Today is Saturday, August 24th, the 237th day of the year 2024. There are 129 days left in the year.
Today in history:
On August 24, 1932, Amelia Earhart embarked on a 19-hour flight from Los Angeles to Newark, New Jersey, becoming the first woman to fly solo and nonstop from coast to coast.
Also on this date:
In 1814, during the War of 1812, British troops invaded Washington, DC and set fire to the Capitol and White House, which were still under construction, as well as other public buildings.
In 1912, Congress passed an act creating the Alaska Territory.
In 1949 the North Atlantic Treaty came into force.
In 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Communist Control Act, which banned the Communist Party in the United States.
In 1981, Mark David Chapman was sentenced to 20 years to life imprisonment in New York for the murder of John Lennon.
In 1989, baseball commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti (juh-MAH’-tee) banned Pete Rose from playing for betting on his own team, the Cincinnati Reds.
In response to an attempted coup by radical communist leaders seeking to regain control of the Soviet Union, Ukrainian parliamentarians voted in 1991 to adopt a declaration of independence for the state of Ukraine.
In 1992, Hurricane Andrew devastated Florida. The storm claimed 65 lives and caused over $26 billion in damage in Florida, Louisiana and the Bahamas.
In 2006, the International Astronomical Union declared that Pluto was no longer a full planet and downgraded it to the status of a “dwarf planet.”
In 2012, a Norwegian court found Anders Behring Breivik guilty of terrorism and premeditated murder for carrying out two attacks on 22 July 2011 that killed 77 people. He was sentenced to 21 years in prison, which can be extended if he is considered dangerous to society.
In 2018, the family of Arizona Senator John McCain announced that he had stopped medical treatment for an aggressive form of brain cancer. McCain died the following day.
In 2019, police in Aurora, Colorado, responded to a report of a suspicious person and subdued 23-year-old black man Elijah McClain with a chokehold. On the way to the hospital, he suffered cardiac arrest, was later declared brain dead, and life support was removed.
In 2020, Republicans officially nominated President Donald Trump for a second term on the opening day of a scaled-down convention. During a visit to the convention city of Charlotte, North Carolina, Trump told delegates, “The only way they can take this election away from us is if it’s rigged.”
Today’s birthdays:
- Composer and musician Mason Williams is 86.
- R&B singer Marshall Thompson (The Chi-Lites) is 82.
- WWE co-founder Vince McMahon is 79.
- The author Paulo Coelho is 77.
- Actress Anne Archer is 77.
- The author Alexander McCall Smith is 76.
- The composer Jean-Michel Jarre is 76.
- The author Orson Scott Card is 73.
- The poet Linton Kwesi Johnson is 72.
- Actor Kevin Dunn is 69.
- Former Arkansas governor and political commentator Mike Huckabee is 69.
- Actor and author Stephen Fry is 67.
- Actor Steve Guttenberg is 66.
- Cal Ripken Jr., a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame, is 64.
- Actor Jared Harris is 63.
- Talk show host Craig Kilborn is 62.
- Actress Marlee Matlin is 59.
- Reggie Miller, member of the Basketball Hall of Fame, is 59.
- Film director Ava DuVernay is 52.
- Actor and comedian Dave Chappelle is 51.
- Actor James D’Arcy is 50.
- Actor Carmine Giovinazzo (jee-oh-vihn-AH’-zoh) is 51.
- Actor Alex O’Loughlin is 48.
- Author John Green is 47.
- Actor Chad Michael Murray is 43.
- Actor Rupert Grint is 36.
- Basketball player Kelsey Plum is 30.
