August 21

What happened that day?

• 2017: An eclipse traverses the continental United States.
• 2016: Last day of the Rio Summer Olympics.
• 2013: Hundreds of people are reported killed by chemical attacks in the Ghouta region of Syria.
• 2000: Tiger Woods, American professional golfer, wins the 82nd PGA Championship and becomes the first golfer since Ben Hogan in 1953 to win 3 majors in a calendar year.
• 1993: NASA loses contact with the Mars Observer spacecraft.
• 1991: Coup attempt against Mikhail Gorbachev collapses.
• 1991: Latvia declares renewal of its full independence after the occupation of Soviet Union.
• 1988: The 6.9 Mw Nepal earthquake shakes the Nepal-India border with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe), leaving 709-1,450 people killed and thousands injured.
• 1986: Carbon dioxide gas erupts from volcanic Lake Nyos in Cameroon, killing up to 1,800 people within a 20-kilometer range.
• 1983: Philippine opposition leader Benigno Aquino, Jr. is assassinated at the Manila International Airport (now renamed Ninoy Aquino International Airport in his honor).
• 1982: Lebanese Civil War: The first troops of a multinational force lands in Beirut to oversee the Palestine Liberation Organization's withdrawal from Lebanon.
• 1971: A bomb exploded in the Liberal Party campaign rally in Plaza Miranda, Manila, Philippines with several anti-Marcos political candidates injured.
• 1968: James Anderson, Jr. posthumously receives the first Medal of Honor to be awarded to an African American U.S. Marine.
• 1968: Nicolae Ceaușescu, leader of Communist Romania, publicly condemns the Soviet led Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia, encouraging the Romanian population to arm itself against possible Soviet reprisals.
• 1963: Xá Lợi Pagoda raids: The Army of the Republic of Vietnam Special Forces loyal to Ngô Đình Nhu, brother of President Ngo Dinh Diem, vandalizes Buddhist pagodas across the country, arresting thousands and leaving an estimated hundreds dead.
• 1961: Motown releases what would be its first #1 hit, "Please Mr. Postman" by The Marvelettes.
• 1961: American country music singer Patsy Cline returns to record producer Owen Bradley's studio in Nashville, Tennessee to record her vocals to Willie Nelson's "Crazy", which would become her signature song.
• 1959: United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs an executive order proclaiming Hawaii the 50th state of the union. Hawaii's admission is currently commemorated by Hawaii Admission Day
• 1957: The Soviet Union successfully conducts a long-range test flight of the R-7 Semyorka, the first intercontinental ballistic missile.
• 1945: Physicist Harry Daghlian is fatally irradiated in a criticality accident during an experiment with the Demon core at Los Alamos National Laboratory.
• 1944: World War II: Canadian and Polish units capture the strategically important town of Falaise, Calvados, France.
• 1944: Dumbarton Oaks Conference, prelude to the United Nations, begins.
• 1942: World War II: The Guadalcanal Campaign: American forces defeat an attack by Imperial Japanese Army soldiers in the Battle of the Tenaru.
• 1942: World War II: The flag of Nazi Germany is planted atop Mount Elbrus, the highest peak of the Caucasus mountain range.
• 1918: World War I: The Second Battle of the Somme begins.
• 1914: World War I: The Battle of Charleroi, a successful German attack across the River Sambre that pre-empted a French offensive in the same area.
• 1911: The Mona Lisa is stolen by Vincenzo Perugia, a Louvre employee.
• 1901: Six hundred American school teachers, Thomasites, arrived in Manila on the USAT Thomas.
• 1897: Oldsmobile, a brand of American automobiles, is founded.
• 1888: The first successful adding machine in the United States is patented by William Seward Burroughs.
• 1883: An F5 tornado strikes Rochester, Minnesota, leading to the creation of the Mayo Clinic.
• 1863: Lawrence, Kansas is destroyed by pro-Confederate guerrillas known as Quantrill's Raiders.
• 1852: Tlingit Indians destroy Fort Selkirk, Yukon Territory.
• 1831: Nat Turner leads black slaves and free blacks in a rebellion in Southampton County, Virginia, which will claim the lives of 55 to 65 whites.
• 1821: Jarvis Island is discovered by the crew of the ship, Eliza Frances.
• 1810: Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte, Marshal of France, is elected Crown Prince of Sweden by the Swedish Riksdag of the Estates.
• 1808: Battle of [Vimeiro](https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Vimeiro): British and Portuguese forces led by General Arthur Wellesley defeat French force under Major-General Jean-Andoche Junot near the village of Vimeiro, Portugal, the first Anglo-Portuguese victory of the Peninsular War.
• 1791: A Vodou ceremony, led by Dutty Boukman, turns into a violent slave rebellion, beginning the Haitian Revolution.
• 1778: American Revolutionary War: British forces begin besieging the French outpost at Pondichéry.
• 1772: King Gustav III completes his coup d'état by adopting a new Constitution, ending half a century of parliamentary rule in Sweden and installing himself as an enlightened despot.
• 1770: James Cook formally claims eastern Australia for Great Britain, naming it New South Wales.
• 1689: The Battle of Dunkeld in Scotland.
• 1680: Pueblo Indians capture Santa Fe from the Spanish during the Pueblo Revolt.
• 1415: Henry the Navigator leads Portuguese forces to victory over the Marinids at the Battle of Ceuta.
• 1331: King Stefan Uroš III, after months of anarchy, surrenders to his son and rival Stefan Dušan, who succeeds as King of Serbia.
• 1192: Minamoto no Yoritomo becomes Seii Tai Shōgun and the de facto ruler of Japan. (Traditional Japanese date: July 12, 1192)
• 1140: Song dynasty general Yue Fei defeats an army led by Jin dynasty general Wuzhu at the Battle of Yancheng during the Jin-Song Wars.
• 959: Eraclus becomes the 25th bishop of Liège.