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What happened in history on this day: August 24?
On August 24 in ...
- 1814 - Battle of Bladensburg; British beat Americans, march on Washington, DC, burn presidential residence and main Treasury building in retaliation for Americans burning of the Governor's residence at Fort York. President James Madison orders the building be white-washed to hide the black fire damage.
- 1848 - The U.S. barque Ocean Monarch is burnt out off the Great Orme, North Wales, with the loss of 178, chiefly emigrants.
- 1853 - First potato chips prepared by Chef George Crum (Saratoga Springs, New York, USA).
- 1854 - National emigration convention meets in Cleveland, Ohio.
- 1861 - The US Treasury Department issues the first US demand note, a $10 note payable in Philadelphia.
- 1912 - New York City hold ticker tape parade for Jim Thorpe and victorious US Olympic athletes.
- 1912 - Territory of Alaska is organized.
- 1912 - US passes Anti-gag law, gives federal employees right to petition the government.
- 1949 - North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) established.
- 1954 - In the USA, the Communist Control Act is passed, at height of McCarthyism.
- 1956 - First non-stop transcontinental helicopter flight arrives in Washington DC.
- 1959 - Hiram L Fong sworn in as first Chinese-American senator while Daniel K Inouye sworn in as first Japanese-American Republican (both from Hawaii).
- 1967 - Abbie Hoffman and others toss dollar bills from the visitors' gallery of the New York Stock Exchange to create mayhem on the trading floor.
- 1970 - Bomb kills one at University of Wisconsin's Army Math Research Center in Madison.
- 1981 - Mark David Chapman is sentenced to 20 years to life for John Lennon's murder.
- 1983 - The Old Philadelphia Arena is destroyed by arson.
- 1990 - Iraqi troops surround American and other embassies in Kuwait City.
- 1992 - (to August 28) Hurricane Andrew hits South Florida and dissipates over the Tennessee valley when it merges with a storm system; 23 are killed.
- 1994 - Jeffrey Katzenberg resigns from the Walt Disney Company.
- 1995 - Microsoft releases the Windows 95 operating system. This is the first consumer Windows version that does not require MS-DOS pre-installed. New features include integrated TCP/IP stack, dial-up networking, and long filenames. The software comprises over 11 million lines of code. The US$250 million publicity campaign includes US$12 million for the rights to the "Start Me Up" song by the Rolling Stones. This is the biggest marketing extravaganza for a consumer product ever. First day sales total about 300,000 copies.
- 1996 - Microsoft releases Windows NT 4.0, with graphical user interface similar to that of Windows 95. The software comprises 16.5 million lines of code. Code-name during development was Cairo.
- 2008 - An aircraft crashes in Guatemala, killing 10, including four Americans on a humanitarian mission.
- 2009 - The publisher of Reader's Digest in the US files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, carrying out its plan to cut debt and transfer ownership to a group of lenders.
- 2009 - The month-long "cash for clunkers" program in the US ends, with $2.9 billion spent by the US government in rebates on 690,000 low-efficiency vehicles. The top trade-in was the four-wheel-drive Ford Explorer; top new purchase was Toyota Corolla.
- 2010 - US military in Iraq cuts its strength to 50,000 troops.
- 2016 - Magnitude 6.2 earthquake strikes northeast of Rome, Italy, killing over 247 people.
- 2018 - In Massachusetts, USA, the state's first true casino opens, MGM Springfield, with 23 poker tables, 2550 slot machines, and 120 gaming tables. The casino has 125,000 square feet of gaming space, and cost nearly $1 billion to build. Location is 80 miles west of Boston.
Births on August 24
- 1896 - Birth of Phil Baker in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; comedian (Who's Whose).
- 1898 - Birth of Malcolm Cowley in Belsano, Pennsylvania, USA; author (Flowering of New England).
- 1900 - Birth of Preston Foster in Ocean City, New Jersey, USA; actor (Waterfront, Gunslinger).
- 1912 - Birth of Durward Kirby in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA; TV announcer (Garry Moore Show).
- 1917 - Birth of Dennis James in Jersey City, New Jersey, USA; wrestling announcer/TV host (PDQ).
- 1938 - Birth of Mason Williams in Abilene, Texas, USA; writer (Smother Brothers Hour).
- 1944 - Birth of Gregory B Jarvis in Detroit, Michigan, USA; astronaut (STS 25).
- 1946 - Birth of Richard "Dick" N Richards in Key West, Florida, USA; US Navy/astronaut (STS-28, 41, sk:50).
- 1947 - Birth of Anne Archer in Los Angeles, California, USA; actress (Too Scared to Scream, Fatal Attraction).
- 1949 - Birth of Anna L Fisher in Saint Albans, New York, USA; MD/astronaut (STS 51-A).
- 1949 - Birth of Joe Regalbuto in Brooklyn, New York, USA; actor (Knots Landing, Frank - Murphy Brown).
- 1958 - Birth of Steve Guttenberg in Brooklyn, New York, USA; actor (Police Academy, Short Circuit).
- 1962 - Birth of Mary E Weber in Cleveland, Ohio, USA; PhD/astronaut.
- 1965 - Birth of Marlee Matlin in Illinois, USA; deaf actress (Children of a Lesser God - Academy Award, The West Wing).
Deaths on August 24
- 1991 - Abel Kivlat, US 1500m runner (Olympic-silver-1912), dies at age 99.
- 1998 - E.G. Marshall, American actor (The Defenders, Nixon, Absolute Power), dies at age 88 (born 1910).
- 2016 - Death of Roger Y. Tsien, American Nobel biologist (born 1952).
- 2022 - Death of Len Dawson at age 87 in Kansas City, Kansas, USA; football player (quarterback (Kansas City Chiefs), Pro Football Hall of Fame, Super Bowl IV Most Valuable Player).
- 2022 - Death of Joe E. Tata at age 85 of Alzheimer's disease in Woodland Hills, California, USA; character actor (Beverly Hills, 90210 TV show).
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