GOOD MORNING – TODAY IS SUNDAY, August 21, the 234th day of 2016 with 132 to follow. Sunrise in the Boston area is @ 5:57 and sunset is @ 7:37. The moon is waning. The morning stars are stars are Mars, Mercury, Neptune, Saturn, Uranus & Venus. The evening stars are Jupiter & Mars.
ON THIS DAY IN: 1680 – The Pueblo Indians drove the Spanish out and took possession of Santa Fe, NM.
1831 – Nat Turner, a former slave, led a violent insurrection in Virginia. He was later executed.
1841 – A patent for venetian blinds was issued to John Hampton.
1878 – The American Bar Association was formed by a group of lawyers, judges and law professors in Saratoga,NY.
1888 – The adding machine was patented by William Burroughs.
1912 – Arthur R. Eldred became the first American boy to become an Eagle Scout. It is the highest rank in the Boy Scouts of America.
1923 – In Kalamazoo, Michigan, an ordinance was passed forbidding dancers from gazing into the eyes of their partner.
1943 – Japan evacuated the Aleutian island of Kiaska. Kiaska had been the last North American foothold held by the Japanese.
1945 – U.S. President Truman ended the Lend-Lease program that had shipped about $50 billion in aid to America’s Allies during World War II.
1959 – Hawaii became the 50th state. U.S. President Eisenhower also issued the order for the 50 star flag.
1963 – In South Vietnam, martial law was declared. Army troops and police began to crackdown on the Buddhist anti-government protesters.
1971 – Laura Baugh, at the age of 16, won the United States Women’s Amateur Golf tournament. She was the youngest winner in the history of the tournament.
1984 – Victoria Roche, a reserve outfielder, became the first girl to ever compete in a Little League World Series game.
1984 – Clint Eastwood was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
1989 – Voyager 2, a U.S. space probe, got close to the Neptune moon called Triton.
1991 – The hard-line coup against Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev ended. The uprising that led to the collapse was led by Russian federation President Boris Yeltsin.
1992 – NBC News fired Authur Kent two weeks after he refused an assignment to war-torn Croatia.
1993 – NASA lost contact with the Mars Observer spacecraft. The fate of the spacecraft was unknown. The mission cost $980 million.
1994 – Ernesto Zedillo won the Mexican presidential election.
1996 – The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 was signed by U.S. President Clinton. The act made it easier to obtain and keep health insurance.
1997 – Hudson Foods Inc. closed a plant in Nebraska after it had recalled 25 million pounds of ground beef that was potentially contaminated with E. coli 01557:H7. It was the largest food recall in U.S. history.
1997 – Afghanistan suspended its embassy operations in the United States.
1997 – Cicely Tyson received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
1998 – Wesley Snipes received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
2002 – In Pakistan, President General Pervez Musharraf unilaterally amended the Pakistani constitution. He extended his term in office and granted himself powers that included the right to dissolve parliament.
2003 – In Ghana, businessman Gyude Bryant was selected to oversee the two-year power-sharing accord between Liberia’s rebels and the government. The accord was planned to guide the country out of 14 years of civil war.