This day in history

[August 10, 2010]  (AP)  Today is Tuesday, Aug. 10, the 222nd day of 2010. There are 143 days left in the year.

Today's highlight in history:

On Aug. 10, 1846, President James K. Polk signed a measure establishing the Smithsonian Institution.

On this date:

In 1680, Pueblo Indians launched a successful revolt against Spanish colonists in present-day New Mexico.

In 1792, during the French Revolution, mobs in Paris attacked the Tuileries (TWEE'-luh-reez) Palace, where King Louis XVI resided. (The king was later arrested, put on trial for treason, and executed the following January.)

In 1809, Ecuador struck its initial blow for independence from Spain. (Ecuador achieved independence in 1822.)

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 1885, Leo Daft opened America's first commercially operated electric streetcar, in Baltimore.

In 1921, Franklin D. Roosevelt was stricken with polio at his summer home on the Canadian island of Campobello.

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

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

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

Ten years ago: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez met with Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, defying the United States by being the first head of state to visit Iraq since the Gulf War.

Five years ago: A defiant Iran resumed full operations at its uranium conversion plant. President George W. Bush signed a $286 billion transportation bill. Tennessee prison inmate George Hyatte and his wife, Jennifer, surrendered in Columbus, Ohio, a day after she'd ambushed two prison guards at a courthouse, killing one of them, to help her husband escape. (Both later pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and were sentenced to life in prison without parole.)

One year ago: While attending a North American summit in Mexico, President Barack Obama predicted that Congress would pass his sweeping health care overhaul in the fall as more "sensible and reasoned arguments" prevailed. A double truck bombing tore through the village of a small Shiite ethnic minority near Mosul, Iraq, killing at least 28 people. Country duo Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn posted a message on their Web site announcing they had agreed to "call it a day" after 20 years of making music together.

Today's birthdays: Actress Rhonda Fleming is 87. Singer Eddie Fisher is 82. Singer Ronnie Spector is 67. Actor James Reynolds is 64. Rock singer-musician Ian Anderson (Jethro Tull) is 63. Singer Patti Austin is 62. Country musician Gene Johnson (Diamond Rio) is 61. Actor Daniel Hugh Kelly is 58. Folk singer-songwriter Sam Baker is 56. Actress Rosanna Arquette is 51. Actor Antonio Banderas is 50. Rock musician Jon Farriss (INXS) is 49. Singer Julia Fordham is 48. Journalist-blogger Andrew Sullivan is 47. Singer Neneh Cherry is 46. Singer Aaron Hall is 46. Boxer Riddick Bowe is 43. Rhythm-and-blues singer Lorraine Pearson (Five Star) is 43. Singer-producer Michael Bivins is 42. Actor-writer Justin Theroux is 39. Actress Angie Harmon is 38. Country singer Jennifer Hanson is 37. Actress JoAnna Garcia is 31. Rhythm-and-blues singer Nikki Bratcher (Divine) is 30. Actor Ryan Eggold is 26. Actor Lucas Till is 20.

Thought for today: "A man may fulfill the object of his existence by asking a question he cannot answer, and attempting a task he cannot achieve." -- Oliver Wendell Holmes, American author (1809-1894)

[Associated Press]

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