Today in History – August 10 in History
What happened on this day in history – August 10 in History around the world
955 | Otto organizes his nobles and defeats the invading Magyars at the Battle of Lechfeld in Germany. | |
1539 | King Francis of France declares that all official documents are to be written in French, not Latin. | |
1557 | French troops are defeated by Emmanuel Philibert’s Spanish army at St. Quentin, France. | |
1582 | Russia ends its 25-year war with Poland. | |
1628 | The Swedish warship Vasa capsizes and sinks in Stockholm harbor on her maiden voyage. | |
1779 | Louis XVI of France frees the last remaining serfs on royal land. | |
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 is established in Washington through the bequest of James Smithson. | |
1864 | Confederate Commander John Bell Hood sends his cavalry north of Atlanta to cut off Union General William Sherman’s supply lines. | |
1911 | The House of Lords in Great Britain gives up its veto power, making the House of Commons the more powerful House. | |
1913 | The Treaty of Bucharest ends the Second Balkan War. | |
1941 | Great Britain and the Soviet Union promise aid to Turkey if it is attacked by the AxisPowers. | |
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. | |
1954 | English jockey Sir Gordon Richards retires with a world-record total of 4,870 victories, later broken by Johnny Longden of the United States. Richards was the first jockey ever to be knighted. | |
1954 | The groundbreaking ceremony for the St. Lawrence Seaway is held at Massena, New York. | |
1960 | NASA launches Discoverer 13 satellite; it would become the first object ever recovered from orbit. | |
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 died in Paris, July 3, 1971. | |
1975 | David Frost purchases the exclusive rights to interview Richard Nixon. | |
1977 | US and Panama sign Panama Canal Zone accord, guaranteeing Panama would have control of the canal after 1999. | |
1997 | The last British troops leave Hong Kong. After 156 years of British rule, the island is returned to China. | |
2003 | For the first time ever, temperatures exceed 100 degrees Fahrenheit when thermometers hit 101.3 F (38.5 Celsius) at Kent. | |
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. | |
Born on August 10 | ||
1753 | Edmund Jennings Randolph, governor of Virginia and first U.S. attorney general. | |
1810 | Camillo di Cavour, helped bring about the unification of Italy under the House of Saxony. | |
1874 | Herbert Hoover, 31st president of the United States (1929-1933). | |
1909 | George W. Crockett, first African-American lawyer with the U.S. Department of Labor. | |
1909 | Leo Fender, inventor of the first mass-produced electric guitar. | |
1928 | Eddie Fisher, American singer. | |
1928 | Jimmy Dean, singer, actor, TV host and businessman. | |
1933 | Keith Duckworth, English mechanical engineer whose Cosworth DFV (Double Four Valve) engine revolutionized Formula One racing. | |
1945 | Harriet Miers, White House counsel. | |
1948 | Patti Austin, Grammy Award-winning singer and actress (“Real Me”). | |
1952 | Daniel Hugh Kelly, film and TV actor (The Good Son). |