Today's Highlight in History:
On August tenth, 1846, Congress chartered the Smithsonian Institution, named after English scientist James Smithson, whose bequest¹ of half a million dollars had made it possible.
On this date:
In 1809, Ecuador struck its first blow for independence from Spain.

In 1821, Missouri became the 24th state.

In 1874, Herbert Clark Hoover, the 31st president of the United States, was born in West Branch, Iowa.

In 1944, during World War Two, American forces overcame remaining Japanese resistance on Guam.

In 1949, the National Military Establishment was renamed the Department of Defense².

In 1969, Leno and Rosemary LaBianca were murdered in their Los Angeles home by members of Charles Manson's cult³, one day after actress Sharon Tate and four other people were slain⁴.

In 1975, television personality David Frost announced he had purchased the exclusive rights to interview former President Nixon.

In 1977, postal⁵ employee David Berkowitz was arrested in Yonkers, New York, accused of being "Son of Sam," the gunman responsible for six slayings and seven woundings.

In 1988, President Reagan signed a measure providing 20-thousand-dollar payments to Japanese-Americans interned⁶ during World War Two.

In 1993, Ruth Bader Ginsburg was sworn in as the second female justice on the Supreme⁷ Court.

Ten years ago: Washington DC Mayor Marion Barry was convicted of a single misdemeanor drug charge and acquitted⁸ on another; the judge declared a mistrial on 12 other counts.

Five years ago: Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols were charged with eleven counts in the Oklahoma City bombing (McVeigh was later convicted of murder and is on federal death row; Nichols was convicted of conspiracy⁹ and involuntary manslaughter). Norma McCorvey, "Jane Roe¹⁰" of the 1973 Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion¹¹, announced she had joined the anti-abortion group Operation Rescue.

One year ago: A gunman opened fire at a Jewish community center in Los Angeles, wounding three boys, a teen-age girl and a woman; hours later, a gunman shot and killed letter carrier Joseph Ileto; a suspect, white supremacist Buford O. Furrow¹², faces charges in both shootings.