August 21st

Today's Highlight in History:
On August 21st, 1940, exiled Communist revolutionary Leon Trotsky died in Mexico City from wounds inflicted by an assassin.

On this date:
In 1680, Pueblo Indians took possession of Santa Fe, New Mexico, after driving out the Spanish.

In 1831, former slave Nat Turner led a violent insurrection in Virginia. (He was later executed.)

In 1858, the famous debates between Senatorial contenders Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas began.

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

In 1944, the United States, Britain, the Soviet Union and China opened talks at Dumbarton Oaks in Washington that helped pave the way for establishment of the United Nations.

In 1945, President Truman ended the Lend-Lease program that had shipped some $50 billion in aid to America's allies during World War Two.

In 1959, President Eisenhower signed an executive order proclaiming Hawaii the 50th state of the union.

In 1983, Philippine opposition leader Benigno S. Aquino Junior, ending a self-imposed exile in the United States, was shot dead moments after stepping off a plane at Manila International Airport.

In 1983, the musical play "La Cage Aux Folles" opened on Broadway.

In 1991, the hard-line coup against Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev collapsed in the face of a popular uprising led by Russian federation President Boris N. Yeltsin.

Ten years ago: Iraqi President Saddam Hussein delivered a speech in which he defended the detaining of foreigners in his country, and promised "a major catastrophe" should fighting break out in the Persian Gulf.

Five years ago: ABC News settled a $10 billion libel suit by apologizing to Philip Morris for reporting the tobacco giant had manipulated the amount of nicotine in its cigarettes. A suicide bomber set off an explosion that tore through two crowded Israeli commuter buses, killing five others. A commuter plane crashed near Carrollton, Georgia, killing nine people.

One year ago: President Clinton urged Americans to contribute to the relief effort for Turkey, where the death toll from a massive earthquake four days earlier topped 12,000 (it eventually reached 17,000).

"I believe I've found the missing link between animal and civilized man. It is us."

-- Konrad Lorenz, Austrian zoologist.