World News
President Woodrow Wilson establishes the National Park Service
Today is Sunday, August 25, the 238th day of 2024. There are 128 days left in the year.
Today in history:
On August 25, 1916, Woodrow Wilson signed the National Park Service Organic Act, which established the National Park Service as an agency of the United States Department of the Interior to preserve the natural and historic wonders of the country and “leave them untouched for the enjoyment of future generations. .”
Also on this date:
In 1875, Matthew Webb became the first person to swim across the English Channel, from Dover, England, to Calais (ka-LAY’), France, in less than 22 hours.
In 1928, an expedition led by Richard E. Byrd left Hoboken, NJ, on a journey to Antarctica.
In 1944, Paris was liberated by Allied forces after four years of Nazi occupation during World War II.
1948 – During the first televised congressional hearing of the House Un-American Activities Committee, Alger Hiss denied Whittaker Chambers’ accusations that Hiss was a communist involved in espionage. (Hiss was later charged with perjury and sentenced to five years in prison, but maintained his innocence until his death in 1996.)
In 1981, the American spacecraft Voyager 2 came within 60,000 miles of Saturn’s cloud cover and sent back photos and data about the ringed planet.
In 2001, R&B singer Aaliyah (ah-LEE’-yah) died along with eight others in a plane crash in the Bahamas; she was 22.
In 2012, Neil Armstrong, aged 82, who commanded the historic Apollo 11 moon landing and was the first man to set foot on the moon in July 1969, died in Cincinnati, Ohio.
In 2017, Hurricane Harvey, the strongest hurricane to hit the US in more than a decade, made landfall near Corpus Christi, Texas, with sustained winds of 130 miles per hour; the storm would bring five days of rain totaling nearly 52 inches, the heaviest tropical downpour ever recorded in the continental US
In 2020, two people were shot and killed and a third was injured when 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse opened fire with an AR-15-style rifle during a third night of protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin, over the shooting of a Black man by the Police. husband, Jacob Blake. (Rittenhouse, who was taken into custody the next day in Illinois, said he defended himself after the three men attacked him as he tried to protect businesses from protesters; he was acquitted of all charges, including murder.)
In 2022, regulators approved California’s plans to require all new cars, trucks and SUVs to run on electricity or hydrogen by 2035.
Today’s Birthdays:
- Actor Tom Skerritt is 91.
- Former US Poet Laureate Charles Wright is 89.
- Author Frederick Forsyth is 86.
- Film director John Badham is 85.
- Baseball Hall of Famer Rollie Fingers is 78.
- Rock musician Gene Simmons (Kiss) is 75.
- Rock singer Rob Halford (Judas Priest) is 73.
- Musician Elvis Costello is 70.
- Film director Tim Burton is 66.
- Country musician Billy Ray Cyrus is 63.
- Actor Blair Underwood is 60.
- NFL Hall of Famer Cornelius Bennett is 59.
- DJ Terminator X (Public Enemy) is 57.
- Singer-songwriter Jeff Tweedy (Wilco) is 57.
- Television chief Rachael Ray is 56.
- Country singer Jo Dee Messina is 54.
- Model Claudia Schiffer is 54.
- NFL Hall of Famer Marvin Harrison is 52.
- Actor Alexander Skarsgård is 48.
- Actor Kel Mitchell is 46.
- Actor Rachel Bilson is 43.
- Actor Blake Lively is 37.
- Actor China Anne McClain is 26.
