This day in history

[August 21, 2010]  (AP)  Today is Saturday, Aug. 21, the 233rd day of 2010. There are 132 days left in the year.

Today's highlight in history:

On Aug. 21, 1959, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed an executive order making Hawaii the 50th state.

On this date:

In 1609, Galileo Galilei demonstrated his new telescope to a group of officials atop the Campanile (kam-pah-NEE'-lee) in Venice.

In 1807, Robert Fulton's North River Steamboat set off from Albany on its return trip to New York, arriving some 30 hours later.

In 1831, Nat Turner led a violent slave rebellion in Virginia resulting in the deaths of at least 55 white people. (He was later executed.)

In 1858, the first of seven debates between Illinois senatorial contenders Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas took place.

In 1878, the American Bar Association was founded in Saratoga, N.Y.

In 1911, Leonardo da Vinci's "Mona Lisa" was stolen from the Louvre Museum in Paris. (The painting turned up two years later, in Italy.)

In 1940, exiled Communist revolutionary Leon Trotsky died in a Mexican hospital from wounds inflicted by an assassin the day before.

In 1963, martial law was declared in South Vietnam as police and army troops began a crackdown on Buddhist anti-government protesters.

In 1983, Philippine opposition leader Benigno S. Aquino Jr., ending a self-imposed exile in the United States, was shot dead moments after stepping off a plane at Manila International Airport.

In 1991, the hard-line coup against Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev collapsed in the face of a popular uprising led by Russian federation President Boris N. Yeltsin.

Ten years ago: Rescue efforts to reach the sunken Russian nuclear submarine Kursk ended with divers announcing none of the 118 sailors had survived.

Five years ago: Pope Benedict XVI triumphantly ended his four-day trip to his native Germany, celebrating an open-air Mass for a million people in Cologne. Robert A. Moog (mohg), whose self-named electronic synthesizers revolutionized music in the 1960s, died in Asheville, N.C. at age 71.

One year ago: Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi welcomed with a hug the only man convicted of the 1988 Lockerbie bombing that killed 270 people and praised Scotland's leaders for "their courageously right and humanitarian decision" to release him. A high-level delegation of North Korean officials paid their respects to late former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung. Leaders of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America voted to lift a ban that prohibited sexually active gays and lesbians from serving as ministers.

Today's birthdays: Former football player Pete Retzlaff is 79. Actor-director Melvin Van Peebles is 78. Playwright Mart Crowley ("The Boys in the Band") is 75. Singer Kenny Rogers is 72. Actor Clarence Williams III is 71. Rock-and-roll musician James Burton is 71. Singer Harold Reid (The Statler Brothers) is 71. Singer Jackie DeShannon is 69. Football Hall of Famer Willie Lanier is 65. Actress Patty McCormack is 65. Pop singer-musician Carl Giammarese (jee-ah mah-REE'-see) is 63. Actress Loretta Devine is 61. CBS "Early Show" co-host Harry Smith is 59. Singer Glenn Hughes is 58. Country musician Nick Kane is 56. Actress Kim Cattrall is 54. College Football Hall of Famer and NFL quarterback Jim McMahon is 51. Baseball All-Star pitcher John Wetteland is 44. Rock singer Serj Tankian (TAN'-kee-ahn) (System of a Down) is 43. Actress Carrie-Anne Moss is 40. MLB player Craig Counsell is 40. Rock musician Liam Howlett (Prodigy) is 39. Actress Alicia Witt is 35. Singer Kelis (kuh-LEES') is 31. TV personality Brody Jenner is 27. Singer Melissa Schuman is 26. Olympic gold medal sprinter Usain Bolt is 24. Actor Cody Kasch is 23. Actress Hayden Panettiere (pan'-uh-tee-EHR') is 21. Actor RJ Mitte (TV: "Breaking Bad") is 18.

Thought for today: "Old age is the most unexpected of all the things that happen to a man." -- Leon Trotsky (1879-1940)

[Associated Press]

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.