On August 21st...

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1754 William Murdock, inventor of gas lighting, was born.

1765 King William IV of the United Kingdom was born.

1810 Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte, Marshal of France, was elected Crown Prince of Sweden by the Swedish Riksdag of the Estates.

1814 Scientist-inventor Sir Benjamin Thompson Rumford died.

1831 Former slave Nat Turner led a violent insurrection in Virginia.

1841 John Hampton patented venetian blinds.

1858 The first debate between Illinois senatorial contenders Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas took place.

1878 The American Bar Association was founded in Saratoga, New York.

1888 William Seward Burroughs patented the adding machine.

1896 Author Roark Bradford was born.

1906 Cartoonist Friz Freleng was born.

1911 Leonardo da Vinci's "Mona Lisa" was stolen from the Louvre Museum. (It was recovered two years later.)

1930 Princess Margaret of Great Britain was born.

1936 Basketball player Wilt Chamberlain was born.

1938 Singer Kenny Rogers was born.

1940 Jazz musician William Allen "Count" Basie was born.
1940 Poet Ernest Thayer died.
1940 Leon Trotsky, Communist revolutionary leader, died one day after being shot by an assassin.

1944 Singer Jackie DeShannon was born.

1954 Football player Archie Griffin was born.

1959 Hawaii was officially admitted as the 50th state of the union.

1978 South African President Nicolaas Diederichs died.

1983 Philippine political opposition leader Benigno Aquino was assassinated.

1986 Olympic sprinter Usain Bolt was born.

2005 Robert Moog, inventor of the synthesizer, died.

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This page was last updated on August 21, 2018.