This day in history

[August 25, 2010]  (AP)  Today is Wednesday, Aug. 25, the 237th day of 2010. There are 128 days left in the year.

Today's highlight in history:

On Aug. 25, 2009, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, the liberal lion of the U.S. Senate, died at age 77 in Hyannis Port, Mass., after a battle with a brain tumor.

On this date:

In 1825, Uruguay declared independence from Brazil.

In 1875, Capt. Matthew Webb became the first person to swim across the English Channel, getting from Dover, England, to Calais (ka-LAY'), France, in 22 hours.

In 1916, the National Park Service was established within the Department of the Interior.

In 1921, the United States signed a peace treaty with Germany.

In 1943, U.S. forces liberated New Georgia in the Solomon Islands from the Japanese during World War II.

In 1944, Paris was liberated by Allied forces after four years of Nazi occupation.

In 1958, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed a measure providing pensions for former U.S. presidents and their widows.

In 1960, opening ceremonies were held for the Summer Olympics in Rome.

In 1980, the Broadway musical "42nd Street" opened. (Producer David Merrick stunned the cast and audience during the curtain call by announcing that the show's director, Gower Champion, had died earlier that day.)

In 1985, Samantha Smith, 13, the schoolgirl whose letter to Yuri V. Andropov resulted in her famous peace tour of the Soviet Union, died with her father in an airliner crash in Auburn, Maine.

Ten years ago: A bogus Internet news release picked up by financial news agencies sent the stock of high-tech firm Emulex plunging more than 60 percent, but the shares recovered after the company refuted the reports. (Mark Jakob, the author of the phony press release, was later sentenced to nearly four years in prison for wire and securities fraud.)

Five years ago: Hurricane Katrina hit Florida with 80 mph winds and headed into the Gulf of Mexico. The base closing commission voted to shut down the Army's historic Walter Reed hospital and move much of its staff and services to the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md. The Miss America pageant announced it was leaving Atlantic City, N.J., its home for 84 years. (The pageant ended up moving to Las Vegas.)

One year ago: President Barack Obama announced he wanted to keep Ben Bernanke on as Fed chairman. South Korea's first rocket blasted off into space. A judge in Los Angeles sentenced Chris Brown to five years' probation and six months' community labor for beating his former girlfriend Rihanna.

Today's birthdays: Game show host Monty Hall is 89. Actor Sean Connery is 80. Actor Page Johnson is 80. Talk show/game show host Regis Philbin is 79. Actor Tom Skerritt is 77. Jazz musician Wayne Shorter is 77. Movie director Hugh Hudson is 74. Author Frederick Forsyth is 72. Actor David Canary is 72. Movie director John Badham is 71. Filmmaker Marshall Brickman is 69. Rhythm-and-blues singer Walter Williams (The O'Jays) is 68. Actor Anthony Heald is 66. Rock musician Danny Smythe is 62. Rock singer-actor Gene Simmons is 61. Actor John Savage is 61. Country singer-musician Henry Paul (Outlaws; Blackhawk) is 61. Rock singer Rob Halford is 59. Rock musician Geoff Downes (Asia) is 58. Rock singer Elvis Costello is 56. Movie director Tim Burton is 52. Actor Christian LeBlanc is 52. Actress Ally Walker is 49. Country singer Billy Ray Cyrus is 49. Actress Joanne Whalley is 49. Rock musician Vivian Campbell (Def Leppard) is 48. Actor Blair Underwood is 46. Actor Robert Maschio is 44. Rap DJ Terminator X (Public Enemy) is 44. Alternative country singer Jeff Tweedy (Wilco) is 43. Actor David Alan Basche (BAYSH) is 42. Television chef Rachael Ray is 42. Actor Cameron Mathison is 41. Country singer Jo Dee Messina is 40. Model Claudia Schiffer is 40. Country singer Brice Long is 39. Actor Eric Millegan is 36. Actor Jonathan Togo is 33. Actor Kel Mitchell is 32. Actress Rachel Bilson ("The O.C.") is 29. Actress Blake Lively is 23. Actor Josh Flitter is 16.

Thought for today: "In moderating, not satisfying desires, lies peace." -- Ben Hecht, American screenwriter (1893-1964)

[Associated Press]

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