August 10
1792 - King Louis XVI was taken into custody by mobs during the French Revolution. He was executed the following January after being put on trial for treason.
1809 - Ecuador began its fight for independence from Spain.
1821 - Missouri became the 24th state to join the Union.
1846 - The Smithsonian Institution was chartered by the U.S. Congress. The "Nation's Attic" was made possible by $500,000 given by scientist Joseph Smithson.
1859 - In Boston, MA, the first milk inspectors were appointed.
1869 - The motion picture projector was patented by O.B. Brown.
1881 - Thomas Edison's exhibit opened the Paris Electrical Exhibition.
1885 - The first electric streetcar, to be used commercially, was operated in Baltimore, MD, by Leo Daft.
1914 - Austria-Hungary invaded Russia.
1921 - Franklin D. Roosevelt was stricken with polio.
1927 - Mount Rushmore was formally dedicated. The individual faces of the presidents were dedicated later.
1944 - U.S. forces defeated the remaining Japanese resistance on Guam.
1945 - The day after the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan announced they would surrender. The only condition was that the status of Emperor Hirohito would remain unchanged.
1947 - William Odom completed an around-the-world flight. He set the solo record by completing the flight in 73 hours and 5 minutes.
1948 - On ABC, "Candid Camera" made its TV debut. The original title was "Candid Microphone."
1949 - In the U.S., the National Military Establishment had its name changed to the Department of Defense.
1954 - Construction began on the St. Lawrence Seaway.
1965 - In Austin, TX, a fire burned part of the 20th floor of the 27-story University of Texas main building. A collection that contained items once owned by escape artist Harry Houdini and circus magnate P. T. Barnum were damaged by smoke and water.
1971 - Harmon Killebrew (Minnesota Twins) got his 500th and 501st home runs of his major league baseball career.
1973 - Arnold Palmer did not make the cut for the final two rounds of the PGA Golf Championship. It was the first time in his career.
1981 - Pete Rose hit a single and broke the National League all-time hit record with his 3,631 hit.
1988 - U.S. President Reagan signed a measure that provided $20,000 payments to Japanese-Americans who were interned by the U.S. government during World War II.
1993 - A massive deficit-reduction bill was signed into law by U.S. President Bill Clinton.
1994 - U.S. President Clinton claimed presidential immunity when he asked a federal judge to dismiss, at least for the time being, a sexual harassment lawsuit filed by Paula Corbin Jones.
1995 - Norma McCorvey, "Jane Roe" of the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion, announced that she had joined the anti-abortion group Operation Rescue.
1999 - Near an India-Pakistan border area an Indian fighter jet shot down a Pakistani naval aircraft. Sixteen people were killed.
2003 - Ekaterina Dmitriev and Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko were married. Malenchenko was about 240 miles above the earth in the international space station. It was the first-ever marriage from space.
