Today’s Highlight in History:
On Aug. 22, 1851, the schooner America outraced more than a dozen British vessels off the English coast to win a trophy that came to be known as the America’s Cup.
On this date:
In 1787, inventor John Fitch demonstrated his steamboat on the Delaware River to delegates from the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia.
In 1910, Japan annexed Korea, which remained under Japanese control until the end of World War II.
In 1914, Austria-Hungary declared war against Belgium.
In 1922, Irish revolutionary Michael Collins was shot to death, apparently by Irish Republican Army members opposed to the Anglo-Irish Treaty that Collins had co-signed.
In 1968, Pope Paul VI arrived in Bogota, Colombia, for the start of the first papal visit to South America.
In 1972, John Wojtowicz (WAHT’-uh-witz) and Salvatore Naturile took seven employees hostage at a Chase Manhattan Bank branch in Brooklyn, New York, during a botched robbery; the siege, which ended with Wojtowicz’s arrest and Naturile’s killing by the FBI, inspired the 1975 movie “Dog Day Afternoon.”
In 1989, Black Panthers co-founder Huey P. Newton was shot to death in Oakland, California. (Gunman Tyrone Robinson was later sentenced to 32 years to life in prison.)
In 1992, on the second day of the Ruby Ridge siege in Idaho, an FBI sharpshooter killed Vicki Weaver, the wife of white separatist Randy Weaver. (The sharpshooter later said he was targeting the couple’s friend Kevin Harris, and didn’t see Vicki Weaver.)
In 1996, President Bill Clinton signed welfare legislation ending guaranteed cash payments to the poor and demanding work from recipients.
In 2000, Publishers Clearing House agreed to pay $18 million to 24 states and the District of Columbia to settle allegations it had used deceptive promotions in its sweepstakes mailings.
In 2003, Alabama’s chief justice, Roy Moore, was suspended for his refusal to obey a federal court order to remove his Ten Commandments monument from the rotunda of his courthouse.
In 2007, A Black Hawk helicopter crashed in Iraq, killing all 14 U.S. soldiers aboard. Hurricane Dean slammed into Mexico for the second time in as many days.
Aug. 22: Newsman Morton Dean is 88. TV writer/producer David Chase (“The Sopranos”) is 78. Correspondent Steve Kroft (“60 Minutes”) is 78. Guitarist David Marks of The Beach Boys is 75. Guitarist Vernon Reid of Living Colour is 65. Country singer Collin Raye is 63. Actor Regina Taylor (“The Unit,” ″I’ll Fly Away”) is 63. Singer Roland Orzabal of Tears for Fears is 62. Drummer Debbi Peterson of The Bangles is 62. Guitarist Gary Lee Conner of Screaming Trees is 61. Singer Tori Amos is 60. Country singer Mila Mason is 60. Keyboardist James DeBarge of DeBarge is 60. Rapper GZA (Wu-Tang Clan) is 57. Actor Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (“Oz,” “Lost”) is 56. Actor Ty Burrell (“Modern Family”) is 56. Celebrity chef Giada DeLaurentiis is 53. Actor Melinda Page Hamilton (“Devious Maids,” ″Mad Men,”) is 52. Actor Rick Yune (“Die Another Day,” “The Fast and the Furious”) is 52. Guitarist Paul Doucette of Matchbox Twenty is 51. Rapper Beenie Man is 50. Singer Howie Dorough of the Backstreet Boys is 50. Comedian Kristen Wiig (“Bridesmaids,” ″Saturday Night Live”) is 50. Actor Jenna Leigh Green (“Sabrina the Teenage Witch”) is 49. Keyboardist Bo Koster of My Morning Jacket is 49. Bassist Dean Back of Theory of a Deadman is 48. Actor and TV host James Corden is 45. Guitarist Jeff Stinco of Simple Plan is 45. Actor Brandon Adams (“The Mighty Ducks”) is 44. Actor Aya Sumika (“Numb3rs”) is 43. Actor Ari Stidham (TV’s “Scorpion”) is 31.