Highlight in History

On August 10, 1944, during World War II, American forces overcame remaining Japanese resistance on Guam.

On this date

In 1792, during the French Revolution, mobs in Paris attacked the Tuileries Palace, where King Louis XVI resided. (The king was later arrested, put on trial for treason, and executed.)

In 1821, Missouri became the 24th state.

In 1846, President James K. Polk signed a measure establishing the Smithsonian Institution.

In 1874, Herbert Clark Hoover, the 31st president of the United States, was born in West Branch, Iowa.

In 1913, the Treaty of Bucharest was signed, ending the Second Balkan War.

In 1921, Franklin D. Roosevelt was stricken with polio at his summer home on the Canadian island of Campobello.

In 1949, the National Military Establishment was renamed the Department of Defense.

In 1962, the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum was dedicated in West Branch, Iowa, on the 88th birthday of the former president, who attended the ceremony along with former President Harry S. Truman.

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 had been slain.

In 1977, postal employee David Berkowitz was arrested in Yonkers, New York, accused of being “Son of Sam,” the gunman responsible for six slayings and seven woundings. (Berkowitz is serving six consecutive 25-years-to-life sentences.)

In 1988, President Ronald Reagan signed a measure providing $20,000 payments to still-living Japanese-Americans who’d been interned by their government 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

President George W. Bush chose Porter Goss, a Republican congressman and one-time spy, to lead the CIA. A boat carrying Dominican migrants seeking a better life in Puerto Rico drifted back to almost the same spot where the voyage began nearly two weeks earlier; at least 55 of the 86 people on board had died. The 20-year-old woman who’d accused Kobe Bryant of rape filed a federal lawsuit in Denver against the NBA star. (The criminal charge was later dropped; the lawsuit was settled out of court, terms undisclosed.) Barry Bonds became the first player in major league history to hit 30 home runs in 13 consecutive seasons, connecting in San Francisco’s 8-7 loss to Pittsburgh.

Five years ago

While attending a North American summit in Mexico, President Barack Obama predicted that Congress would pass his sweeping health care overhaul in the fall as more “sensible and reasoned arguments” prevailed. A double truck bombing tore through the village of a small Shiite ethnic minority near Mosul, Iraq, killing at least 28 people. Country duo Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn posted a message on their Web site announcing they had agreed to “call it a day” after 20 years of making music together.

One year ago

In an address at the Disabled American Veterans’ convention in Orlando, Fla., President Barack Obama assured disabled veterans that his administration was making progress on reducing a backlog of disability claims. A harrowing weeklong search for a missing California teenager ended when FBI agents rescued 16-year-old Hannah Anderson and shot and killed 40-year-old James Lee DiMaggio at a campsite deep in the Idaho wilderness. (Authorities say in addition to kidnapping Hannah, DiMaggio killed her brother and mother.) Singer Edyie Gorme, 84, died in Las Vegas.