August 21
Slave revolt led by Nat Turner begins in Southampton County, Va.. Turner’s rebellion was the largest slave revolt in U.S. history and led to a new wave of oppressive legislation prohibiting the movement, assembly, and education of slaves. – 1831.
U.S. senator Stephen Douglas of Illinois and Abraham Lincoln, a Kentucky-born lawyer and one-time U.S. representative from Illinois, begin a series of seven famous public encounters on the issue of slavery known as the Lincoln-Douglas Debates. Lincoln lost the Senate race, but his campaign brought national attention to the young Republican Party. – 1858.
August 22
The Geneva Convention of 1864 for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded and Sick of Armies in the Field is adopted by 12 nations meeting in Geneva. The agreement calls for non-partisan care to the sick and wounded in times of war and provided for the neutrality of medical personnel. – 1864.
Five flight attendants form the Air Line Stewardesses Association, the first labor union representing flight attendants. They were reacting to an industry in which women were forced to retire at the age of 32, remain single, and adhere to strict weight, height and appearance requirements. The association later became the Association of Flight Attendants, now a division of the Communications Workers of America. – 1945.
Nolan Ryan of the Texas Rangers becomes the first pitcher in Major League Baseball history to register 5,000 career strikeouts. Ryan ended up with 5,714 strikeouts, more than 1,500 higher than any other pitcher, now more than 800 higher. – 1989.
Hurricane Andrew hits the Bahamas on this day in 1992. There and in south Florida, where it arrived two days later, the storm was responsible for the deaths of 26 residents and an estimated $35 billion in property damage. Hurricane Andrew was so concentrated that it resembled a tornado in its effects. – 1992.
August 23
As punishment for betting on baseball, Cincinnati Reds manager Pete Rose accepts a settlement that includes a lifetime ban from the game. – 1989.
August 24
After centuries of being dormant, Mount Vesuvius erupts in southern Italy, to devastate the prosperous Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum to kill thousands. A flow of rock and ash follows to bury the dead and freeze the citizens in time, which tells the story of their every-day life. – 79 C.E..
During the War of 1812 between the United States and England, British troops enter Washington, D.C. and burn the White House in retaliation for the American attack on the city of York in Ontario, Can., in June 1812. – 1814.
The Mechanics Gazette, believed to be the first U.S. labor newspaper, is published in Philadelphia, the outgrowth of a strike by Carpenters who were demanding a shorter, 10-hour day. The strike lost, but labor journalism blossomed: Within five years there were 68 labor newspapers across the country, many of them dailies. – 1827.
August 25
Matthew Webb, a 27-year-old merchant Navy captain, becomes the first known person to successfully swim the English Channel. Captain Webb accomplished the grueling 21-mile crossing, which really entailed 39 miles of swimming because of tidal currents. He completed the swim in 21 hours and 45 minutes. – 1875.
French General Jacques Leclerc enters the free French capital triumphantly. Pockets of German intransigence remained, but Paris was free from German control. – 1944.
August 26
The first televised Major League Baseball game is broadcast on station W2XBS, the station that was to become WNBC-TV. Announcer Red Barber called the game between the Cincinnati Reds and the Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn, N. Y.. Only approximately 400 residents of the New York area owned televisons at the time. – 1939.
August 27
The most powerful volcanic eruption in recorded history occurs on Krakatau, called Krakatoa, a small, uninhabited volcanic island west of Sumatra in Indonesia. Heard 3,000 miles away, the explosions throw five cubic miles of earth 50 miles into the air, create 120-foot tsunamis, and kill 36,000 humans. Fine dust from the explosion drifted around the earth and caused spectacular sunsets and forms an atmospheric veil that lowered temperatures worldwide by several degrees. – 1883.
U.S. president Harry Truman orders the U.S. Army to seize all of the Nation’s railroads to prevent a general strike. The railroads were not returned to their owners until two years later. – 1950.