POPnews - August 21st

[Although he argued strenuously against slavery during 7 three-hour debates with Stephen Douglas, Abraham Lincoln lost the Illinois Senate seat to his longtime rival anyway... Following the defeat, Lincoln had his thoughts on the subject published in book form; the massive popularity of that book, as much as the widespread publicity engendered by the debates, made him a shoo-in for the nomination at the 1860 Republican National Convention - which itself set in motion a series of events that would within a decade would render Lincoln a legend.]
1680 - Pueblo Indians captured Santa Fe from the Spanish colonists living there, thus ending the Pueblo Revolt; those who survived Popé's cunning strategy of cutting off the city's water supply were relocated to El Paso del Norte.

1689 - The Battle of Dunkeld occurred in the vicinity of Dunkeld Cathedral, pitting the royalist supporters of Scotland's so-called James VII under Alexander Cannon against the ultimately victorious Cameronians of William Cleland (who died in battle) and George Munro of Auchinbowie.

1770 - Captain James Cook claimed for England the territory in Australia he called New South Wales.

1810 - French-born Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte was elected Crown Prince of Sweden and made Generalissimus of the Army; he would later succeed Charles XIII as Charles XIV John.

1821 - Jarvis Island was discovered by the crew of the British ship, Eliza Frances, which was owned by Edward, Thomas and William Jarvis and mastered by a Captain Brown. Initially claimed by Britain, the island was annexed by the US in February 1858 under the Guano Islands Act, and it remains to this day classified as one of the United States Minor Outlying Islands despite being uninhabitable (owing to the fact that it has no fresh water and very little rainfall - and is covered with bird shit besides!) and therefore uninhabited.

1831 - Nat Turner led slaves and freemen alike in a rebellion in Southampton County, Virginia, which claimed 57 whites and as many as five times as many blacks, including Turner himself.

1842 - The Tasmanian city of Hobart was founded; if you don't know where that is, ask any Australian woman to show you her map of Tasmania and she'll likely accommodate you. (snicker, snicker)

1858 - The Lincoln-Douglas debates began, pitting Republican Abraham Lincoln against his Democratic rival Stephen A. Douglas at Ottawa, Illinois; at stake was a seat in the Illinois Senate. This also marks the last time the Pop Culture Institute ever rooted for a Republican to win anything (except possibly a seat in a dunk tank!).

1862 - The Vienna Stadtpark opened its gates, making it the first public park in that city.

1863 - The pro-Union town of Lawrence, Kansas (itself an abolitionist stronghold) was destroyed during the Lawrence Massacre by a legion Confederate guerrillas called Quantrill's Raiders led by William Clarke Quantrill.

1878 - The American Bar Association was founded.

1911 - In what may be the single largest example of internal shrinkage ever Leonardo Da Vinci's priceless masterpiece, the Mona Lisa, was discovered stolen from Paris' Musée du Louvre by artist Louis Béroud; Vincenzo Peruggia was later arrested for trying to sell the painting to the Uffizi Gallery in Firenze.

1944 - The Dumbarton Oaks Conference - at which the United Nations began to take shape - began; it would conclude on October 7th.

1959 - President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Hawai'i Admission Act, making Hawai'i the 50th state; to this day the third Friday in August is celebrated statewide as Hawai'i Admission Day - although our sources tell us the 'celebration' is growing increasingly muted with each passing year...

1968 - A posthumous Medal of Honor was awarded to James Anderson Jr., the first African-American to be so honoured.

1969 - An Australian national named Michael Dennis Rohan set Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque on fire, gutting the southeastern wing of the Temple Mount holy site, in the process destroying a thousand-year-old minbar which had been the gift of Saladin.

1971 - Two hand grenades were tossed onstage at a campaign rally held by the Liberal Party of The Philippines in Manila's Plaza Miranda, injuring 95 and killing 9 anti-Marcos political candidates and their supporters including a five-year-old child and a photojournalist.

1983 - Benigno Aquino Jr. was assassinated on the tarmac at Manila Airport upon his return from exile. The killing hastened the demise of the Marcos regime, which has been seen as responsible; within three years Ninoy's widow would be President of the Philippines, and while she was unable to discover who killed her husband, at least she renamed the airport after him.

1991 - Latvia seceded from the Soviet Union, which at least helped to halt the military's August Putsch against the government of Mikhail Gorbachev.
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