Aug. 24
Today in history
Today is Aug. 24. On this date in:
79: Mount Vesuvius erupted, destroying Pompeii and Herculaneum, killing what is believed to be thousands. The Aug. 24 date comes from a medieval copy of a letter by Pliny the Younger. But some copies of the letter have other dates, and botanical, graffiti and other evidence point to a possible fall date for the disaster.
410: An army of Visigoths led by Alaric sacked Rome. It was the first time in 800 years that Rome had been invaded, and it came to symbolize the fall of the Western Roman Empire. “Sobs choke me. The city which had taken the whole world was itself taken,” wrote Jerome, later a saint.
1682: The Duke of York deeded William Penn the “Three Lower Counties” that make up the present state of Delaware. Penn wanted the land for Atlantic access for his colony of Pennsylvania.
1814: British troops captured Washington, DC, and set fire to several government buildings. Most notable were the Capitol and the Executive Mansion, now called the White House. What they didn’t confiscate, however, was a portrait of George Washington painted by Gilbert Stuart. First lady Dolley Madison instructed 15-year-old Paul Jennings to “Save that picture, if possible,” allegedly refusing to flee until the 8-foot portrait was unscrewed from the wall; for speed, she ordered the frame broken.
1821: Spanish Viceroy Juan de O’Donojú signed the Treaty of Cordoba, granting Mexico independence from Spain. The Mexican War of Independence had started 11 years earlier.
1949: NATO entered into force following the signing of its treaty four months earlier. The founding treaty pledged that the members would “promote stability and well-being in the North Atlantic area” and “unite their efforts for collective defence and for the preservation of peace and security.”
1950: Judge Edith Sampson became the United States’ first Black representative to the United Nations. She was named as an alternate delegate. Sampson was a woman of many firsts, including being the first Black woman to be elected to the judiciary.
1968: France became the world’s fifth thermonuclear power, exploding a hydrogen bomb in a test on French Polynesia. The 2.6-megaton explosion contaminated the uninhabited atoll to such an extent that people could not set foot on the island for six years.
1981: Mark David Chapman was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison for the murder of John Lennon. He pleaded guilty, saying devils told him to shoot the former Beatle and God told him to confess.
1987: Civil rights leader Bayard Rustin died at 75. A chief organizer of the March on Washington, he was often kept behind the scenes because he was gay.
1996: Four women enrolled at the Citadel, a South Carolina military college that had lost a court fight to remain all-male. One of them, Nancy Mace, later successfully ran for Congress.
2006: The International Astronomical Union voted to demote Pluto to a “dwarf planet.” The decision was highly controversial, with some influential scientists criticizing the definition of a planet and noting that only about 4% of the world’s astronomers attended the conference.
2011: Steve Jobs resigned as CEO of Apple, saying he could no longer meet his “duties and expectations” due to health issues. He died of cancer less than two months later.
– USA TODAY Network
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Today in history, August 24