This Week in History: Aug. 21-27

Aug 21- 1888: American inventor William Burroughs patents his mechanical adding machine. 1911: One of Leonardo da Vinci’s most famous paintings, the Mona Lisa, is stolen from the Louvre in Paris, France. Vincenzo Peruggia, a former Louvre employee, hid in a storage closet with two accomplices overnight. They removed the painting from its frame, wrapped it in cloth, and departed through an unguarded side door before the gallery opened. Remarkably, the theft wasn’t noticed until the next day! The masterpiece was recovered in 1913 in Florence, Italy after Peruggia tried to sell it to an art dealer and authorities were alerted. It was returned to the Louvre in 1929, where it continues to attract millions of visitors every year. 1942: Walt Disney’s animated “Bambi” opens in US theaters. 1959: Hawaii becomes the 50th (and last) state to be added to the USA.

Aug 22- 1485: English King Richard III is killed at the Battle of Bosworth, the last major battle of the bloody War of the Roses. He was the last monarch to die in a military battle. 1851: The yacht “America” wins the first Royal Yacht Squadron Cup sailing competition. The contest would become known as the America’s Cup in subsequent years. 1902: President Theodore Roosevelt becomes the first president to ride in a presidential motorcade, riding through the streets of Hartford, Connecticut in an electric automobile. His entourage included bicyclists, men on horseback, and other cars, as he greeted large crowds of people who had gather along the streets to witness the spectacle. 1945: Ho Chi Minh leads Viet Minh guerrillas into Hanoi, later proclaiming Vietnam to be an independent state, leading to armed conflict with France and then with the United States.

Aug 23- 1902: After serving as the director of the well-regarded Boston Cooking School for several years and writing many successful cookbooks, Fanny Farmer opens Miss Farmer’s School of Cookery in Boston, which would remain in business until 1944, nearly 30 years after her death in 1915. 1943: The Battle of Kursk ends after 50 days, with the Soviet army defeating the Nazis. The largest tank battle in military history saw more than 10,000 tanks deployed and resulted in more than 250,000 deaths. 1996: Osama bin Laden issues a declaration of war (jihad) against the United States. 2010: Elin Nordegrin divorces golfer Tiger Woods after six years of marriage.

Aug 24- 79CE: Mt. Vesuvius erupts, burying Pompeii and surrounding towns under tons of volcanic ash and rock, killing several thousand people. 1814: British troops capture Washington, DC during the War of 1812 and set the White House on fire.

“Days of Destruction: August 24-25, 1814” Tom Freeman, 2004. White House Historical Association

1853: Chef George Speck prepares the first batch of potato chips at the Moon Lake Lodge in Saratoga Springs, NY. 2008: The closing ceremonies of the Beijing Olympic Games are watched on television by an audience estimated at five BILLION people, or nearly 70% of the world’s population!

Aug 25- 1718: Hundreds of French colonists arrive in southeastern Louisiana and the city of New Orleans is founded. 1885: Future American author Laura Ingalls weds Almonzo Wilder in De Smet, SD. 1944: German commander Dietrich von-Choltitz surrenders the city of Paris to advancing Free French troops, directly disobeying Adolf Hitler’s order that the city be destroyed rather than recaptured. 1990: The UN Security Council authorizes military action against Iraq (Operation Desert Shield). 2012: NASA’s Voyager I, launched in 1977, becomes the first spacecraft to leave the solar system, traveling beyond the magnetic fields and energetic particles from the sun, into interstellar space.

Aug 26- 1682: Astronomer Edmond Halley first observes the comet that will famously be named for him. 1873: The first free kindergarten in the US is started by Susan Blow in Carondelet, MO, a suburb of St. Louis. 1968: The Beatles release the single “Hey Jude,” which will later be named Song of the Year by Billboard Magazine and in 2013 will be ranked as the 10th biggest song of all time by the same publication. 2013: Nearly 25,000 high school graduates take the entrance examination for the University of Liberia in western Africa AND NOT A SINGLE STUDENT PASSES THE TEST! (That’s zero percent).

Aug 27- 1883: The eruption of the Indonesian volcano Krakatoa peaks with over 70% of the island collapsing into a caldera. The eruption and subsequent tsunami it created killed more than 40,000 people. 1896: The British defeat Zanzibar, an archipelago off the east coast of Africa in the Indian Ocean, in a war that lasts just 38 minutes. At 9:02 AM local time, the Royal Navy begins shelling the palace and a white flag of surrender is raised at 9:40 AM. The shortest war in history and a record that will probably stand for all time! 1964: The musical film “Mary Poppins” premieres at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles, CA. The movie would win five Academy Awards in 1965, including the Best Actress award for star Julie Andrews. 2004: German kayaker Birgit Fischer wins a Gold Medal at her SIXTH different Olympic Games, an all-time record for Olympic success! 2008: Senator Barack Obama becomes the first African American to be nominated for president by a major American political party.