Anderson (Jethro Tull) is 59. Singer Patti Austin is 58. Country musician Gene Johnson (Diamond Rio) is 57. Actor Daniel Hugh Kelly is 54. Actress Rosanna Arquette is 47. Actor Antonio Banderas is 46. Rock musician Jon Farriss (INXS) is 45. Singer Julia Fordham is 44. Singer Neneh Cherry is 42. Singer Aaron Hall is 42. Rhythm-and-blues singer Lorraine Pearson (Five Star) is 39. Rock musician Todd Nichols is 39. Singer-producer Michael Bivins is 38. Actor Justin Theroux is 35. Actress Angie Harmon is 34. Country singer Jennifer Hanson is 33. Actress JoAnna Garcia is 27. Rhythm-and-blues singer Nikki Bratcher (Divine) is 26.
Thought for Today: “A man may fulfill the object of his existence by asking a question he cannot answer, and attempting a task he cannot achieve.” — Oliver Wendell Holmes, American author (1809-1894).