On This Date By The Associated Press 1821 Missouri became the 24th state. 1846 Congress chartered the Smithsonian Institution, named after English scientist James Smithson, whose bequest of $500,000 made it possible. 1874 Herbert Clark Hoover, the 31st president of the United States, was born in West Branch, Iowa. 1885 Americas first commercially operated electric streetcar began operation in Baltimore. 1921 Franklin D. Roosevelt was stricken with polio at his summer home on the Canadian island of Campobello. 1944 American forces overcame Japanese resistance on Guam during World War II. 1949 The National Military Establishment was renamed the Department of Defense. 1962 Marvel Comics superhero Spider-Man made his debut in issue 15 of Amazing Fantasy. 1969 Leno and Rosemary LaBianca were murdered in their Los Angeles home by members of Charles Mansons cult, one day after actress Sharon Tate and four other people were slain. 1988 President Ronald Reagan signed a measure providing $20,000 payments to Japanese-Americans interred by the U.S. government during World War II. 1993 Ruth Bader Ginsburg was sworn in as the second female Supreme Court justice. 2006 British authorities announced they had thwarted a terrorist plot to simultaneously blow up 10 aircraft heading to the United States. 2008 American swimmer Michael Phelps won the first of a record eight gold medals at the Beijing Olympics by smashing his own world record in the 400-meter individual medley.
Posted on: Sun, 10 Aug 2014 14:10:38 +0000
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