Son of Sam

1977

Son of Sam serial killer is arrested

Born on This Day

"On set of the movie BLACK BUTTERFLY" by AMBI Group

Antonio Banderas

1960 -

Spanish actor known for his collaborations with director Pedro Almódovar. Voice of Puss in Boots in the "Shrek" franchise.

Seen Around Spring 2016 New York Fashion Week - Day 2

Betsey Johnson

1942 -

Fashion designer known for her eclectic designs featuring vibrant prints and playful, whimsical details.

Eddie Fisher

Eddie Fisher

1928 - 2010

Pop singer, actor, TV show host and father of Carrie Fisher who garnered widespread fame with his marriage to Elizabeth Taylor.

Antonio Banderas

Getty Images

Betsey Johnson

FilmMagic

Eddie Fisher

Getty Images

1927

AUG

10

President Calvin Coolidge arrives, cowboy-hatted and on horseback, to dedicate Mount Rushmore in South Dakota, two months before carving begins. He presents sculptor Gutzon Borglum with a set of steel drill bits.

Timeline

Also on This Day in History

Discover more of the major events, famous births, notable deaths and everything else history-making that happened on August 10th

30 bc

Cleopatra dies by suicide

On August 10, 30 B.C. (some scholars say August 12), Cleopatra, queen of Egypt and lover of Julius Caesar and Mark Antony, takes her life following the defeat of her forces against Octavian, the future first emperor of Rome. Cleopatra, born in 69 B.C., was made Cleopatra VII, queen of Egypt, upon the death of […]

5:20m read read

The Death of Cleopatra, by Gerard de Lairesse

1776

London learns of American independence

On August 10, 1776, news reaches London that the Americans had drafted the Declaration of Independence. Until the Declaration of Independence formally transformed the 13 British colonies into states, both Americans and the British saw the conflict centered in Massachusetts as a local uprising within the British empire. To King George III, it was a […]

1793

Louvre Museum opens

After more than two centuries as a royal palace, the Louvre is opened as a public museum in Paris by the French revolutionary government. Today, the Louvre’s collection is one of the richest in the world, with artwork and artifacts representative of 11,000 years of human civilization and culture. The Louvre palace was begun by […]

2:28m read read

1846

Smithsonian Institution created

After a decade of debate about how best to spend a bequest left to America from an obscure English scientist, President James K. Polk signs the Smithsonian Institution Act into law on August 10, 1846. In 1829, James Smithson died in Italy, leaving behind a will with a peculiar footnote. In the event that his […]

2:24m read read

1912

Virginia and Leonard Woolf marry

On August 10, 1912, Virginia Stephen, 30, marries Leonard Woolf, 31, at a registry office in London. Virginia Woolf, born in 1882, grew up surrounded by intellectuals. Her father was a writer and philosopher, and her mother was a British aristocrat. In 1902, Virginia’s father died, and Virginia took a house with her sister and […]

1:24m read read

1937

First-ever electric guitar patent awarded to the Electro String Corporation

On August 10, 1937, the United States Patent Office recognizes the electric guitar—the instrument that revolutionized jazz, blues and country music and made the later rise of rock and roll possible—with the award of Patent #2,089.171. It went to George D. Beauchamp, a musician-turned-inventor for an electrified instrument known as the Rickenbacker Frying Pan. Versatile, […]

2:04m read read

1939

“The Wizard of Oz” movie premieres in Green Bay, Wisconsin

On August 10, 1939, The Wizard of Oz, starring Judy Garland and featuring words and music by E.Y. “Yip” Harburg and Harold Arlen, receives its world premiere in Green Bay, Wisconsin. It would open widely in U.S. theaters some two weeks later. The beloved characters and familiar plot points were mostly all there in the […]

2:16m read read

1945

Japan accepts Potsdam terms, agrees to unconditional surrender

On August 10, 1945, just a day after the bombing of Nagasaki, Japan submits its acquiescence to the Potsdam Conference terms of unconditional surrender, as President Harry S. Truman orders a halt to atomic bombing. Emperor Hirohito, having remained aloof from the daily decisions of prosecuting the war, rubber-stamping the decisions of his War Council, […]

1:50m read read

1978

Fatal Ford Pinto crash in Indiana

On August 10, 1978, three teenage girls die after their 1973 Ford Pinto is rammed from behind by a van and bursts into flames on an Indiana highway. The fatal crash was one of a series of Pinto accidents that caused a national scandal during the 1970s. The small and economical Pinto, which debuted in […]

2:28m read read

1981

Pete Rose sets National League hits record

On August 10, 1981, Pete Rose of the Philadelphia Phillies gets the 3,631st hit of his baseball career, breaking Stan Musial’s record for most hits by a National Leaguer. The record-breaking hit came in a game against the St. Louis Cardinals, the team with whom Musial had spent his entire career, and the former hits […]

1:48m read read

1984

“Red Dawn,” first PG-13 movie, is released

On August 10, 1984, the action thriller Red Dawn, starring Patrick Swayze, opens in theaters as the first movie to be released with a PG-13 rating. The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), which oversees the movie rating system, had announced the new PG-13 category in July of that same year. Founded in 1922 as […]

1:42m read read

1993

Ruth Bader Ginsburg sworn in as Supreme Court justice

On August 10, 1993, Ruth Bader Ginsburg becomes the second woman—and first Jewish woman—to serve on the Supreme Court. Already a champion for women’s rights, Ginsburg becomes a pop culture icon during her 27 years on the court. When President Bill Clinton nominated Ginsburg to the Supreme Court in June, 1993, she was already a […]

2:28m read read

2003

Temperatures in U.K. top 100 F for first time during European heat wave

On August 10, 2003, the United Kingdom records its first-ever temperature over 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Throughout the month, an intense heat wave scorched the European continent, claiming more than 35,000 lives. August 2003 was the hottest August ever recorded in the northern hemisphere and broke all previous records for heat-related deaths. France was the worst […]

1:34m read read

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